[Stargate] Just Another Natural Underground Site

[Stephenopolos]

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Spoiler: Fanfic Disclaimer

The fanfiction I write is entirely for fun, with no commercial use implied, intended, or permitted. All original copyright holder's rights are acknowledged.

More specifically, as a basic, non-exhaustive disclaimer for main line or omake story elements currently used to date:

Basically, if you recognize it from a movie, comic, book, or other published work, it's owned by the rightsholders for that work. Anything else is my fault.

Reader contributed Omakes may incorporate other elements not listed above, and are otherwise © their respective authors. And much thanks is due to those authors for adding to my and your enjoyment!

Does anyone even read these? Does anyone even care about these?

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This introduction may change as time goes on, as I will answer common questions and address issues here, as well as announce the status of the story should it change. Check here first if you have any queries. I can't promise that you will always find an answer, but I'll steal them from Mp3 and CmptrWz if I have to

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You can all thank CmptrWz for this...

This is fun...

New story!

Someone appears to have escaped containment and been a busy bee...

Oh.

Whoops.

Poor Hammond and the SGC. Ah well, how bad can it get?

:evil:

As is often the way, especially these days due to work and other competing forces, I can't guarantee an update schedule, so chapters will come when they damn well feel like it and not before. However, they will come. There's no way to stop it at this point.

I know. I've tried.

As always, I will say the following, my standard boilerplate for a story:

I'm always open to corrections, typo spotting, math error checking, and all sorts of things like that, and I like hearing ideas about the way things could go and suggestions for interesting scenes. Or even simply discussing the story. Make a good point and I will probably use it in one way or the other if I agree with it.

On the other hand I will ignore demands to change parts of the story to fit your particular likes. This is not in any way meant to be rude, but the first rule of fanfiction is the same as the first rule of life, which is:

It's entirely impossible to please everyone at the same time with anything.​

Trying to do so is an exercise in frustration for all involved and therefore pointless. I would rather concentrate on writing the story rather than arguing about how to write the story, especially as that is a zero-sum game in the first place.

Bear in mind that this is an alternative universe, which means that some of the canon explanations may work in slightly different ways if it made it more convenient for the story. Most are meant to be more or less unchanged, though, so it's not impossible I made a mistake. If you aren't sure, don't worry about asking for clarification, I don't mind at all. I respond well to polite questions and genuine interest in why something happened the way it did.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Just Another Natural Underground System

Chapter 1

SGC Messhall - Saturday September 27th, 1997

"Hey, Teal'c."

Colonel Jack O'Neill caught Teal'c's attention as they relaxed in the mess hall after the mission that resulted in the destruction of Thor's hammer on Cimmeria. "You wouldn't happen to have memorized the addresses of any other worlds that the Goa'uld considered forbidden, would you?"

The former First Prime of Apophis and now member of SG1, Teal'c, paused mid-motion and raised an eyebrow. "There are several, Colonel O'Neill. Three such addresses where the gate was located within close proximity to pyroclastic flows, such that Apophis deemed those three fit only for disposal punishment of unwanted prisoners each with varying degrees of danger. Several where the explorers never returned after it was reported that the dialing devices were damaged beyond repair. The worlds of Sha'khan and Torhanna were declared off limits by collective System Lord decree for what I believe to be political reasons."

"Any you think might be worth taking a look at?" O'Neill prompted.

"Though the Goa'uld have not forbidden speaking of the planet, they have forbidden free travel to the caves of Kalach Shal'tek," Teal'c stoically replied.

"Victory or death?" Daniel Jackson interjected, his linguistics training picking up on the Jaffa's use of a different language and translating it on reflex.

"That is what it means, Daniel Jackson. I had not known it was possible until learning of Kalach Shal'tek, but no more than eight travelers may complete the journey to Kalach Shal'tek at a time," Teal'c replied.

"Oh?" O'Neill raised an eyebrow at Teal'c's statement.

"Indeed. Under normal circumstances, shortly after the eighth person enters, the gate will rapidly disconnect before additional travelers may enter. Any over the eight-person limit who make it through are either sent back without it disconnecting or sent back with an incoming connection immediately with no recollection of exiting the other side when the gate reconnects from the other side," Teal'c said.

"Wait, the gate somehow prevents more than eight people from traveling at a time?" Daniel asked.

"That is correct, Daniel Jackson. The Goa'uld Ares attempted to circumvent the limit by having the Jaffa hold onto each other physically as they passed through the gate. As the last person entered, the entire group returned through what should have been an outgoing connection without the gate disconnecting. I was told it was most undignified," Teal'c said.

"And our gate doesn't have any of these fancy features, Carter?" O'Neill asked Captain Samantha Carter.

"We're still learning about the gate system; I ... I can't say that any of that should be impossible," Captain Carter replied.

Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow. "The caves are dangerous yet rewarding to those who venture within its depths, hazards and hostile beings exist within that challenge any progress deeper into the complex on the other side of the gate."

"Hostile creatures? Wait, you said rewards; what kind of rewards?" Jack O'Neill asked.

"They were not allowed to say as the items were confiscated by the Goa'uld lord that sent them," Teal'c replied. "Apophis was under the impression that the optimal team size to send was a four-man unit."

O'Neill nodded sagely. "And we didn't even need some old cave with monsters in it to learn that."

"And you know the address?" Daniel interjected.

"I do, Daniel Jackson. I was required to memorize it in the event that Apophis wished to mount such an expedition," Teal'c confirmed.

"You get to brief the general on this one then," O'Neill said, picking up the cup of blue jello from his tray.

Some time later, the team gathered in the control room as Master Sergeant Walter pressed the button to send the MALP through the gate.

"So, this Shelly kale place," O'Neill said.

"Kalach Shal'tek," Daniel interjected.

"Right, that, any guesses on what's on the other side?" O'Neill mostly ignored the correction.

Carter shrugged.

Teal'c stoically raised an eyebrow.

"Teal'c said it was the Caves of Kalach Shal'tek, so I'm going to assume the stargate is in some sort of cave," Daniel said.

O'Neill gave a verbal acknowledgement of Daniel's comment and watched as the tail end of the MALP entered the gate.

The monitors in the control room for tracking the process of the MALP through the wormhole glitched, and the blue water-like puddle in the middle of the gate signifying the open connection rippled oddly before the MALP rolled back out of the gate, turned around as if it had entered from the far side.

"Well, that's certainly interesting," O'Neill said.

Carter took a seat at the controls and started typing in commands. "That's an understatement, sir. Our system says the MALP was never sent anywhere, the gate on the other end did something, and this code shows up from the gate on our end before that ripple changed, and then a second signal here as soon as the MALP has completely left the puddle. Sir, I think if I were to repeat these two signals to any gate before it sends a traveler, it would reverse direction and return the traveler to the origin; we'd need to figure out all the signals involved because there's still a bunch of information I'm missing, but this is big, imagine being able to reverse the call direction to extract a team after dialing to them."

"I'm sure that's exciting and all, but the MALP is here and not there," General George Hammond said. "Without those readings, we can't know that it's safe to send you through."

"Captain Carter, can I get a hand? The MALP telemetry just went odd." Master Sergeant Walter Harriman's tone was clearly confused as he pointed to the screen that was supposed to show the feed from the MALP currently sitting on the ramp in the gate room. The video was fading in and out of static, showing some severe interference.

"You're right, Sergeant, that is odd," Carter said, retaking the seat next to Walter at the controls and typing away.

"Airman, go press the power switch on the MALP," Carter ordered one of the men standing in the gateroom over the intercom after a few seconds of work.

"Normal atmosphere, at standard pressure and temperature; ...the feed appears to be coming from somewhere above the gate on the other side," Carter said, rapidly skimming through the information presented.

"A few more adjustments, and there," Captain Carter finished and the video feed adjusted from static to a view of the room on the other end of the connection.

"There's the DHD," Master Sergeant Walter said, pointing out the dialing pedestal on the screen. Though it looked a little different, having a more crystalline appearance.

"I had not given any credibility to the stories of such occurrences," Teal'c said.

"Wait, you knew this would happen?" O'Neill asked.

"No, O'Neill, I did not know this would happen, only that there are other addresses where a similar effect for automated probes was observed," Teal'c replied. "Though the probes did complete the journey unlike this one."

"So can we trust those readings?" Hammond asked as the gate connection timed out and disconnected.

"The data feed from the other side was far more detailed than what the MALP would've sent. The video signal alone was actually much larger than our systems are capable of displaying, so I had to apply several compression algorithms to get it down to something our system could handle. The original signal resolution would probably require a display as big as the whiteboard in the briefing room, sir," Carter said.

"So, you think it's safe then?" Hammond asked.

"Safe enough, we know that the other side does have a certain hostile nature based on Teal'c's information, but the risk seems worth it," Carter said.

"Alright then, SG1, I'll have your mission added to the schedule. See you first thing Monday morning in the gate room, it's the weekend though, so go get some rest or something," Hammond ordered.

Monday morning, SG1 walked into the gate room, O'Neill nodded to the airmen on security duty in the gate room and looked up at the window to the control room.

"Ready when you are, sir," O'Neill called out.

Hammond nodded to Walter to begin dialing.

Six symbols and a seventh chevron lock later, the unstable vortex expanded from the ancient technology at the far end of the room before subsiding into the now familiar blue ripples of the open connection.

"Receiving telemetry, no changes in readings from last time," Master Sergeant Harriman told Hammond as he pointed to the screen showing the view of the gate room on the other side.

"SG1, you have a go, good luck," Hammond said into the microphone that carried his voice into the gate room.

O'Neill saluted and started up the ramp, "Let's go campers."

From the control room, Hammond watched as the team left the SGC and a few moments later arrived in the video feed at their destination and then the gate shut down.

As the gate shut down, the room remained illuminated from lamps in the ceiling overhead and sunlight angling through a wide triangular opening in the wall to the left of the gate, a hazy blue flicker hinted that there was probably a forcefield there where it was wide enough across for two people to stand comfortably side by side as they entered.

Opposite the exit to the outside, and to the right of the gate, was the path to go further into the reported cave complex.

Teal'c had swiftly moved to position himself opposite the stargate where he could observe both openings into the room and the gate for any threat. Daniel was helping Carter as she worked her tablet computer out of her pack ready to start poking at the non-standard DHD.

O'Neill himself started pacing between the two obvious openings into the room.

"Carter, does that look smaller to you?" O'Neill said, pointing to the stargate.

Carter looked up from packing away her laptop and the cables she'd used to interface with the dialing pedestal.

"You're right sir, it does look smaller than standard. I wonder if that's why the MALP was returned. The DHD appears to be part of a larger system and all I've got here are the standard dialing functions," Carter said.

"Teal'c?" O'Neill said, looking at the exit into daylight.

"The Goa'uld know of nothing of immediate worth on the surface of this world, O'Neill. Attempts have been made to access the caves from a ship, but powerful shields prevent access to anything larger than a cargo ship, and the same restrictions to team size are in effect," Teal'c said. "Additionally, if a team was already present through use of the stargate new team members could not be added by ship unless those already present first made their way to the surface to invite them in or the entire team left via the stargate. In which case enough time to reset the caves would need to pass."

"Anything else that's of interest?" O'Neill asked the room in general.

"There's nothing significant here for me to translate, yet." Daniel shrugged. "Just this label on the DHD interface, odd blocky letters that I don't have a reference point for, possibly the word for DHD in the language of whoever built this place."

"Any reason we should expect the differences in the DHD and Gate to prevent dialing home?" O'Neill asked.

"The caves are lethal, but Jaffa that ventured within have returned safely with no concerns over the difference in the DHD," Teal'c replied.

"If we're going to find anything, I think we'll have to proceed further," Captain Carter said.

"I take it that's a vote for going onward then. Right, weapons hot, even you space monkey, let's go," Jack said, and toggled on the flashlight mounted to his P-90. Then, he pulled on his night-vision goggles and took the lead through the dark opening into the caves.

Captain Carter paused to gather a sample of the bioluminescent roots that ran along the walls casting eerie shadows that would've made it harder to see anything clearly without the infrared goggles augmenting their vision.

Above the entrance an oval shaped stone relief shifted as a small block of stone extended from the surface.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

The tunnel twisted out of sight of the gate room and led the team on a gentle downward sloping path into the first room. The floor was a teaming writhing mass of insectoid forms, they ranged in size from O'Neill's fist to small watermelon, with a long whiplike tail and four long segmented arms, two on each side of the bulbous body and two sharp looking pincers at the mouth. They might have shared something with spiders as well because there were layers of webbing coating the far end of the room leading into the next tunnel. High in the middle of the room, embedded into the ceiling was another cluster of faintly glowing roots.

"Oh god, why did I watch Alien before this mission," Daniel muttered.

"I take it these are the hostiles," Jack said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said, readying his staff weapon as the other team members took aim.

"Teal'c, you go for clumps, your staff should splash and hit more than a few at a time. Daniel, watch the ceiling if any of them try to get sneaky and drop on us from above. Carter, take the left, get anything coming close and targets of opportunity. I'll work on clearing the room and the right side. Carter, be ready to switch with me when I need to reload," Jack said.

As if they passed some hidden trigger, the swarm of bugs in the room turned and started aggressively moving towards the team.

"Open fire," Jack called out and pulled the trigger on his P-90 spraying bullets into the cave and splattering bugs across their fellows.

The sharp static of Teal'c's staff charging up warned Jack a split second prior to the bright ball of plasma burning across his vision and impacting into a mass of the writhing bugs wreaking havoc and quickly incinerating the closest webbing. Soon bursts of fire from Daniel and Carter's weapons sounded as they started clearing the bugs that were approaching from the sides.

As the seconds ticked by, Jack felt his P-90 growing warm from the repetitive firing, but the mass of bugs was beginning to slow and then his P-90 clicked empty.

"Reloading," Jack called, stepping back to allow the other three to close the gap.

It only took a moment for Jack to be ready to step back in and then Carter was next to step back, Jack taking over covering the left and center.

Just as Daniel's second service pistol clicked empty the bugs stopped moving, and Jack motioned for everyone to hold fire.

One of the bugs twitched a limb and he used his service weapon to fire a round there and then the cave was silent again. Then the ground seemed to bubble, and the bodies of the bugs sunk into the rock leaving a pristine floor. There were only a few bugs that didn't disappear, now visible as they twitched still trying to make their way to the team.

"I'm guessing I do not want to know what it looks like if one of those gets us," O'Neill said, and used his P-90 in single round mode to quickly dispatch each of the nine remaining bugs.

In the center of the room, revealed now that the room was no longer covered in bugs or the corpses of bugs, was a dip in which sat several new ammo clips for their P-90s as well as what appeared to be a modified set of night vision goggles that, when O'Neill swapped them for his own, seemed to have much higher detail and active light level adjustments that canceled out the bright spot from the beam of light from his P-90.

"What do you make of these," he said, swapping them for his original set and handing the new goggles to Captain Carter.

Carter put the goggles on and started switching between the modes intuitively, familiarizing herself with the vision modes and the way the goggles highlighted the team's heat signatures against the background as well as the higher fidelity of the display inside. Then she examined the outside casing noting the screw locations and after rummaging in her pack she had the case popped open and was viewing the circuit board and sensors.

"These are several generations more advanced than ours but look like they could've come from the same assembly line," Carter said, rotating the night vision equipment to see it from every angle.

"Let's take a break to check on our weapons and catch our breath," O'Neill said after shining his light all around the cavern and determining it was safe enough.

"Alright team, analysis," O'Neill said a couple of minutes later.

"While our bullets and Teal'c's staff worked, they just didn't kill them fast enough or in large numbers, any bigger sized mass and we'd risk being overrun or having to retreat," Carter said.

"I'm curious where the ammunition and goggles came from," Daniel said. "There must be some system that scanned us and manufactured it and then transported it here when we finished clearing the room."

"We may require alternate weapons that can hit multiple targets at once for enemies such as these," Teal'c said.

"I like the way you think," O'Neill said, and started rummaging in his pack.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

The team proceeded carefully down the rocky passageway deeper into the ground, pausing every few steps to burn another section of webbing away and kill a bug that had been hiding in the darkness, cringing at the death squeal.

Bioluminescent moss or some other glowing organic material gave the passage an eerie appearance.

As they turned a corner, they found the passage continued on but there was an opening into a slightly larger cave than the one they'd just cleared.

The team backed up a bit at the colonel's signal and paused to discuss things.

"I suspect that if we have to retreat, we'd get ambushed by that cave if we bypass it here, it's best to attack it now," O'Neill said.

Teal'c merely nodded.

"Same plan as before?" Carter asked.

"Somewhat, I'm going to try this," O'Neill said, pulling out a makeshift incendiary he'd cobbled together from a chunk of C4 and a rag soaked in oil from their cooking supplies.

"Ready?" O'Neill asked.

"Ready," Carter replied.

O'Neill lit the rag and tossed it into the cave as the team shouldered their weapons and started firing.

The improvised incendiary didn't help. It just reduced their visibility and caused breathing issues from the smoke. It did feel like it might be a step in the right direction though since a part of the swarm diverted towards the extra heat source and got burned instead coming towards SG1. The problem was that they ended up needing to go further into the room to keep killing the bugs and lost track of the ceiling and some of the areas out of sight of the door when the room turned out to be larger than it first appeared.

Eventually, they found themselves surrounded on all sides, low on ammo with no room for reloading. The bugs hanging from the ceiling got the drop on them first, one attaching to O'Neill's neck, then another dropping on Carter.

As he fell under the weight of additional bugs O'Neill remembered seeing Daniel and Teal'c standing back to back, Daniel firing his nine millimeter gun into the swarm.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

The team woke up back in the gate room down a few clips of ammo but otherwise unharmed.

"Right, anyone have an idea what the hell just happened?" Colonel O'Neill asked the room.

"If I understand the video game terms used by Airman Patterson. We appear to have been reset back to the spawn point, due to a team wipe," Teal'c supplied.

"That seems new, didn't you say this usually ended up being lethal?" Daniel asked. "Not that I'm unhappy with this state of affairs."

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"I think we need to rethink this one," O'Neill pulled his hat off and ran a hand through his hair.

"Maybe a giant bug zapper?" Daniel suggested.

"Maps, it'd be nice to know what's ahead of us," Carter said.

"Maybe a flame thrower, I don't think that I'd look forward to lugging around the batteries we'd need for a big enough zapper for these bugs. Teal'c? We don't have to stay and try again, do we? I mean, the system won't penalize us or prevent us from returning if we leave now, right?" O'Neill said.

"The Jaffa that attempted the caves and returned safely were able to proceed on further delves into the caves, I believe it should be safe if we return another day," Teal'c offered.

"Good, 'cause I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I want a shower and some equipment changes before we try that again. Carter dial us home," O'Neill ordered.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Alright, I've read your reports," Hammond said, and motioned for the team to remain seated at the briefing table. "You got overrun, it's only through some fluke that whatever system is behind that place opted to keep you alive and you want to go back?"

"Sir," Carter started.

"Yes," O'Neill interjected plainly. "It's because we returned unharmed that I'm willing to risk it again sir, plus we did get those neat upgrades to our night vision goggles that Carter has the labs working on replicating now. My point, sir, is that I don't think it's a waste of our time."

"It did seem a little like a training scenario with different difficulty levels," Daniel slowly worked around his thought until he reached the conclusion.

"And we did learn, our weapons aren't enough for that kind of scenario," O'Neill said. "That's valuable information right there, sir."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"So, you want to... what?" Hammond said, taking a seat at the head of the table with a stack of reports.

"We'd like the research teams to put together a few items, maybe authorize a flame thrower?" O'Neill said.

"I read what happened the last time you got near a flame thrower, Colonel, I'm not sure I'm ready to give you a second chance yet," Hammond said.

"Sir, they should be vulnerable to electricity, we can modify an industrial sized bug zapper, hook them up with a portable power supply," Carter said.

"Alright SG1 you have two days with the engineers and researchers," Hammond said.

"About that sir, can I have four days, I've got an idea that needs a trip into town," Colonel O'Neill said.

"Four days then, dismissed," Hammond said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Four days later, SG1 gathered in the briefing room waiting for permission to proceed.

"SG1, unfortunately the mission is on hold. I know you've been looking forward to this, but I've been given a 'request' to allow a specialized team handpicked by some fools from some National Intelligence Department to try first."

"Never heard of 'em," O'Neill said.

The general shook his head. "I suspect that you'll be going through to figure out what went wrong when the lockout times out."

"Lockout sir?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, against my better judgment and Teal'c's spirited recommendations, they're sending a full roster of eight," Hammond said.

"I spent many days detailing all I know about the planet and its dangers and emphasized many times the lethal nature of journeys there," Teal'c interjected primly.

"I'm not feeling the love for this specialized team, sir," O'Neill tilted his head.

"That's because I have none, and I've filed the paperwork stating that I object to them being permitted through the gate at all. We still don't know what made it so you survived when Teal'c has indicated that has never happened for any Jaffa team that he knows of. I was overruled, but that's in writing, so it won't reflect badly on us when they fail."

"Do they plan on not returning until they've made proper progress?" Captain Carter asked.

"I honestly expect them to get each other killed with the special grenades they cooked up. If whatever mystery tech returned your team keeps them alive despite that kind of idiocy, then I'll be more interested than I already am," General Hammond replied.

"And we can't sneak in before they get here?" Jack asked.

"I'd let you go through first, while we wait for them to arrive, but we're waiting on a replacement fuel valve for the flamethrower anyway," George Hammond replied.

"So, we're getting the flame thrower then?" the colonel asked.

"You don't, Doctor Jackson does," the general replied.

"Daniel?" Jack asked.

"What?" Daniel asked as the team turned towards him.

"Why'd they give you the flame thrower?" Jack asked.

"They cited me being the only one of the three of us that didn't need to be trained out of 'bad habits', and lack of prior incidents with one," Daniel replied calmly.

"...they would," Jack's eyes narrowed.

"The security footage of him using an aerosol can and a lighter to pick off spiders in the corner of his office didn't hurt," General Hammond interjected.

"...wait, really?" Jack's face adjusted to show grudging admiration.

"What?" Daniel asked again.

"The office constantly full of highly flammable books and papers?" Sam asked.

"Yes," General Hammond confirmed.

"Without setting everything on fire?" Sam continued. "Cause I tried that once."

"The safety briefing following that event was most memorable," Teal'c interjected.

"Huh," Jack leaned back.

"If that's all sir, I had some things I wanted to check from the gate diagnostics while we wait," Carter said.

"Keep me informed, Captain," Hammond dismissed the team.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Annoyingly for SG1, the specialist team didn't arrive until the next week, roughly nine days after SG1's first visit to Kalach Shal'tek, or the dungeon as O'Neill had nicknamed it, during which the team worked diligently on their plans for tackling the challenge the bugs represented. Daniel had fallen into a box of pentagon records forwarded to the SGC regarding earlier experiments on the gate by the original Langford team. Teal'c continued his martial arts practices in the gym. O'Neill was being secretive in one of the labs. Not that this would stop Captain Carter from learning about his project if she really wanted, given she was the head of the science department on base.

Finally, the day arrived, and Captain Carter watched bemusedly as the specialist team lined up in the gate room following the Field Remote Expeditionary Device or FRED that was loaded down with all sorts of neat things that she would just love to get her hands on.

"You do know that's not going to work right?" Carter asked.

"Who's the specialist here," Specialist Brandt asked, pressing the buttons to send the FRED toward the ramp.

"Behind the line please, or you'll lose part of your equipment to the unstable vortex," Carter said. "Holy Hannah, does nobody read the manuals we write?"

General Hammond suppressed a laugh, hearing her comment just as he entered. "Now you know why I'm not confident in them, Captain. I'm going to try one more appeal to sanity before we proceed."

"Better you than me," the scientifically minded captain muttered.

The eight men of the specialized squad assembled in the gate room carrying all sorts of weapons and bandoliers of grenades.

"All right people," Hammond said. "Time to ensure that they know what they're getting into."

"Shouldn't they have been briefed already?" O'Neill asked.

"There's a chance they were given a written packet," Carter noted. "But if they read that as well as you tend to read the ones you're given?"

General Hammond smirked and pressed the button next to the microphone to broadcast to the gate room. "I've been assured that you were all briefed on this mission before now, but to be frank, I don't trust your superiors. Everything we know about the trial you've been sent to face indicates that it's lethal. We have no clue why that wasn't the case for SG1, and have no evidence that it won't be the case for you. It's also supposed to be more difficult with a larger team, and based on what I could find of your records I suspect half of you weren't told this was voluntary."

"Voluntary?" one of the team questioned, getting evil looks from several of the others.

"Yes it is son, I have the personal guarantee of the President that you'd all be volunteers, made aware of the risks involved. If you'd like to back out then I have a similar guarantee of being able to transfer you to my command before the end of the day with no punishments, and to not 'inconvenience' the rest of your team I have several actual volunteers available to fill slots."

"Then I'm backing out," the man said, already pulling his vest off as he was leaving the room.

"I'm honestly surprised that only one of them bailed, I expected at least half of them to have been misinformed as to the danger. It seems that we only need one volunteer, Colonel, instead of the four to five I anticipated. I have no clue where they found the other seven down there, and that concerns me. Are any of you comfortable going with them alone?" General Hammond asked.

"If you're concerned about their temperament, sir, then I'd rather not risk any of my team or anyone else on this foolishness. I'm confident that I can handle them."

"Colonel Makepeace has volunteered to be your eighth man," Hammond said over the intercom. There was grumbling from the specialists but eventually they settled down.

Eventually, Colonel Makepeace appeared through the door to the gate room with his gear and a small camera mounted to his helmet with a stretchy cable trailing around and into a separate recording pack in his backpack.

"Ready when you are," the team leader called out.

"Dial the gate," Hammond nodded to the sergeant on duty.

The FRED rolled up the ramp as soon as the vortex settled into the shimmering silver-blue puddle of the stargate. The seven specialists started for the ramp while Colonel Makepeace held back after seeing Carter's expression through the window.

"Travel incomplete, please make room on the ramp," Carter said over the intercom as the gate rippled and the FRED reappeared, almost barreling into the specialists that hadn't put enough space between them and the FRED as it had disappeared into the wormhole. The FRED continued smoothly out the puddle as though it had come through from the other side.

"I told you so," Captain Carter muttered without pressing the button to speak to the gate room so they didn't hear her gloating.

There was more grumbling from the specialists as they unpacked as much of the FRED as they felt comfortable carrying and looked up to the gate room. Makepeace just shook his head and jumped a little, as though to mock them with his better mobility.

"The gate is back in outgoing mode, you can proceed when ready," Carter supplied.

Still grumbling the seven specialists proceeded through the gate followed by Colonel Makepeace who snagged an extra magazine of P-90 ammo off the FRED as he scooted past it.

Carter watched the video feed from the other end, noting the strange stone oval over the entrance and lack of inner shadow in the middle as the specialists and Makepeace appeared and radioed back before the gate shut down.

"So now we just, wait?" O'Neill said.

"Now you go see what they stupidly left behind," Hammond corrected. "Because I'm just now realizing that it looks like some of their GDOs are hanging off the back of the FRED."

"At least they left the remote control for it," Carter said, pointing to the remote that had been tossed carelessly onto the pile of equipment.

It turned out that the General was correct, and four GDOs were in a net hanging from the FRED. He was less enthused about the dismantled nuke and then the Airman investigating things yelled something that had everyone backing away from the FRED having found some canisters of an unknown chemical agent, one that apparently needed the four gas masks hidden next to the canisters for protection.

"You're going to need to know about this stuff before you check on them," CBRN specialist Sean Maxwell and recently transferred as of less than ten minutes after the General's offer over the intercom appeared in the control room with a stack of papers, looking for the general.

"Know about what?" General Hammond asked the frozen specialist as he stared out the window into the gate room.

"They didn't get the FRED through the gate? ...it's still here? Shit!" Sean said.

"You know what that stuff is," Hammond started. "Nevermind, you can advise our hazmat team as they remove that. Then I expect you in my office so we can get your transfer paperwork completed, son. It appears that my day is going to be spent yelling at people over the phone."

General Hammond lifted the dedicated telephone handset that was a direct line to the base security off the hook on the wall and started quietly issuing orders for a Hazmat team in full gear.

"That's some nasty stuff," O'Neill said, spotting the colorful hazard diamond and chemical names on the data sheet. "Maybe it'd be safer to just use one of those lava planets that Teal'c knows and get rid of it."

"Unfortunately not, Colonel, because that would be destruction of vital evidence of people trying to get everyone on my base painfully and mysteriously dead, and I need that evidence if I want to cause unholy hell for those responsible," Hammond interjected.

The general turned back to the gate room and over the intercom told the men still in the room, "Everyone hang tight, the Hazmat team is on their way, you'll have a brief decontamination shower for safety reasons. But this should all be cleaned up relatively quickly. Just don't touch those canisters unless the Hazmat team tells you to when they get here."

"I've got the gateroom air supply isolated from the rest of the base," Carter reported.

"Excellent work, Captain," Hammond said as he disappeared up the spiraling stairs, specialist Sean following at his gesture.

"So, bets on how long until we don't get a response when we dial?" Jack raised his eyebrows inquiringly.

"Don't be morbid," Daniel said. "I'm hoping Makepeace convinces them to give up and come back before anyone dies."

"Ever the pacifist," Jack said.

"I can't find out how the General has them punished if they don't survive to be punished," Daniel opined.

"I'm pretty sure he meant punishment for whoever authorized them coming here with that crap," Jack said.

"They did bring it in without saying anything and looked betrayed when the chemical specialist that was clearly forced-to-join-them left them behind," Carter said.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 2

SGC Stargate Operations - October 8th

The gate room was finally cleared of the hazards left by the NID team, and they'd been safely removed to a secure storage room, one designed to keep everyone on the other side of the door alive in case of a leak. Meanwhile, George Hammond had just finished with his last set of calls to spread the love around regarding the unauthorized hazards that had shown up unannounced on his metaphorical doorstep. The FRED was being decontaminated and would be confiscated for use by the SGC on future missions, and they'd just reached the six hour mark meaning it was time to call the specialist team and see where things were at, if they were even still alive after the appalling lack of self preservation that had been demonstrated.

Hammond dropped an antacid into his mouth and made his way to the control room.

"Dial it up, Walter," Hammond said.

"Yes, sir," Master Sergeant Harriman started the process, "Chevron one encoded."

As he typed into the computer the gate started spinning, and then the Chevrons lit up faster than he was dialing, he switched modes smoothly and triggered the iris closed before hitting the alarm and announcing, "Unscheduled off world activation."

Which of course resulted in SG1 strolling into the control room as the final chevron lit up and the wormhole shimmer of the puddle reflecting on the back wall appeared.

"Well?" Hammond asked.

"Receiving signal, IDC received, it's Colonel Makepeace, sir," Walter announced.

"Open the iris," Hammond ordered.

Walter placed his hand on the scanner and triggered the command to open the iris.

A few tense seconds and then Colonel Robert Makepeace appeared to a cheering gate room.

"Quite the welcome home," Colonel Makepeace said, unlatching his vest that had several items hanging off it. His pants were torn and a little bloody, and there were spatters of something unidentifiable across his face.

"Welcome back, you'll need to go through a decontamination shower and medical, and then we can debrief as soon as Doctor Fraiser clears you, glad to have you home, Colonel," Hammond said over the intercom.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"They had what," Robert Makepeace asked in disbelief as he blinked away the spots from the doctor's pen light.

"The really terrifying chemicals," Jack replied from the other side of the isolation glass.

"That would make sense for me to be in here," Colonel Makepeace said, as he moved behind the privacy partition and dropped his uniform into the resealable bags provided.

"And a nuke," Jack added almost as an afterthought.

"And you didn't lead with that?" Makepeace asked.

"The nuke was safely disassembled. The chemicals were one corroded seal away from everyone on this base spending the next day dying in agony," Jack said dryly.

"You should be fine, this is just precautionary measures," Doctor Fraiser said calmly from her positive pressure suit, "Your vitals are all normal and I dare say you're in better health than when you left."

"Thanks, I should've had a dozen scrapes and bruises from all the exercise I got with those maniacs, but I think there was a healing beam or something as I left. Oh, and can you get the stuff I was carrying through decontamination asap?"

"I've got it running through now, Colonel," the doctor replied.

Colonel Makepeace walked through each step of the decontamination process before pulling on a clean basic duty uniform and following the doctor out of the iso room.

"I'll have the equipment delivered to the briefing room in a few minutes, Colonel."

Makepeace nodded, "I'd like that pair of boots back if you could as well. They're comfortable."

"I'll see what I can do."

Jack caught up with him in the hallway and the two colonels walked together to the briefing room.

"How did it go," Hammond asked.

"Boring at first sir. You're going to want to make copies of the video from my pack. The first hour was spent using some sort of hacking tools to try and do something to the dialing pedestal and gate until the DHD appeared to shut down and reboot several times, wiping any changes they'd made in the process. After that it was fairly slow progress through the tunnels and some truly horrifying sacrificial tactics. They were paradoxically cautiously reckless, sir," Colonel Makepeace shared.

"How so?" Hammond prompted.

"They were extremely cautious in checking every inch of the tunnels but indiscriminate with their use of ordinance, not using any discretion with when and how they used their grenades. Specialist Byrd and Brandt didn't seem to care if it was clear to use them and our first fatality was the result of one such grenade. They didn't seem to hold much stock in my advice sir, and I was told to stay back and collect the loot like their pack mule."

"The second room was where we picked up these," Makepeace picked up the container holding three volleyball sized orbs with markings that split them down the middle and had various lights. "They're some kind of shock grenade. I made use of that one with the two red indicator lights, Captain."

Captain Carter had selected one of the shock grenades from the container and was carefully rolling it around to see all the sides.

"They bear some resemblance to the Tok'kal," Teal'c interjected. "The Tok'kal are reusable grenade type weapons, when activated and thrown into a group they will render those caught by the discharge unconscious," Teal'c elaborated. "This one would appear to have a design more in line with the weapons of your world though."

Carter had her toolkit out and was poking at the orbs at this point. "There's a standard barrel jack it looks like, I think these should be rechargeable. Don't ask me what the battery cell is made of though." Carter said, having made a cursory examination while Teal'c was talking. "How are they activated?"

"The procedure is quite simple, you gently pull the two hemispheres apart along the equatorial line until you hear it click, and then twist to set the desired timing, when you are satisfied you press the hemispheres back together. If you change your mind, twist until the indicator is back at the zero point as shown by the lights and then push it back together," Teal'c explained, while Carter made judicious use of her toolkit to disassemble the one she was holding.

As the casing came apart a small safety switch popped up with the removal of the outer shell. The lights along the edge that she assumed to be the timer lights all turned red and faded as they drained some internal capacitor.

With the power being clearly offline, she pulled the halves apart and noticed there were three stops with a noticeable click at one and two and some very helpful pictographics.

The first stop had a little stick figure getting shocked with lightning bolts, the second stop had a skull and crossbones, the third stop had a red triangle with spots where an internal light mechanism would have presumably backlit the pictograph if she hadn't disabled the power.

On the other half of the device opposite the timing indicator lights was a set of six lights which were currently dark. She assumed that was some sort of charge indicator.

"So, you got a bunch of shock grenades," O'Neill said.

"Those and another three pairs of those night vision goggles you got with the upgrades," Makepeace pointed to the goggles in the bin.

"Also, this showed up with the first of the shock grenades." Makepeace pulled a pamphlet out of the box with the rest of the loot. It had comical drawings of people in uniform using explosives badly with giant red X symbols over each violation.

"Promise me you'll make sure the safety pamphlet gets to the idiots that sent that team," Jack said.

"This one showed up in the last room." Makepeace pulled out a thick book with full color images, it resembled the air force's own manual on explosives with pages of blocky alien text and the last section had images from the NID team with a shiny red banner over one corner that seemed to indicate these were newly added additions to the manual.

"And a copy of the manual," Jack said.

General Hammond snorted.

"I also got a nice pair of boots that the doctor has with the rest of my uniform in decontamination," Makepeace said.

"Boots?" O'Neill asked.

"Yeah, mine acquired some unexpected holes while I was diving for cover from the maniacs and their grenades, nice and grippy too. Could've used a new pair of pants while I was at it," Makepeace replied.

"Huh," O'Neill said.

"They were successful in clearing a decent amount of the rooms at unacceptable rates of attrition. I think we lost a man in every other room, and the last one resulted in the last two blowing each other up and barely missing me, that's when I turned around and headed back, sir," Makepeace's statement was calm but you could tell he was rattled by the complete lack of self preservation that had been on display. "I don't think they expected their grenades to pack as much of a punch as they did, sir. If they left any of them behind that can be examined without setting them off, I think you might find they have some Naquadah incorporated into them.".

"You think they increased the yield by adding some of our limited supply of Naquadah to the grenades?" Carter asked.

"Given that last explosion? That seems likely," Makepeace said.

"Sir," Carter said.

Hammond sighed. "SG1, you can go in the morning. Captain, go examine those orbs with the R&D teams. Get some rest Colonel, it seems I have more calls to make."

"I think we can duplicate these, except for the power supply, but we might be able to substitute one of the liquid naquadah power cells from a staff weapon in a pinch," Carter said, putting the disassembled shock grenade back into the container with the rest of the equipment.

"As long as we can take at least one of them with us," Jack O'Neill said.

"Colonel," Carter nodded to Robert picking up the items and leaving the briefing room for her lab.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Jack!" Daniel barreled through the door a moment later, "you need to see this."

Daniel brandished a VHS tape and file folder.

"Someone dialed the gate in 1945," Daniel said, popping the tape into the VCR and turning on the connected TV.

Jack watched as Daniel excitedly motioned to the image of scientists from 1945 manually pushing the ring around the gate with an old generator.

"It made a connection, see?" Daniel said.

"I see," Jack said.

"We have to go there, that address," Daniel said.

"I'll add it to the mission list," Jack said.

"I mean we have to," Daniel continued.

"Daniel, I already said, I'll add it to the mission list, we're going back to the Smelly Kale place in the morning though," Colonel O'Neill said.

"Kalach Shal'tek," Daniel automatically corrected and then realized what Jack had said. "Oh, well okay then. I'll put this stuff away and go make sure the flame thrower is ready for tomorrow."

"You do that," O'Neill said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Dungeon Planet, Gate Entry room - October 9th

Carter and Daniel were the first ones through, and while they were looking around the room for signs of the damage that the team of supposed specialists had done to the place, Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c arrived through the gate.

There was a very quiet almost imperceptible sound of stone against stone as the Colonel arrived, and Captain Carter turned just in time to see the Oval stone relief above the entrance to the tunnel slide open to reveal one of those blocky symbols similar in appearance to the ones on the DHD.

"Hey Daniel," Carter said, pointing at the oval. "Was that always like that?"

Daniel looked up and examined the symbol in the oval, "I don't think so, that looks like it could be numerical in nature."

Daniel raised his camera and snapped a picture of the oval.

"This complicates things," Jack said.

"What does, Sir?" Sam asked, looking towards Jack.

"The sun angle is all wrong, and there wasn't a river out there last time," Jack said motioning towards the opening to the outside.

"What?" Captain Carter asked.

"Are you saying we aren't in the same room as last time?" Daniel asked.

"The only proof is that outside looks wrong, and I don't have a picture from last time to compare things to, but yes," Jack said.

Daniel took a few tentative steps out of the gate room onto the surface of the planet and looked around.

"Jack, there's a plume of smoke," Daniel said.

The rest of the team joined Daniel outside examining the entrance in the side of the mountain, about a mile off there was indeed a plume of dark smoke rising.

"Weird," Jack said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"Back inside, campers. We have things to test," Jack said, and turned around heading back through the shimmering field that barely tingled as he passed through.

"You brought an RC Truck?" Carter raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"Don't sound so incredulous," Jack replied as he finished double checking all the addons he'd had the team back at the SGC install. "We did say that having some sort of advanced warning on what's ahead would be nice, didn't we? It was cheap and didn't require a month's advance notice or any approvals to bring it through security. Not to mention, easily modified to mount that remote camera on."

Jack grinned and propped open the portable TV receiver linked to the camera mounted to the bed of the little RC truck.

"Look at it go," Jack smirked and manipulated the controls on the remote to send the truck careening into the tunnel.

"It has potential," Carter grudgingly admitted from where she and the rest of SG1 were watching the tiny display on the remote. It wasn't quite as good as it could've been, but then it was just a few off the shelf components, thrown together haphazardly until they had something that was good enough to demonstrate the concept; and as she had just admitted, the potential was there.

In addition to the normal joysticks for controlling the throttle and turning the truck there was another set of joysticks rigged to the camera gimbal so it could be adjusted to look in a different direction than the truck was going.

As the little truck entered the dark cavern, O'Neill tapped a button on the heavily modified remote and the video washed out for a second until the camera adjusted. O'Neill explained that he'd snagged some of the new bright white LEDs that R&D was testing. Two of the powerful new LEDs were mounted to either side of the camera behind focusing lenses casting a spotlight on whatever the camera was looking at.

The team adjusted their gear and followed the makeshift mini-MALP into the caves, the oval stone relief above the dark entrance shifted as the symbol on the far right updated with a new block of stone.

The bugs in the first room, while somewhat mobile, seemed to ignore the truck. Or at least they didn't appear to be all that interested in the RC truck as Jack quickly took it through a basic search pattern of the room before returning it to the entrance.

They'd already managed the first room once without any special tricks on their first visit, but Carter was eager to test the new shock grenades and followed Teal'c's earlier instructions pulling the two halves apart, paying close attention to the pictographs she already knew about from the shock grenade she'd disassembled back at the base.

She pulled it past the little stick figure getting shocked with lightning bolts, straight to the second stop with the skull. She wasn't ready to risk the third stop which had a red triangle with lots of blinking lights around it. She felt the second click slide into place and twisted the separated halves to set the timer revealing a blinking series of red lights going around one edge of the split ball.

On the other half of the grenade was a set of six lights in green with two blinking between red and green. She assumed that was some sort of charge indicator, two to be used? The best way to find out was to use it though.

They already had a visual confirmation of the threat locations from the mini-MALP, which made it easy to plan for the one large group of bugs in the room. So, she took careful aim and tossed the grenade past Jack's new toy into the room before retreating to watch from the RC truck's camera with the rest of the team. A few short seconds later the last light on the ball disappeared and a violent cloud of electrical energy expanded from the orb sweeping through the room.

The bioluminescent roots throughout the room glowed brightly as they absorbed some of the energy from the shock grenade giving the room an eerie blue glow.

With the largest group twitching and dead on the floor to the grenade, Daniel's flame thrower and the new upgraded night vision goggles, they made short work of the remaining bugs in the first room.

Captain Carter retrieved the shock grenade she'd used and noticed there was a button on one side, she pressed it, and six dots of light appeared next to the button, four green and the last two red.

"It looks like they have six charges, the stun mode uses a single charge at a time, the kill mode uses two charges, and there's a third mode that I assume is destroy-everything-explosively with as much charge as you can generate mode, sir," Carter explained her findings.

"Sweet," O'Neill said.

"Indeed," Teal'c nodded.

While the team was catching their breath, Carter pulled a comical looking assemblage of electronics from her pack and a roll of duct tape. The item in her hands looked almost like a cartoon bomb that had a thick copper coil attached on one end. The captain found a spot behind the camera on the RC truck after a moment's observation where she felt safe anchoring her contraption.

"What's that?" O'Neill asked, having spotted her work when she placed the RC truck onto the next section of path deeper into the caves.

"Well, I had some trouble getting that shock grenade I disassembled back together after disassembling it outside of the lab, sir," Carter said, sheepishly.

"Carter," Jack said in faux disappointment.

"So, I figured out how to hook the shock generating components up to a power supply and remote, sir. If we have to use it, the RC Truck is already toast at that point." Carter shrugged.

"Well, if you're sure," Jack said.

The loot this time was a few replacement magazines of ammo and two new devices. They looked like they should slip onto the barrel of the P-90 and had a bridge part that would rest just behind the flashlight mount on top of the P-90. Additionally, there was a fabric tool case that held a variety of diagnostic probes that looked like they'd attach to the crystals in a DHD or one of the Goa'uld systems.

The colonel examined the new kit and found a switch on one side and a trigger mechanism that could pop out. The switch had two indicators under it, the same as the first two options of the shock grenade.

He experimentally fired a single shot into the corner of the room, a crackling blue ball of light formed at the tip that shot off in the direction he'd aimed and impacted a bundle of roots which sucked up the energy glowing brighter.

He attached the new item to his P-90 and left the selector switch set to the skull being shocked and fired a round.

The ball of light formed the same as before but seemed to catch the bullet and stretched into a speeding tracer of light that impacted another bundle of roots with a crackling pop spreading little arcs of plasma in a sphere around the impact point.

The colonel let out a low whistle of appreciation.

"That reminds me of the way a Zat'nik'tel weapon fires, the added penetration from your chemically propelled bullets should prove most formidable," Teal'c said.

"Indeed. What would really be useful though, would be something that can be less lethal for Daniel's bleeding heart, I'm sure he'd be more comfortable if he could shoot someone and only stun them," Jack said.

"Seriously?" Daniel shook his head exasperatedly.

"I wouldn't mind more of those shock grenades," Carter said.

The diagnostic probe kit found its way into Carter's pack, while the attachments were installed onto their P-90s.

"Alrighty, campers, ready for the sneak preview of the next room?" Colonel O'Neill asked, retrieving the impressively modified collection of levers, buttons, and thumbsticks that had been assembled to control all the added features of his RC Truck from his pack.

"You know, Jack, this little thing would probably be very handy for our regular missions," Daniel said.

The team gathered around Jack to watch the little truck as it barreled down the passage and into the next room. It was immediately apparent that this cavern held far more bugs, and they were much more active in their movements around the room. They got some really close up views of the bugs as several of them examined the interloper truck momentarily blocking the camera's view, though the bugs didn't seem to be all that concerned with doing anything more than being a nuisance. Despite the interference they still got a good look at things...including the ambush bugs hanging out on webs over the entrance, and they would need to be dealt with quickly.

Jack wasn't paying attention to the ground as the truck toured the room and he accidentally landed it in the pit where the loot normally showed up, which was just deep enough that the wheels couldn't quite lift it back out. So, it was with a grimace that he readied himself for the coming fight with the bugs, concerned that the flamethrower would damage his new toy. His worries seemed unfounded though as Daniel expertly guided the blasts of flame from the contraption away from the truck. Even when shooting clear across the room over the truck. The flames did a wonderful job in the Colonel's opinion, causing the webbing throughout the room to practically vaporize, dropping their prospective ambushers into the fire from both their P-90's and the flamethrower.

When the room was finally declared cleared with judicious sweeps of their flashlights and some careful blasts of flame from Daniel, and the last of the dead bugs had dissolved as normal, the team pulled some folding tripod type stools out of their packs and set them up in a circle to examine the loot that had appeared.

There were three new canisters of fuel for the flamethrower amidst the now expected P-90 magazines. The new ammo magazines were distributed, and Jack pulled out the controller again.

"See, and we didn't even need your special surprise," Jack smiled.

"Yet," Carter replied with a smirk.

"Indeed," Teal'c nodded.

"Ready to see what the next one holds for us?" Jack asked.

"Oh boy," Daniel deadpanned.

"And now I really want to add a tape or hard drive for recording if we make that a regular piece of our kit," Carter said.

Beyond the room, there was an immediate and obvious change in behavior from the bugs as O'Neill's makeshift reconnaissance vehicle progressed. Every few meters down the passage, another bug dropped from a hidden web in an attempt to attack, but O'Neill had the throttle on full and the bugs kept missing.

The team grimaced as they got their first view of the third cavern, which had enough bugs that he knew they would end up having to basically blanket everything in flames. Not to mention the bugs had definitely decided that the RC Truck was no longer welcome and were advancing on his poor baby instead of leaving it alone so they could get a good look at things

"Oh, I think they just took out the lights, Carter, if there's a time for your little surprise it's now," O'Neill said unhappily.

Sam Carter looked gleeful as she pulled her own, if much simpler, remote out of a pocket and pressed the single button on it.

Everyone winced as the high pitch whine from the electronics in Carter's surprise echoed down the hall, followed by the relief from the whine as a muffled crackle indicated it had discharged.

The team advanced, shooting down the previously revealed ambush bugs in turns, until they reached the entrance to the third cavern. They were greeted with the shriveled up and smoking mass of the bioluminescent roots that encircled an impressive char pattern on the ground. In the center of the zone of destruction was the merrily burning and melted remains of Jack's truck, a ring of fried bugs surrounding it.

"Impressive," Jack said, a little grudgingly at the effectiveness of Carter's surprise.

"And that wasn't even using the original power source, just something I cobbled together from the batteries we had on base, sir. I imagine a fully charged one of these shock grenades would pack a punch, sir," Carter said.

The rest of the room was still teeming with activity and Jack opted to motion for everyone to stay back from the entrance for him to toss one of the fragmentation grenades he'd snagged from the FRED the specialists had left in the SGC before their ill fated delve.

There was a loud bang and bug parts came flying through the opening.

"Daniel, you're up," Jack motioned for the team's normally mild mannered archaeologist to make with the flames already.

Daniel happily obliged, spreading the burning fuel around the room, reducing large swaths of the bugs to a crisp.

"Time to try out that new zapper attachment," O'Neill pressed the buttons on the side of the attachment on his own P-90 and opened fire.

Carter on Daniel's opposite side opened fire with her own P-90, and the difference was electrifying crackling bolts of blue accompanied the rounds out of the chamber of the gun spreading little blue tendrils of electricity around into the bugs around where they impacted splashing the damage effect across entire clumps instead of just a few bugs at a time.

Teal'c had stepped up with his staff and was adding to the outpouring of damage chewing through the pests infesting the cave.

With all the upgrades and the addition of the flame thrower the team made short work of the room until there weren't enough close bugs for Daniel to hit in a single blast; so he switched to his side arm slaying the remaining bugs with a few well placed shots.

As usual the dungeon absorbed the corpses and simultaneously dropped some items into a circular depression in the middle of the room.

O'Neill wasn't happy that his RC Truck had been taken with the rest of the dead things until Daniel called him over to the loot.

"Hey Jack, check these out," Daniel said.

Colonel O'Neill spun on his heels and walked over to the expected loot pile immediately noticing the new additions: a round basketball sized orb, and a second tok'kal orb presumably to replace the guts of the one that was destroyed with the RC truck, and a rectangular piece of kit that reminded him strongly of a handheld Sega Game Gear he had his eye on for a Christmas present to himself. Only this had a much bigger screen and a different layout of buttons.

"I see we got a replacement for the shock grenade guts you used. Does that mean I get a replacement for my RC truck?" O'Neill said.

The handheld lit up when Daniel handed it to O'Neill, showing a menu of strange symbols.

"What do you make of this," Jack held it out so that Daniel could see the symbols.

The archaeologist happily took the device back and started recording the unfamiliar language into his notebook, occasionally tapping the handheld device to shift the menus and see more words.

"Fascinating, it's definitely not a writing system I'm familiar with, but the structure seems almost familiar," Daniel replied, handing the device back.

"Yeah, but how do we turn it on," O'Neill asked, fiddling absentmindedly with the remote.

As he said the word 'on' one of the menu items on the display flashed and the second and larger of the two orbs that hadn't been identified yet started humming and then lifted off the ground.

"Some form of antigravity?" Carter said, now enthralled with the shiny new tech.

"Did I do that?" O'Neill asked.

"It would appear so," Teal'c stated.

Daniel made grabby hands for the remote control that O'Neill grudgingly handed over.

"I think you got it right, Sam," Daniel said, and rotated the device to show her the display with a view from a camera somewhere within the floating orb.

Daniel experimentally pressed on the thumbstick and the metal sphere started to move forward.

"Well, that seems to work," Daniel said and handed the controller back to O'Neill.

O'Neill grinned like a kid at Christmas and started toying with the buttons until he was confident he had a grip on how the floating orb moved.

"Time to try the new and improved reconnaissance drone," Colonel O'Neill said.

"Whenever you're ready," Carter said.

O'Neill suddenly stopped and looked up at the hovering camera probe, "What are we going to call it?"

"Kino?" Daniel suggested.

"Kino?" O'Neill asked.

"It's a European word for film or cinema in multiple languages," Daniel offered.

"I don't hate it," O'Neill said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"Let's see what this kino can do," O'Neill said, piloting the kino into the passageway out of the room.

The room they'd just cleared, the third of the caverns, seemed to have been the largest of the rooms as the next one was smaller, and the kino had a surprise for SG1 as targeting reticles appeared on the display dancing around and identifying each of the bugs. It took longer for the bugs to take notice of it as well, and once they did, they had a harder time reaching it. But eventually at least one managed to land on the thing. On the right hand side of the remote one of the buttons lit up with a pulsing blue light.

O'Neill took the hint and experimentally pushed the button.

A tendril of electrified plasma danced across the viewport, very obviously blasting the bug that had managed to land on the kino clear off of it and chaining off that bug into the next nearest four bugs.

"Now that's more like it," O'Neill cheered, continuing to look around the room. "Now we can see where everything is without them taking out our cameras."

It didn't take long for the team to form their plan of attack for this room which turned out to be far less involved, and within a few minutes they were proceeding through the passage to their next goal.

With one eye on the view of the room from the Kino, and the other on the team, they quickly took their places at the entrance.

Carter pulled the original shock grenade she'd already used in the first room to the second stop and twisted it to set the timer. She then tossed it in the direction of the biggest cluster they'd spotted from the kino and watched with the team as it landed dead center as the last timing light blinked off unleashing the electrified plasma cloud that tore through the bugs in the room. The roots lit up again, absorbing energy from the grenade blast with only minimal charring from the roots closest to the center where the plasma from the grenade was the strongest.

"Nice work, Carter," O'Neill said.

"Sir," Carter replied with a subtle grin.

There were only a few bugs left ambulatory on the edges of the room, and the team quickly cleared the room. When the loot appeared this time, it seemed as if the dungeon had listened to Jack's earlier musing there was a more advanced side arm that retained the basic shape of the nine millimeter gun but had a beefier extended barrel with a selector switch that would change firing modes.

It had a removable battery pack integrated into the handle next to where a standard clip could be loaded, and another charging port. The metal looked more like stainless steel and there were visible screws and seams where the item could be taken apart.

"Sweet," Jack said, picking up the new weapon and looking it over.

Daniel made an appreciative noise as he accepted the proffered loot from O'Neill, and slipped the new and hopefully optionally lethal gun into the holster for his service weapon and the service weapon into his pack after making sure it was unloaded.

Finally, there was a white case with a blue heart circled in red. The heart symbol was a stylized human heart with the vein and artery connections and not the two lobes and pointed tip that would've been familiar to an earth team but likely not to anyone else.

"Not so sweet is that," O'Neill pointed to the white case.

"Why would that be," Teal'c asked.

"At a guess that's a first aid kit, and none of us are injured, which makes me expect the next room is going to be a pain."

"Good point, sir," Carter said.

"I'm guessing I should probably swap to one of those fuel canisters with the odd mix for the flame-thrower," Daniel said.

"Oh yeah," O'Neill agreed.

The team went through and checked their equipment while O'Neill piloted the kino down the passage that gradually widened into a larger room. Eight ominously glowing sacs of webbing intertwined with the bioluminescent roots hung from the ceiling.

At the far end of the room, a larger bug was crouched over the beginnings of an egg sac, its tail was three times the size of the rest of the body and likely swollen with eggs. The queen bug reared up and hissed with vestigial wing flaps fluttering in a threat display at the Kino. Two of the legs had metamorphosed into something resembling hands and it picked up two eggs from the ground around it and flung them.

"Ah crap! Definitely a boss room next," O'Neill said, working the controls to swerve out of the way of the improvised projectiles.

The thrown eggs impacted the wall, the shell disintegrating revealing two new juvenile bugs.

The path into the boss room didn't have any real option for cover like the prior passages had where the entrance to the previous rooms was slightly smaller giving the team cover before they fully entered. Instead, it just widened gradually until the tunnel was more room than tunnel.

Carter examined her shock grenades, not wanting to have to fully enter the room to use them and not enjoying the idea of not having cover to stand behind. Not seeing much of an option, she mentally calculated the distances and how long it'd take for the grenade to roll and how hard she'd have to throw it bowling style to get it into the cave before it timed out.

She used the last of the charge on her first grenade, setting it to kill as she tossed it into the room. It rolled about halfway into the room before it activated, where the cloud of energetic plasma and lightning expanded to little effect. Only what few eggs had exposed surfaces unprotected by the webbing tying them to the ceiling were affected, and it didn't seem to spread beyond them, aside from supercharging the roots causing them to glow brightly outlining the egg sacs against the gloom.

The momentum of the grenade carried it onward past the activation point and into the queen bug where it was swatted at high speed into the Kino. That caused both to go careening towards opposite walls, the shock grenade being halted by one of the partially damaged egg sac webs smashing through several eggs.

Carter wasn't pleased with the lack of damage and how the queen had simply swatted it away, so she adjusted her timing and opted for the third setting of the grenade to dump the full six charges into the emitters even if it meant the grenade would be damaged beyond usefulness. She took her stance, activated the grenade by closing it and bowled it perfectly down the middle of the passage into the room and right up to the where the queen was ready to smash down when the timer ran down.

The shock grenade whined loudly as it discharged everything it had in a violent explosion. The energy cloud saturated half the room, overwhelming the protective effects of the egg sac webbing nearest to the queen bug and severely damaging the webs at the trailing edge. All the eggs within the cloud of energetic plasma were fried nearly instantly and the queen bug screamed in pain, though much of the energy was grounded out through the protective properties of the queen bug's carapace.

The bioluminescent roots spread throughout the room glowed brightly as they absorbed some of the energy while those roots nearest the explosion shriveled, and all the roots directly within the plasma cloud were basically ash in the wind.

"Now that's the sort of big honkin space gun I like seeing," O'Neill crowed in delight.

"Holy Hannah," Carter said.

"Did the Kino even survive that?" Daniel asked.

O'Neill checked the remote which was showing static and shook his head sadly.

"Damn," Daniel said.

"Indeed," was all Teal'c managed.

The queen bug in the other room was still alive and angrily screeching its presumed vengeance upon the interlopers.

"Okay, Daniel you're on flames, Teal'c every shot goes down range into that queen bug, Carter and I will be working on shooting down those egg sacs that survived and then additional fire at the queen where possible," O'Neill brought his P-90 up and toggled the addon zat attachment.

Carter followed his lead, while Daniel readied the flamethrower between them. Teal'c brought his staff weapon up to his shoulder in the standard Jaffa precision mode and the team proceeded into the boss room.

The first of the egg sacs within range of the flame thrower ignited to the squeals of dying bugs and the crackle of burning web as Daniel walked the flame across the room ahead of the team.

Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter used the extra visibility from the flames to rapidly detach the connecting webbing holding the four other egg sacs in the room that survived their initial assault and then started sending bullets charged with zat energy down the hall like room into the queen bug while Daniel continued sweeping the flames across the ground in front of the team and occasionally into the air to fry any eggs the furious queen was flinging at them.

Between the initial two grenades killing any bugs that had been out of the eggs, Daniels expert use of the flame thrower, and the zat charged bullets going into the surviving egg sacs, the room was clear of the smaller bugs and the team was now able to focus their full efforts on the beastly bug queen in front of them. Eventually their massed firepower overwhelmed the protection of the queen's carapace, splattering her insides and cooking the remaining eggs in her enlarged abdomen, and brought an end to the bug.

The glowing roots at the edge of the room were almost bright enough after all the activity to make the night vision goggles unnecessary.

"Clear," O'Neill called.

"Clear," the other three confirmed. Their flashlights cast beams of bright light around the room. The system sensed the end of the action and started reclaiming all the dead bugs including the Queen. As the massive bug disappeared into the floor, two replacement shock grenades and a new kino sphere were revealed as though the queen's carapace had been hiding them the entire time.

Additionally, next to the three orbs was a stack of plastic-looking material the exact size and shape of the armored ballistic inserts they used in their tactical vests for stopping bullets, the material was extremely light and flexible but didn't look like anything they'd seen before.

Carter gathered the new materials, placing the stack of inserts in her pack for analysis back at the SGC while O'Neill waved his remote over the new kino hoping it would activate with similar ease to the old one, which it promptly did.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

At the back of the queen bug's chamber, instead of another darkened passage as had become the norm for their exploration, there was a solid door that slid into the wall at their approach. The room behind the door was brightly lit just as the gate room was from lights high in the ceiling. To the right of the opening was a pedestal beyond which sat a sliding door. To the left, two openings in the wall with paths that turned at right angles blocking the view beyond the bend in the path reminiscent of the style of entrance used for restrooms at more recently constructed major airports. Directly across from the opening they were looking through was another sliding door.

There were signs here. In the same strange block form language used on O'Neill's new favorite remote.

The walls of the safe room had a variety of interesting geometric shapes and greebles holding backlit panels of multiple colors, the team might have likened them to being similar to the swooping curves on the DHDs only more angular with inset channels about two centimeters wide and three deep outlining each shape, giving the room a very different feel from the caves they'd just left.

The team gingerly entered the room, and lights under and over the pedestal lit up. Daniel had the flamethrower up and unleashed a stream of flames before he'd even noticed his own action. The flames passed harmlessly through the hologram of the man.

"Excellent reflexes, Danny," O'Neill said.

Daniel sheepishly stopped the pointless stream of flames and lowered the nozzle of the flame thrower. As the flames died down, they revealed the image of one of the NID soldiers that hadn't survived the previous trip. He was still in full uniform, though missing most of the gear he'd carried through the gate.

"It's an advanced holographic projection with zero distortion," Carter said in awe.

The three dimensional image of the man turned to face the group as a whole and started speaking. Sounding nothing like the brash man from before. Actually, he sounded rather robotic.

"Congratulations. You have completed the Iratus bug challenge, after two attempts totaling 13 hours. You have set a new record: Queen's room challenge completed in ten minutes forty-eight seconds from engagement of combat, with zero deaths and zero team resets," the hologram said.

"Iratus," Daniel Jackson muttered, scribbling in a notebook.

"Welcome to the safe room. When you are ready to continue the next challenge proceed through the next door. You may return to the Astria Porta directly via the locuum porta behind this display."

"Astria Porta, and Locuum Porta" Daniel Jackson muttered, dutifully jotting these new words down as well.

The hologram winked out of existence with a warbling musical chime and a laptop sized device appeared on the pedestal where the hologram had been.

"Okay, that was more than a little creepy," Sam Carter said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

There was a control pedestal to the side of the hologram platform with several gel style buttons on it, and what looked like space where additional buttons could be installed but hadn't. Daniel let his curiosity take over and he approached and tentatively pressed the first button on the leftmost side, and then the center button.

There was a warbling musical note as the hologram shimmered back into existence with a different NID soldier this time. The first part of the message had been left out this time, but the hologram repeated the second message.

"Welcome to the safe room. When you are ready to continue the next challenge proceed through the next door. You may return to the Astria Porta directly via—"

"That dialog was definitely pre-recorded. Just the image was changed," Daniel said, pressing the button again, cutting the hologram off and replacing it with another NID soldier .

"Well, that happened. But, why would it use the image of one of the NID idiots?" O'Neill asked.

"Perhaps an attempt to show a familiar face?" Carter suggested. "If it knows they came from Earth like we did, anyway."

"I wonder if that means the NID team is still alive, just held somewhere further in," Daniel said, idly toying with the buttons and cycling through NID team members.

"Unfortunately, there's only one way to find out. Any idea what that thing is?" Jack O'Neill asked.

"It looks like a more compact version of the DHD," Daniel said after looking over the item that had been deposited at the feet of the hologram that was now a Goa'uld soldier.

"I think this would fit in a field computer bag, one designed for one with all the ruggedization options included..." Captain Carter said.

"Did you bring one of those bags?" Jack asked.

"...it's currently being used by my laptop sir," Carter said.

"Kree Jaffa, Chel hol, Avidan kree, cal mah! —"

Daniel pressed a button stopping the hologram of the Jaffa warrior mid speech.

"That was Norren, one of Chronus' former first primes." Teal'c said in surprise.

"And it has a serial port, the system must have figured out how that standard works from the example in my laptop," Carter said.

"Fascinating, I'm sure. Any idea why it would leave one here for us?" O'Neill said.

"Maybe it somehow detected that we aren't using a standard dialing computer?" Carter said.

"I'm not entirely comfortable plugging strange alien devices into critical base infrastructure, Captain," O'Neill said.

"Neither am I. We can still examine it more thoroughly before considering that. If it works better than our current setup, we can just keep it on an isolated system from the rest of the base," Carter replied.

"Are you done playing with that?" O'Neill asked Daniel, clapping him on the shoulder just as he pressed another button.

The hologram shifted again this time a tall lady with dark hair and flowing white dress appeared mid speech.

"...in our overconfidence we were unprepared, the wraith fed upon defenseless worlds until only Atlantis remained..."

In his shock, Daniel accidentally pressed a button causing the hologram to disappear again.

"Wait, go back to that last one," Jack said. But pressing the button only caused a tall androgynous alien with gray skin to appear and begin speaking in a strange language that sounded like someone playing a recording backwards.

"That's archaic old Icelandic, almost," Daniel said. "Or perhaps an ancestral, proto-Indo-European form of Icelandic."

"You know, it managed to talk to us in English but those signs are all in that weird font," Jack said. "Would it kill the people who build these things to include translations?"

"Oh, if only complaining about lack of translations worked," Daniel trailed off as the metal of the signs shifted into more recognizable English words.

"I was going to say that we can't expect possibly-extinct civilizations to use languages we understand, sir," Carter said.

"I'm going to regret this, but we really need to take a peek at what's behind the door. What say you, Teal'c?" O'Neill said, after the team had made use of the facilities and partaken of a snack from the food alcove.

"We have already surpassed my personal knowledge of this place, O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"At least we've got a name for the bugs now," Daniel said, with false brightness.

"Oh yes, because knowing the hologram boy called them Iratus bugs makes it so much better," O'Neill snarked back.

"Also, he called the stargate an Astria Porta," Daniel said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

O'Make:

"What's this button do," Daniel said, focusing on a control panel next to the hologram platform.

"Daniel," O'Neill started, but Daniel had already pressed the button.

The hologram shimmered back into existence over the octagonal platform, but this time had the form of one of the deceased NID team members. "The use of naquadah-enhanced grenades in enclosed spaces is not recommended." Then flickered right back off.

Daniel presses the button again.

The hologram reappears, this time it's a dark skinned Jaffa with graying hair, "The Goa'uld are not in fact gods, merely up jumped parasites with delusions of grandeur."

"That was the image of my great Uncle Korec, he did not return after his third visit to the caves under the command of Cronus," Teal'c said.

Daniel couldn't help it and pressed the button one more time.

An echoing voice sounded, "A new hand touches the beacon."

"And with that, we're out of here," O'Neill said.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 3

Dungeon Planet - 2nd Challenge - October 9th

Beyond the sliding door of the safe room, the hallway was dimly lit by a scattering of dim blue lighting that filtered down from the ceiling through leathery looking beams, and the occasional bulbous organic column spaced evenly the walls cast an orange glow. The effect was rather like a laser tag arena built inside a living thing.

The floor was level and solid feeling aside from a slightly leathery texture, and a low mist hung above the floor with only the occasional disturbances from near invisible air filtration systems.

"I don't like this," O'Neill said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

O'Neill shouldered his weapon and started a slow crawl into the hall, Carter shouldered her own weapon and moved up to his left, Teal'c was on his right and Daniel followed in the rear with his new side arm.

A hazy shadow flitted across the corridor ahead at a junction.

O'Neill brought the procession to a halt and pulled out the kino and remote, kicking himself that they'd forgotten about it.

The team held their position watching the kino as it floated down the hall.

"Wish there was a minimap," O'Neill grumbled.

The screen on the remote flickered and a little wireframe map of the hall appeared in the corner with little dots showing the team.

"Huh, and now I'm thinking of a slice of pie," O'Neill said, tilting his head.

"You literally just had one," Carter said.

"What, it was worth a try," O'Neill said.

"How is it doing that?" Daniel asked.

"There must be mapping hardware built into the kino," Carter said.

"No, I meant responding to what he asks for," Daniel clarified.

"Voice recognition? There's some limited examples of that technology in development back home," Carter suggested.

The team watched the map fill in as the kino worked its way through the maze of hallways and junctions.

"Hope you brought the golden thread for the maze, Daniel," O'Neill said.

Daniel looked askance at O'Neill's reference to the mythical labyrinth but chose not to say anything, because two blips had briefly appeared as the kino passed an open door.

"Let's go see what this enemy looks like," O'Neill said, having spotted the blips as they faded.

The patrolling wraith warriors that greeted them were an intimidating pair of blue-grey skinned humanoids with long white hair. They were wearing dark bumpy masks that completely covered their faces, and Jack wondered how they could see with those things on. The snarls came through clearly though and the weird not mouth on their hands was an obvious problem.

Daniel was the quickest to react with the flamethrower up and blasting the wraith drones enraging them further, as they thrust their weapons forward.

The first of the warriors only managed to send a single blast of cyan colored energy towards them, which hit Teal'c before Carter and O'Neill responded with their electrified P-90s and blasted crackling holes into the snarling warriors stitching a line of holes across their chests and downing them.

O'Neill warily watched the two bodies as Carter knelt to examine the long and pointy energy weapon the closer drone warrior dropped when he fell.

"Sam," Daniel called out.

"Carter," O'Neill said at the same time as Daniel.

Captain Carter looked up from the weapon and jumped back as she noticed the wraith's arm was twitching, the fingers grasping and clawing at the ground as though the warrior could drag itself closer to her from sheer finger strength alone.

The captain used her P-90 and fired another couple rounds and bolts of energy into the head of the warrior, until it stopped twitching and the body was absorbed into the ground as they'd come to expect.

The wraith stun weapon remained behind as their loot.

The second wraith warrior was still there so Daniel used his new side arm on that one figuring it was somehow still alive if disabled if the cave hadn't removed it yet.

O'Neill looked up realizing that Teal'c's silent presence seemed to be absent and looked around for the big guy only to spot a third wraith that had appeared from a now empty room behind them and had slammed its hand into Teal'c's chest, and not in a way that looked at all helpful for the big guy.

The wraith seemed incredibly angry about something though as whatever it was trying to do didn't seem to be happening as the wraith wanted, and Teal'c was having a bad reaction.

O'Neill's P-90 blasted the third wraith warrior of the day away from his friend. The impact disrupting the hold the wraith had on Teal'c's chest as the Jaffa warrior took one last shaky breath before being whisked away by the dungeon's retrieval system. The wraith warrior on the other hand twitched back and forth with each shot before finally collapsing.

"Dammit, Teal'c had better be waiting for us alive and unharmed in the safe room," O'Neill said.

Carter and Daniel followed the unhappy Colonel as he retrieved the kino and marched back the direction they'd come and through the doors.

Happily for the team, Teal'c was indeed lying in a medical pod that had extended from one of the shapes covering the walls of the safe room. Above the pod a second wall piece had moved aside to reveal biometric data graphs showing things like the pulse, breathing rate, and brain activity of the patient.

SG1 rushed over to Teal'c. O'Neill reached out to gently wake the warrior.

"Teal'c, are you alright?" O'Neill asked.

"That was most unpleasant, O'Neill," Teal'c's said once he'd gathered his wits and figured out where he was. "It felt as though that being was trying to take something from within me but was unable to do so.

"Great space vampires, I really hope those aren't a real enemy, it took way too much work to bring them down," O'Neill said.

"I really hope those aren't a real enemy, it took way too much work to bring them down," O'Neill said.

"I am in agreement, Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c said.

"Are you sure you should be moving just yet?" Carter asked.

Teal'c pulled himself into a sitting position with a grunt and replied, "I will be fine, Captain Carter. This was a remarkably cleaner feeling than waking up from a sarcophagus. I will only require a few moments to gather my strength."

"So, we can just use that door to go back to the gate, right?" O'Neill said pointing to the indicated door the hologram had informed them of.

"That's what the hologram said," Daniel agreed.

"Let's get out of here, I'm missing a new episode of The Simpsons right now," O'Neill said.

SGC - October 9th, 1997

"The builders of the training facility called the stargate an Astria Porta, and the bugs in the first challenge Iratus bugs. If I make some very heavy assumptions those are very close to Latin root words for, star, door, and irate or angry," Daniel started.

"Oh yes, because I really needed to know they called them the angry bugs in Latin," Jack muttered.

"Doctor Jackson, does knowing that the builders may have spoken something similar to Latin get us any closer to understanding why the place seems to ignore all prior precedent we know of?" General George Hammond interrupted the doctor's theorizing and leaned back in his chair at the head of the briefing room table.

"Well, uh... Sam?" Daniel seemed flustered.

"Nothing concrete sir, just this," Carter passed a printout of the picture Daniel Jackson had taken of the stone counter displayed above the entrance to the bug part of the dungeon.

"It was blank until the entire team was present and then sort of slid open to reveal those symbols," Captain Carter explained.

"I believe it's some form of counting system, the display updated after we entered the first time, and every subsequent time," Doctor Daniel Jackson interjected. He clicked a button causing an image of the symbols in the relief to show up on the projector, the last symbol was different showing additional blocks of stone hanging above a short fat T shape that took up a two block high by three block wide space at the bottom of the symbol. "Based on the spacing, I believe it will continue adding blocks in a three by three grid as a form of numerical counting."

"That second picture is from after we retreated from the wraith section and used a transport booth of some kind to go directly from the safe room between sections to the gate room," Carter said.

"Hold on, we're going with wraith?" Daniel asked.

"And what was this bit about the hologram using the appearance of one of the NID specialists," Hammond said.

"We think that was the facility trying to use a familiar face," Daniel said.

"Either that or a hint that they might still be recoverable if we get to the end of the challenges," Captain Carter said.

"Speaking of the first section, I assume the flamethrower was a success," Hammond prompted.

"It worked like a charm," O'Neill replied.

"Daniel Jackson was most proficient in the handling of the flamethrower," Teal'c said.

"I'm still surprised he handled it so well," Carter said.

"Gee thanks for the vote of confidence," Daniel said.

"We should get you certified to use that thing normally," Jack said.

"...I am certified. That's part of why I was using it," Daniel replied.

"...certification takes three weeks, minimum, if they put you through the rush course," Sam said.

"He's been certified for the last two months now," General Hammond said.

Jack turned to Daniel, his face the perfect expression of confusion.

"You aim to be a pacifist whenever possible. Why are you certified on flamethrowers?" Jack asked.

"I've been working my way through all the weapon certifications so that I know how to not kill myself when you inevitably hand me a weapon that is liable to kill me."

"Huh," Jack leaned back.

"They won't let me take the crew-served weapon certifications, since I'm not supposed to be manning those here in the base and we don't bring anything like that into the field," Daniel huffed and crossed his arms.

"Is that a sulk?" Jack leaned back.

"If we're finished with the relevant topics of this debriefing," the general interrupted Jack's heckling of the archaeologist.

"Actually, I wanted to know when you wanted us to make another attempt at things, Sir," Captain Carter said.

"Perhaps after another mission to a different planet, I'd rather not have you burn out from the stress of constant combat that the dungeon planet seems to offer," Hammond said. "And I'm sure that everyone involved in examining things would like more than a couple of days to look over the latest 'bounty'."

"Daniel did have something he wanted us to take a look at," O'Neill suggested.

"Ah, well you see, it looks like the original Langford team managed to make a connection back in 1945, I believe I should be able to determine the address from the film reel the pentagon sent over," Daniel said.

"That can be your next project then, SG1, dismissed," Hammond said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - October 10th, 1997

Colonel O'Neill sauntered into Captain Carter's lab with two cups of blue jello, he placed one on the table next to her with a spoon and started eating the second one. In between scoops he leaned forward to examine what she was looking at.

"What's that?"

"Schematics for everything we could identify in the shock grenade, sir," Carter said, absentmindedly picking up the jello cup he'd placed down for her. "There's what looks to be an RF chip module here, and a sync button. I've been working on decoding the signals and programming a remote control. I've identified two unbalanced motors that can be used for movement and a second circuit here for discharging the shock grenade."

"And that?" O'Neill pointed at the portable DHD case.

"I've been hesitant to try and disassemble it since it doesn't have the same easy access screws as everything else, just the access hatch with sixteen clear crystal cards in slots and the input/output ports. Also, there's no obvious peripherals, so I've been waiting for the air-gap dummy machine to arrive from procurement before I power it up."

"Did Andy have anything to say about the power crystals?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, actually, how did you know Doctor Covel was a lapidarist," Carter said around a spoonful of blue jello.

"Ah well, we had a chat in the mess hall a few months back and he mentioned he could fix a loose setting on Lieutenant Morris' birthstone ring," O'Neill said.

"That explains things, anyway, Covel was able to shave off a thin slice of the crystal and identified that it wasn't a pure corundum crystal, it has two intertwined microscopic lattices of lithium-ion and nanostructured carbon, the corundum separates the lattices attaching to a band of pure copper on either end."

"That was a waste of a perfectly good explanation," O'Neill said.

"It's a solid state ceramic battery sir, we don't have the techniques to duplicate it exactly, yet, but the chemical composition is very viable using more conventional film deposited construction methods, and it's in line with the most advanced battery research in the private sector."

"So, big battery?"

"Pretty much sir, our home grown versions are also just slightly unstable, think bursting into flames if punctured and not reacting well to contaminants during the production process."

"That might be a feature for if you need a self destruct option," O'Neill mused around his own blue jello.

"Also, it's about half the capacity of the crystal for the same weight," Carter said.

"Did they say anything about those armor inserts yet?" O'Neill changed the subject.

"Those are with Dr. Lee in lab four," Carter said.

"No live fire testing?"

"Not so much sir, we want to identify the composition first before we proceed to destructive testing on something we have a limited supply of."

"Ah, did they bring Doctor Franks the materials and chemistry guy in on things?"

"I don't know, let me check."

"Well, keep me informed," O'Neill said. Taking the empty jello cups with him past the airman with a PC tower and a pineapple on a cart that was headed into the lab. Behind him he could hear Carter happy with the arrival.

"Is that the air-gapped computer I requested?"

"Yes, ma'am, signature please?"

O'Neill whistled as he continued on to his next destination.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Daniel pulled another reel of film out of the box and a file folder full of blacked out text that made reading the documents rather annoying.

He'd just started the film rolling when Jack peeked into the room.

"Fascinating stuff," O'Neill asked.

"Oh definitely, if only they hadn't censored over half the documents," Daniel replied, waving the report at him.

"What's this?" O'Neill motioned at the film that was playing.

"Huh? Just more footage of the experiments they were running," Daniel trailed off, having looked up to spot the man in the diving suit entering the open gate.

"Those records didn't say anything about anyone using the gate, did they?" Jack said.

"You saw that too," Daniel said.

"You got the symbols they used right?" Jack asked.

"If it's the same ones as the other reel, yes. But I'll have this one sent over for digitizing and double check," Daniel replied.

"So...whoever that was went through. Don't suppose there's any footage of him coming back?" Jack asked.

"That's the last film reel in the box. All the other reels are just them trying different things, getting exploding generators and trying again, until they got a successful dial on the previous reel that I showed you," Daniel replied, standing up and removing the reel from the projector.

"What are you doing," Jack asked, watching as Daniel started flitting around his office space moving things around.

"Unfortunately all the names are blacked out in the documentation, so the only person I know that's still alive that could tell us about the experiments, even if she wasn't directly involved, is Doctor Catherine Langford," Daniel said.

"So you were just planning on dropping everything, to what, go and interrogate her?"

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"She has to know something."

"And there are procedures, Daniel, she could be the president, and I'd still have you go clear this with General Hammond first," Jack said.

"And if he says no?"

"He's not going to say no, Daniel. If he does though, then we find out if he has a good reason, and work around those concerns until he says yes."

"What kind of good reason would you accept?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe if she recently died."

Daniel looked aghast at the suggestion.

"What?" Jack asked. "It's a valid reason, she's old, Daniel, I'm pretty sure she's still alive, but it's a valid concern and you can't exactly ask a grave questions. We have a very good reason to go bother her in her retirement, and she's under existing NDAs that simplify things. Besides, the general will probably want to know what she knows just as much as we do."

Jack held an arm out and motioned for Daniel to walk with him to the general's office.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Teal'c swung his bo-staff sweeping the legs out from under the airman he was sparring with.

"You are improving, Airman Richard Bosworth," Teal'c said, holding out a hand to pull the airman up from the mat.

"It doesn't feel like it," Bosworth said, rubbing a shoulder.

"Your feelings can lie. Trust me, you are getting better," Teal'c said.

"Show me how you did that last move," the Airman asked, dropping back into the stance he'd been in.

Teal'c nodded and proceeded to show Airman Bosworth the sequence of moves that he'd failed to properly counter and then moved onto showing him the proper countermoves.

"Thanks," Bosworth said.

"You are most welcome," Teal'c gave a head bow of acknowledgement. "You will practice and next time we spar, you will be better still."

The Airman hobbled off the mat to the bench on the side where he grabbed his bottle of water and dropped onto the bench.

"I'll take next, if you're willing," Major Castleman stepped up to the edge of the mat.

"What do you wish to work on today, Major Castleman," Teal'c asked, not knowing the major as well as other members of the SGC.

"Hand to hand, if you would," Castleman said.

Teal'c nodded and returned the staff to the equipment rack before taking his place opposite the Major.

A crowd gathered to watch the match.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"So, Daniel and I are off to see Doctor Langford," Jack said as he poked his head into Sam's lab.

"Oh? Tell her I said, 'Hi.' Also sorry for missing our Tea date."

"Tea date?"

"Yeah, I usually take a Saturday off at least once a month to go have tea with her. Had to cancel this week," Carter motioned to the piles of projects across the room.

"Huh," Jack said, picking at a fingernail. "So, what are you up to now?"

"I'm going to be looking over the console thing with all the gate glyphs we got from the dungeon."

"Oh? Wishing you luck," Jack said.

"Thanks, but I was still trying to figure out if it's turned off because I haven't found the on button or because I need to hook it up to a power source."

Jack looked at the console for a moment before tapping a symbol on the corner of the thing. The symbols lit up and blinked on and off a few times before going dim. "Huh." Jack walked around the table until he was looking at what was presumably the back side of the device where the peripheral ports and card access door was. He pointed to a handle that was sticking out next to the access door. "What's that, and why is it sticking out like that?"

Carter leaned forward to see what he was talking about. The handle was obvious now that he'd pointed it out. With a shrug, she twisted the handle until it lined up with the depression where it slowly sunk into the slot. The lights on the power indicators went from feebly dim to full power.

"Must be an internal power disconnect mechanism," Captain Carter mused.

O'Neill stood there for a moment longer as Captain Carter grew more engrossed in the lines scrolling by on the screen of the computer she'd connected to the dialing console over the serial port on the back.

"I'll just leave you to it, then," O'Neill said, already moving for the door to the lab.

"Huh, sure" Carter vocalized, not even looking up from the screen.

O'Neill had reached the door and was half a step out of the room when the captain spoke up.

"Don't forget to tell Catherine 'Hi' from me," Carter said before O'Neill had fully disappeared through the door to her lab.

"I'll tell her," O'Neill said from the hall.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"You brought an overnight bag, right?" Daniel asked.

"Yup," Jack patted the duffle with a change of clothes and other essentials he was carrying. He decided to poke at Daniel on the way out of the mountain.

"Say Daniel, where is Doctor Langford living these days anyway, the base directory only had a post office box address listed for her somewhere up in Boulder."

"Ah, well she's up near the University, the house is held in a trust, so it won't show up under her name in any of the databases," Daniel replied.

"How do you know the address?" Jack asked.

"She insisted I stay with her back when she hired me for the project, I wasn't exactly financially stable if you remember," Daniel said.

"Huh, that's better than I expected, I was prepared to have to fly out of Peterson and ask for a vehicle from another base's motor pool. We should be able to get there in less than three hours, maybe get a hotel if we stay there late enough," Jack said.

Jack found the drive up from Colorado Springs wasn't that bad. It was just a short drive in Jack's truck, and they didn't even need to stop for gas.

"Daniel! You don't write, you don't call, why, one might be forgiven for assuming you had died or something. And you, Jack, I do appreciate the birthday and Christmas cards you sent last year, but you could call every now and then as well," Doctor Catherine Langford was in fine form, having received General Hammond's call that the two men were on their way to visit her.

Jack merely nodded in acknowledgement and leaned against the doorframe enjoying watching Daniel squirm under Catherine's piercing motherly concern.

"Thousands of Stargates, planetary shifts. Didn't you think I might be interested?" Catherin asked.

"That's why we came," Daniel tried to defend himself.

"Now, six months later. You could have told me sooner," Catherine needled.

"Wait, sooner?" Daniel asked.

"I have so enjoyed my chats with Samantha," Catherine smiled.

"Chats?" Daniel asked.

"Carter said, hi, by the way, and that she's sorry about missing Saturday Tea," Jack interjected.

"Thank you for relaying Samantha's words, Jack. She mentioned she might not have the leave schedule she originally planned when we last talked," Catherine said.

"... Saturday Tea? Cards? How am I only hearing about this now? No, wait, more importantly, how am I failing to be the good son here," Daniel asked.

"Don't look at me," Jack shrugged.

"Sit! Sit dears, I had Maggie prepare some tea before you arrived," Catherine waved for Jack to take a seat in one of the comfortable chairs opposite her.

Jack sauntered the rest of the way into the room and settled into the offered chair.

"I take it the general warned you of our impending arrival?"

"He did," Catherine said. "Something about early experiments done in 1945. How did you learn of those by the way?"

"The Pentagon was reviewing old materials recently for declassification, and they ran across old file boxes that someone recognized as related to the stargate. So, they sent them to us," Daniel explained.

"My father worked on the research team that worked on the gate during the war. Actually, they didn't know what it was then. But President Roosevelt was like that, curious. They suspected the gate was a weapon, or could be used as one. Nothing ever came of it though," Catherine reminisced.

"You weren't involved with the research?" Daniel asked.

Catherine scoffed, "you show how young you are, you forget that was 1945, the military had little use for a young woman such as I was then. I only know what little my father and Ernest were willing to discuss during dinner when they thought I wasn't listening."

"Ernest?" Jack asked.

"My late fiance, he was quite a dashing young man and a protégé of my father," Catherine trailed off into memory.

"You know, I was the one that suggested they use direct current instead of alternating current for powering the gate," Catherine said.

"Did you know the government kept the original files?" Daniel asked.

"I had my father's notes. He told me that was everything they had. Do you know how many administrations I had to petition to get the program started up again? Forty years had passed; the information was classified and buried. I never asked for the files, because I thought I had them. General West never offered, because he probably didn't even know they existed," Catherine replied.

"So, you don't know that they achieved a stable connection to another address in 1945," Daniel said.

"They did what now?" Catherine asked.

"They made a connection," Jack reiterated.

"No, I never knew they turned it on. My father never told me. It wasn't in his notes either."

"Then you should probably see this," Daniel said, and made a VHS tape appear from somewhere.

"I'm going to ignore the blatant disregard for proper handling of classified materials," Jack said looking up and away.

"Oh hush you," Catherine said, motioning for Daniel to make use of the VCR that was in the corner of the room. "Maggie left for the evening, the house is secure, and I have all the relevant NDAs signed."

"And I cleared it with Hammond before we left," Daniel added. "I can learn, you know. I'm not completely hopeless."

The picture flickered into existence and the trio watched the familiar ring in a less than familiar setting as a team of scientists in lab coats walked around checking things.

"Ernest," Catherine gasped as she caught sight of the younger man walking into view with a partially assembled diving suit, only identifiable thanks to carrying the helmet in his hands.

"That's Ernest?" Jack asked.

"That... that, idiot," Catherine said.

The three watched as Ernest in his diving suit stepped into the active puddle of the gate and disappeared. Shortly after he made it through, the shimmering puddle disappeared and severed the diving tether, stranding the young scientist at the destination.

"So, Ernest is the man that went through the gate," Jack said.

"Yes, and my father lied to me. He said Ernest died in an accident, an explosion. Probably thought he was protecting me," Catherine scoffed.

"From what?" Daniel asked.

"From knowing that my fiance chose to risk his life, that he chose his idea, his work, over me, without even talking to me about it first," Catherine replied. She then turned to Daniel. "You said this was a different address. Not Abydos?"

"Not Abydos," Daniel agreed.

"Jack?" Catherine asked, sweetly.

"Don't give me that look," Jack said.

"You get to explain this to General Hammond," Jack told Daniel.

"Oh don't be so dire, he's practically a teddy bear," Catherine waved off Jack's dire sounding statement. "I would go back to the mountain with you, but I'm scheduled to be a guest lecturer at the university in the morning. And this way you get to provide a nicer warning than if I came calling out of the blue. Oh, where are you staying tonight, you're not planning on driving back tonight are you?"

"It's only a two or three hour drive," Jack said.

"Nonsense, I have perfectly good guest rooms. You shouldn't endanger yourselves with too much driving, you'll stay the night. I insist," Catherine said.

"So, that's why you insisted I bring an overnight bag," Jack said to Daniel.

Daniel snorted. "Of course she was going to do this. How did you not know that she was going to?"

"Hey, it's not like I knew she'd have guest rooms. Though, you'll note that I didn't exactly argue about the overnight bag," Jack replied.

"Boys," Catherine laughed. "Daniel, you remember where your room is. Jack can take the one across the hall. Maggie will have breakfast served at seven. To think after all these years... I need to get my mind back on my lecture notes."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

The next day Jack and Daniel returned to the SGC to a scene of chaotic alarms a little after noon.

"Colonel O'Neill, Doctor Jackson," General Hammond met them at the last checkpoint having just arrived himself, having been called back due to the situation and apparently just finished receiving a briefing from an airman. "I take it you had a good trip."

"Generally relaxing, though I'm not fond of the traffic in Denver. What's going on, sir," O'Neill asked.

"The gate has been... acting up since about ten hundred hours this morning," General Hammond said.

"Carter?" Jack asked.

"She's in the control room going over the diagnostic logs from the dialing computer, she said something about the gate going through some sort of recalibration cycle when I talked to her over the phone," General Hammond replied.

"Let's go get our gear on, just in case," Jack said to Daniel and turned for the locker room.

"I'll meet you in the control room, Colonel," General Hammond said, and disappeared down the other hall.

Jack was quick to trade his civilian clothing for the BDU and snagged the remote he'd stowed on the shelf, only for it to light up with an obvious console log scrolling down one side of the screen and a wireframe of the gate with various red lines pointing to different things on the other side, one line changing to green seemingly at random as he watched.

At the top of the screen there was a series of words with arrows between each word, like a breadcrumb trail of sorts, though Jack still couldn't read the blocky script.

"Interesting," Jack said.

"What's that?" Daniel asked.

"I think I know what kicked this all off," Jack replied.

"Oh?" Daniel finished buttoning up his own olive green drab shirt and followed Jack out of the locker room.

"Yeah, I just want to take a peek in Carter's lab," Jack said, deftly turning through the maze of corridors heading towards his destination.

Jack smirked as he spotted the CRT monitor and computer hooked up to the alien console, with the remote in his hands he was able to quickly see how it updated with a new line in the blocky script at the same time as a new line appeared in the console window on the computer. He hesitated to call the words appearing on the screen English, the letters and words were all familiar, but the way they were arranged on command line interfaces on computers... Jack suppressed his distaste.

O'Neill ran a finger along the newest line that seemed to be something relating to a cleaning mechanism for the inner symbol track that was clearing out sand if he understood the reference to silica compounds correctly.

Looking at the remote in his hand, it looked like the inner track was about seventy-five percent of the way through the cleaning cycle and should stop spinning in another five or so minutes, at least if he understood the blocky little symbols next to that red line pointing at the inner track on the wireframe.

"To the control room," Jack said, leading the still slightly confused Daniel out of Sam's lab and down a flight of stairs and past some Airmen transporting a cart full of armor inserts to another lab.

Daniel wasn't quite sure why Jack slowed to a stroll but figured it had something to do with what he'd seen on the computer in Sam's lab and whatever was on the ancient remote control for the Kino, so he slowed as well.

"And we're being calm now because," Daniel asked.

"Because this is all Carter's fault, and not actually a problem," Jack replied.

The two entered the control room at O'Neill's leisurely pace to see Carter looking through a similar if less informative list of scrolling information on the SGC's dialing computer, and General Hammond standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed.

"This code here: must be for the inner... some metric relevant to the inner track since these codes here are referencing the rotation of the glyph track. Couldn't tell you what more than half these other signals from the gate mean. But so far, I know for sure that there have been log entries for each of the chevrons and every light on the gate, it even adjusted the iris, opening and closing the internal motors we attached the titanium shell to. I just have no clue what could've triggered it," Captain Carter said, pushing a strand of hair out of her face and back behind her ear.

"You did," Jack said.

"She did?" General Hammond said.

"Yup," Jack replied.

"How, I wouldn't even know where to start," Captain Carter picked up the cup of coffee next to the keyboard and took a sip.

"How many cups of coffee is that today?" Jack asked.

Carter looked at the mug in her hand and started counting fingers on her other hand.

"Too many, I take it, how long have you been up anyway?" Jack said.

"What day is it?" Carter asked.

"It's Friday, Captain," General Hammond said.

"I may possibly have pulled an all nighter," Carter said sheepishly.

"This is why I don't leave you to tinker in your lab often," Jack muttered.

"Back to how it's Carter's fault," Daniel said.

Jack held up the remote with the same scrolling console log, "The gate can apparently work wirelessly, and you told a fascinating piece of equipment currently sitting in your lab to run a full set of diagnostics and calibration cycle."

"I did?" Carter said.

"Yup, and if the pretty pictures on this are correct, it should be finished in about another hour," Jack said, before frowning and looking at the screen more closely. "No, make that two? Maybe three."

General Hammond shook his head, "get some rest, captain."

"But—" Carter motioned to the logs.

"The logs will still be here after you get some sleep, probably even easier to manage since you can review them with timestamps, Carter, get some rest," Jack said.

"I'll even have someone prepare a copy of the camera footage for you as soon as the gate finishes whatever it's doing," Hammond added.

"Sirs," Carter said, pushing back from the computer and looking at her cup of coffee, "I think I'll just dump this."

"Good idea," Jack said.

The three watched the captain leave the room, Jack waiting until her footsteps had faded before grabbing a sticky note and pen.

"What are you up to," Daniel asked.

"I'm just going to suggest that she review the log from the terminal on the computer hooked up to the dialing console in her lab as the logs there are in English and appear to be much more complete. Not telling her now or she won't sleep, but I'd hate for her to waste several days on guess work for unknown sections of the log using that when there's a more complete version already in her lab," Jack motioned at the less than legible log scrolling past.

General Hammond chuckled, "I'll make sure it's on top of the copy of the video when they hand it to her. Let me know when the gate is finished doing... that."

"Oh, by the way, sir," Jack said, turning to the General. "Doctor Langford requested that she be allowed to be involved, while we check on the status of her thought-late fiance. She said to let you know she'd be arriving in two days."

"I see," General Hammond replied.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Sam!" Catherine entered the control room at General Hammond's side.

"Catherine, so good to see you! Just a moment, I'm waiting for the upload of the new code definitions file to complete," Captain Carter said from the control room computer where lines of code scrolled past.

"Doctor Langford," Jack greeted the doctor of archaeology.

"Jack, I told you to call me Catherine," Catherine scolded.

Jack shook his head. "I'm on duty and you're here on official business. Protocol says that you're Doctor Langford."

"And since when do you stand on protocol?"

"When it amuses me or sufficiently shiny brass is around," Jack shrugged.

Catherine vocalized her general disbelief of this statement.

"Is that your old ID badge?" Jack asked.

"It is, they let me keep it, though it expires soon," Catherine said.

"We just visited security to renew her clearances. Though it's a little delayed since new protocols require a new background check and my signature on the paperwork after it comes back," General Hammond grumbled.

"We actually run background checks to let people in here?" Jack asked.

"Yes," was the general's short reply.

"Could've fooled me, considering those idiots that came through last week," Jack muttered.

"And, done," Captain Carter said as the codes on the screen stopped scrolling and the system restarted. The familiar wireframe gate and symbol selector setup replaced the scrolling lines of configuration logs. "All the new diagnostic codes have been identified and definitions uploaded to our system. It's already improving the level of control our dialing computer has over the gate."

"Good work, Captain. Let's get this briefing under way," General Hammond motioned for SG1 and Doctor Catherine Langford to follow him up the stairs up to the briefing room.

"Catherine, this is Teal'c. Teal'c, this is Catherine," General Hammond introduced the one member of SG1 that Doctor Langford hadn't had a chance to meet before taking his seat at the head of the table.

"Daniel's told me all about you. Ah, let me see if I have this greeting right. Tek-ma-te," Catherine held a hand out to the Jaffa who gently took her arm and bowed his head towards her.

"Tek-ma-te, Doctor Langford," Teal'c replied.

"Doctor Jackson, this is your show," General Hammond said.

"Ah, right, yes, I've prepared some handouts," Daniel stood, handing the stack of the papers he'd prepared to Jack to be handed down the table, and clicked a slide onto the projector.

"We received several file and film documents from the pentagon recently regarding experiments performed on the stargate in the 1940s where they managed to achieve a connection to the following stargate address," Daniel clicked the remote, advancing the slide to enhanced images of each glyph shown on the gate as it had been manually dialed.

"The planet in question is relatively close to Abydos, so it shares several of the same locator glyphs as Abydos address," Daniel continued.

"The important part, though," Captain Carter interjected as Daniel paused in his presentation. "Is that the address in question was not present on the Abydos cartouche where all our existing database of addresses came from. "

"If you'll pardon the question, how is that significant?" Catherine asked.

"The absence from the Abydos cartouche implies that the Goa'uld haven't been there, which is additional proof that the gate network is merely being used by them and not their creation," Daniel said.

"Though that should be fairly obvious now given the dungeon planet," O'Neill said.

"The Goa'uld are scavengers by nature," Teal'c clarified.

"Additionally, this man went through the gate in 1945," Daniel clicked to the next slide showing Ernest Littlefield in a diving suit walking towards the gate.

"Doctor Ernest Littlefield, Also, Catherine's fiancé. While he would undeniably have had a hard life alone, while not exactly likely, it's entirely possible he's still alive and stranded there without the address to come home," Daniel said.

"Genuine American Hero, there," Jack said.

"Excellent and thorough analysis of the situation, SG1, I can see why Catherine wishes to be present, go send a MALP and if it's a viable address you have a go," General Hammond said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Half an hour later, SG1 had changed into their gear and fitted Catherine with her own tactical vest and expedition uniform; they had a Field Remote Expeditionary Device waiting at the edge of the ramp.

"Spin it up!" O'Neill hollered up to the control room window, where General Hammond nodded to the on duty technician.

The FRED disappeared up through the gate, a MALP having already been sent along earlier to confirm the viability of the address.

"SG1, good luck," General Hammond's voice echoed through the gate room.

"Piece of cake," O'Neill said in a calming voice while Daniel held onto Catherine's other arm.

"Ready?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah," Catherine stepped forward into the puddle with Jack and Daniel on either side of her.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 4

Heliopolis - October 13th, 1997

Lightyears away from earth, SG1 and their guest stepped out of the gate.

"Piece of cake," Catherine patted Jack on the shoulder.

O'Neill looked around before commenting, "Did that feel smoother?"

"Yeah, that was practically seamless, even after Sam worked on the frosting issue we used to have there was still a little hitch, but that felt..." Daniel said.

"Like stepping through a door." Jack completed. "Well, there was that whole gate recalibration and diagnostics thing that Carter accidentally set off," Jack said.

The room they emerged into was mostly clean and clear with some minor damage from part of the roof falling in by the DHD, but only lit with natural light from tall thin windows covered in geometric patterns on either side of the room. The floor gently sloped down from the gate and leveled into a short ten meter path across the room and up a broad series of steps to the DHD, about halfway between the gate and the DHD two side paths went down towards openings on opposite sides of the room from each other.

"It's hot in here," Daniel said.

"Can't say much about the lack of air conditioning," Jack agreed.

"Indeed, I suspect that the opening in the roof there contributes to the unfavorable conditions," Teal'c pointed to the breach in the roof by the DHD.

"Oh my," Captain Carter exclaimed, having spotted the very man they'd come looking for, his modesty only saved through being backlit by light streaming in from the left-hand entrance he was standing in.

Carter turned away looking off towards the DHD.

Ernest looked at all the visitors he'd received in confusion walking towards them.

"Aw. For cryin' out loud," Jack muttered.

"Dr. Littlefield?" Daniel said, moving towards the aged man.

"Ernest?" Catherine blushed.

Ernest slowly shuffled the rest of the way to Daniel and lifted a single barely usable spectacle lens all that presumably remained of the glasses he once wore.

"Hello, I'm Daniel Jackson," Daniel tried to converse.

The aged scientist glanced at the ring of the stargate.

"Yes, we came through the... uh... stargate, from earth," Daniel continued.

Ernest slowly lifted a hand and reached out to Daniels shoulder before giving him a firm push.

"Yes, we're really here," Daniel said.

Doctor Littlefield pulled Daniel into a back cracking hug and choked back a sob, "It's about time."

The spry old man released Daniel and hugged Jack next and then Teal'c.

"Oh, boy," Carter muttered nimbly, moving out of range while Doctor Littlefield was preoccupied with Jack and Teal'c.

"Daniel, do something," Jack said.

"Doctor Littlefield?" Daniel said, pointing towards Catherine.

Ernest released Teal'c and shuffled over peering into Catherine's face.

"You don't recognize me?"

"Cah—Catherine?" Littlefield stuttered, and turned quickly walking into the depths of the building. "Hmph."

"Fifty years. That's all he says," Doctor Langford looked a little sad.

"I'll just, I'll go and follow him," Daniel said, pointing down the path to the other opening through which Ernest had disappeared.

The damage he'd observed in the gateroom appeared to have been limited to there, the air growing drier and cooler as he followed the sound of Ernest's shuffling footsteps into a comfortable looking room with a bed and warm overhead light.

"You're still here?" Ernest said. Sounding as though he'd had every expectation that the encounter in the gate room had been a product of an overactive imagination or heat stroke or possibly something he'd eaten.

Startled, Daniel whirled around from where he stood next to the bed only to look up and away again.

"You wouldn't happen to have something to wear, clothes perhaps?" Daniel said.

"Oh! Clothes, yes, going home," Ernest's face showed a hint of embarrassment as he recalled that clothes were necessary and he wasn't wearing any. Daniel continued to look up and away while the elderly man shuffled back around the corner, where he'd left the tattered remnants of the old diving suit he'd worn. It was now just the cloth pieces that he pulled into place over his head.

"Yes, home, we're bringing you home," Daniel said.

"Such a long... Did no one... so much time," Ernest said.

"It's a long story. Are there any others here? Other people?" Daniel asked.

Ernest shuffled to an alcove in the wall and shook his head at Daniel sadly.

"You... You've been alone? This entire time?" Daniel asked.

Ernest pushed on a section of wall sliding it open to reveal some sort of fruit that he handed to Daniel.

"Yes," Ernest said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Catherine lowered herself to a sitting position on the steps up to the dial home device and looked at the stargate.

"I don't know what I expected. So close all this time. I mean, I can't believe he's right here. Alive!" Catherine said.

"He seemed like he was having trouble dealing with it too," Sam said, and sat next to her.

"Light years in an instant, and I felt forty years younger coming through that stargate," Catherine chuckled. "You think you're old and someone reminds you how to have wonder again."

"The heart should never grow old," Sam Carter hugged Catherine.

"I can't even begin to fathom. Such a long time. I don't even know... couldn't guess what he's been through," Catherine said.

"Why don't you go find him and Daniel, talk to him and find out," Captain Samantha Carter suggested.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Daniel followed Ernest out of the bedroom and down the hall to a new room. The old man handed him some handmade papers that appeared to have been made using local reeds; it was yellowed with age and covered in hash marks.

"Last day," Ernest seemed a bit shocked at the idea.

"You kept track of the days," Daniel said, a bit stunned at the thought of fifty years worth of days being counted up.

"As best as I could, I may have missed a day or two," Ernest said.

"Have you been able to figure anything out about who lived here or built this place?" Daniel asked.

"Heliopolis, Alexandria, Athens, Rome," Ernest listed off ancient cities

"Heliopolis?" Daniel asked.

"Repository, philosophy, astronomy, diplomacy, linguistics, natural science," Ernest rattled off.

"Places of learning, centers of culture, of civilization, of diplomacy, and leadership, meeting place... listen, are there any Egyptian hieroglyphs anywhere? Any symbols related to Ra? That would be a very important thing to know," Daniel said.

Ernest shook his head and then retrieved a second set of papers bound into a journal of sorts and handed it to Daniel.

"Four distinct languages. Writing is unlike anything on Earth. Catherine says they're probably alien," Daniel read out loud.

"Catherine says?" Daniel paused and asked mostly rhetorically.

"She found me long ago," Ernest muttered.

"We walked for miles today and still found no signs of civilization. Catherine seems concerned, but I am not. As long as she is here with me, I will never feel alone. It seems impossible, but everyday we're here together, I love her more," Daniel continued reading.

"Father lied to me," Catherine appeared in the doorway.

"O-oh," Ernest shuffled, unsure how to take Catherine's sudden appearance.

"I'll just—" Daniel marked where he was at with a finger and shuffled past Catherine and out of the room.

"You — here — real," Ernest stuttered.

"Yes, This isn't easy for me, either," Catherine said dryly.

"Y—you—you look—uh—different," Ernest stuttered again.

"We're old, Ernest," Catherine said.

"You—We—we had a wonderful life together!"

"I spent the past fifty years believing you were dead, Ernest. We didn't have a wonderful life," Catherine said, bitterly.

"You forgave me," Ernest said.

"I was never given that chance," Catherine replied.

"Oh," Ernest blinked, eyes suspiciously shiny.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Empty, abandoned and in need of some touching up, but it could be a pretty sweet place. Though it's seen better days, if you know what I mean," O'Neill commented observing one of the tall support pillars holding the vaulted roof above them.

"Doctor Littlefield has been alone since he got here," Daniel said quietly.

"Wow," O'Neill replied.

"Indeed," Teal'c commented.

"The structure seems sound enough," O'Neill said.

"Someone shored up the cliff face a long time ago or there would've been more damage," Ernest said, entering the room with Catherine.

A distant rumble of thunder rattled the advanced materials used in the place of glass in the window frames.

"A storm approaches," Teal'c said.

"Sounds big," O'Neill said, looking through the windows to see if he could spot the thunderhead.

"Yearly seasonal monsoon," Ernest said, unphased.

"Yearly?" Carter asked.

"Yes, I usually stay in the display room for the duration, this place is sturdy enough aside from that," Ernest points to the structural damage by the DHD.

"The general has to be getting concerned, kids, we should probably let him know what we've found," O'Neill said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"So soon?" Daniel asked.

"The cliff side looks like it can handle a few more years, but we should still check in with home," O'Neill confirmed.

"I tried for years to make it work," Littlefield commented.

"The glyphs?" Daniel gestured at the DHD. "We call this the Dial-Home Device. Basically, you enter the correct address and—"

"How about we just show him?" Colonel O'Neill interrupted.

The group ascended the steps and gathered around the dialing pedestal only to be presented with a mess of broken crystals, the red dome shattered into pieces and the central power crystal dim.

"That's not good," O'Neill said, pulling out his little remote control wondering if it might have something that could help since it seemed to have picked up on the gate diagnostic. He fiddled with the menus hoping there might be a gate dialer in amongst the options.

"I'm thinking that we should consider using something with more mobility like the kino instead of the MALPs. It was obviously unable to spot the damage from there with the steps being in the way," Carter said. "Or maybe get a flying camera for the MALPs to carry?"

"Ya think?" O'Neill said.

"Well, since we're going to be here a while, I'd like you to see something," Ernest said.

"What's that," Daniel asked.

"Come on. It's the safest room there is. You know? Especially in a storm," Ernest said.

The two proceeded deeper into the complex until they reached a vaulted room with a high ceiling and a sloped amphitheater ring around a central theatron or stage area, at the cardinal points of the stage stood four stone monoliths and in the center of the pillars a pedestal with a large crystal.

Ernest walked directly to the device in the middle and activated it. The four distinct and alien texts appeared on each monolith.

"I recognize that," Daniel said, pointing to the blocky text.

"And that's norse runes," Catherine pointed to another of the monoliths with projected text.

Ernest poked at the journal in Daniel's hands and flipped it open to the relevant section.

"I believe this room is some sort of meeting place where four alien races denoted by the symbols and distinctive writing on the walls would gather…possibly to share knowledge or discuss relations, like an interstellar League of worlds. Catherine agrees," Daniel read.

"You're right, I would have," Catherine patted Ernest's hand.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"It could take years to figure out where each of these crystals go," Carter muttered at the mess of exposed crystals scattered around the inside of the DHD.

Teal'c handed her a voltmeter and pointed to the large central crystal, "I believe this to be the power source."

"I'm inclined to agree with you," the captain replied, sticking the probes from the crystal toolkit into the mess and checking her laptop.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Well this is new, and yet familiar," Jack said from the edge of the room.

"Touch it," Ernest motioned to the pedestal which Jack swiftly approached. With a brief contact of the crystal a beam of light projected upwards forming holographic images of spheres and shapes rotating around and high into the air above the amphitheater.

"It's quite beautiful," Catherine said in awe.

"Well, if this was the uh — alien United Nations or equivalent—this is more than it seems," Daniel said.

"Huh, atoms," O'Neill said.

"Of course! High School chemistry!" Catherine said.

"Right, graphical representations of the basic elements: Electron probability shells around a nucleus. The number of the electrons and protons indicating the element."

"One hundred and forty-six," Ernest said. "There were only ninety known to man when I left earth."

"This is incredible. I mean, we've only been able to speculate on the actual appearance and structure of an atom," Catherine said.

"Jack, this is the basics of a true universal language," Daniel said excitedly.

"I tried to read it. I tried to understand, but—" Ernest said.

"A hundred and forty-six elements. This could take a lifetime," Daniel ran a hand through his hair.

Ernest raised an eyebrow and snorted, "More than one I'd say."

"Oh," Daniel's voice lost the edge of excitement he'd been pushing.

"Exactly, more than any one person's lifetime, and probably more than any one person alone can truly manage," O'Neill said.

"Don't you know what this could mean?" Daniel asked.

"No, actually," Jack said.

"This could be the key to understanding our existence. The meaning of life."

O'Neill looked up at the floating holographic atoms and then at the four inscriptions before his gaze returned to Daniel. "Or it could just be a very dry treaty between four stuffy old races," He snorted and left the room.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"How's it goin'?" O'Neill asked Carter, nonchalantly strolling back into the gateroom.

"Well, we think we've got power from the DHD directly connected to the gate. I'm about to run a test. Where's Daniel?" Carter asked.

"Oh, Ernest is showing him a new toy," Jack said.

"Really? What?" Captain Carter asked.

"Some fancy light show that may be the key to our existence or something like that," Jack replied.

"Huh," Carter shrugged and slipped the wire into place around the big red crystal in the middle of the DHD.

A low rumbling hum came from the stargate as it lit up.

"You did it!" Catherine said, spotting the lights on the gate.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Daniel turned from the representation of the elements overhead back to the stone slabs with the alien texts. "And this is how you knew what this place was."

"Then you recognize it, too," Ernest said.

"Norse Runes; thought to represent the collection of numinous power and knowledge from past generations."

"And the gathering of clans to share a common interest. You know, there's more than just a coincidence here. That means that humans were here centuries, maybe eons ago."

"No, not humans— aliens. Those are from Thor's race."

"Thor was an alien?" Ernest asked.

"Oh, yeah. That's another long story. But a…good one."

"Time to go," Jack called as he reappeared at the entrance to the room.

"What's up?" Daniel asked.

"Carter's got the gate powered, and this meaning of life stuff, won't mean anything if we leave you here with nobody to share it with," Jack said.

"But Jack," Daniel whined.

Ernest reached out a hand and pushed the journal back into Daniel's hands. "He's right, you know, you don't want to be alone here day in and day out gleaning hints of something more but never able to unlock the full message. Besides, I've been here long enough that everything is written down in this."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Alright Teal'c," Carter said, watching as the Jaffa carefully spun the inner track around to the first symbol. Rain was pouring through the damaged roof onto the DHD now and filling the internal chamber where the power crystal rested causing shorts and sparks that caused the gate to go dark.

"The power supply is unsteady and insufficient, Captain Carter," Teal'c said.

"Dammit," Captain Carter said.

There was a bright flash followed by a near immediate boom of thunder, and a tree limb blasted through the damaged opening above the DHD, bouncing off the wall before smashing into Captain Carter.

"Carter!" Jack yelled, pulling out his remote control and frantically pushing buttons to go through the menus.

 

[AlexA4x]

Ye J.A.N.U.S. is fun

 

[Stephenopolos]

O'Make:

SG-1 warily passed the beam of light from their flashlights over the room and wondered what this new place was and why Jack O'Neill's alteran built remote dialer had brought them here.

Jack O'Neill stepped forward leading his team down the steps from the Stargate, beneath their feat lights in the floor slowly brightened with a subtle musical note and lights overhead turned on as well until the room was brightly lit showing three doors and a set of stairs leading up to a mezzanine hanging over the gate area, one wall had a large glass window with geometric stained patterns on it behind which a slowly brightening room with rows of medical pods.

In the center of the room a hologram activated and a balding man dressed in a tan uniform announced briskly, "please state the nature of the medical emergency."

"Woolsey?" Jack O'Neill reflexively asked, as the hologram bore a striking resemblance to the mild mannered oversight committee bureaucrat that had plagued the SGC over the past year.

"Pardon, that is not a recognized medical malady."

"It really does look like him doesn't it," Carter said.

"The resemblance is uncanny," Daniel agreed.

"Indeed," said Teal'c.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 5

"Carter!" Jack yelled and pulled the kino controller out of his pack, frantically pushing buttons to go through the menus.

"Come on, where's the dialing program? You can show me gate diagnostics, so you should be able to dial the stargate too," Jack barely had time to complete his thought let alone do anything with his remote before an odd warbling tone sounded and then a flash of light signaled the entire group being removed from the gate room.

As his vision cleared, he wasn't sure but didn't think he or the remote had anything to do with the change in scenery.

The room had a high octagonal ceiling supported by teal metal columns with bronze accents, the floor was a marbled bronze color with a darker pattern of lines leading away from the center of their arrival point, against each wall was a medical pod that reminded the colonel of the medical pod from the dungeon planet.

"Ah, the infirmary," Ernest said, and O'Neill spun on his heels to face the older man.

"What do you mean, infirmary?" O'Neill said. "You know where we are?"

"Exactly that," Ernest replied dryly. "Every time I got hurt worse than a scrape, I'd find myself here, these miracle machines would glow and I'd feel better, and then I'd find myself back at the castle. We're in a valley a short walk from the main castle, there's a couple other support buildings here that seem intended to act as additional space for whatever staff would've been working at the main structure where the gate is," Ernest replied.

"Oh?" O'Neill said.

"Yes, I found myself here many times over the years, transported whenever I had a severe enough injury," Ernest said.

"Well if it can transport us here, it should be able to send us back," O'Neill said. "I doubt they'd have wanted people out in that mess."

"The storm shield should be up by now," Ernest said.

"Storm shield?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, it usually takes a few good lightning strikes or a day or so when the winds are strong enough. It surprised me the first time it appeared, like a soap bubble, all shimmering blue. The entire structure past the cliff into the ocean is protected by a glowing blue energy field that protects it from the worst of the storm; it lasts even longer if it is activated from lightning hitting the rod at the top of the tallest spire."

"Fascinating, and you said it should be active by now," O'Neill said, and looked up as the sound of the storm had calmed significantly.

"That's why I'm so surprised it hadn't already activated to stop that tree limb," Ernest said.

"Where's Carter?" O'Neill asked, his situational awareness having identified the lack of the team scientist from the group.

"Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c called from next to one of the medical pods which was active.

"Excellent work, T," O'Neill said.

Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c took the direct path to the single active pod, where an automatic scanning arm moved back and forth over Captain Carter's prone form, while a second smaller arm was already busy applying a golden ray of healing energy to her head wound. Above the bed they could see a generalized scan of the body annotated in that strange blocky language, updating with the passing of the scanner and a graph and numbers that Jack assumed were vital signs like pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and a dozen other items he wasn't as confident about.

"Now what?" He muttered over the displays. Reaching out and brushing against one of the floating holograms before flinching back after they reacted and changed to some sort of form, it seemed the facility considered him to be the one with the authority to approve anything more than basic patient stabilizations. Then he spotted the graphical "button" that was blinking out of the available options. Colonel O'Neill shrugged and pushed a finger into the hologram.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"I think they've forgotten about us," Ernest said quietly to Catherine.

"Oh hush, you. Sam got hurt, though I'm a little disappointed in Daniel. He's still back in the hologram room isn't he?" Catherine replied.

The two observed SG1 around Carter's medical pod where O'Neill was working his way through the holographic interface hanging over it.

"What are you doing?" Catherine asked. Ernest had taken the opportunity to approach the medical pod opposite from the Captain and had one leg half way into the thing with a determined expression.

"Catherine," the man paused, "I've survived living alone on this abandoned planet with yearly monsoons; my aches have got pains, and I'm tired. I haven't had a medical checkup in fifty years, but these medical pods have always left me feeling better. You should use the one next to mine; see what it finds, if there's anything needing looking at," Ernest said. "Catherine, help me out here."

"I suppose it's not a horrible idea," Catherine said, stepping up to assist Ernest the rest of the way into the medical pod. "How do you suppose this thing turns on?"

Ernest looked up at her and smiled, "It was always automatic when I used them." Then the medical system detected it had a patient and an orange isolation field shimmered into existence, and he closed his eyes. The scanner arm undocked from the wall followed by the healing arm. The display at the head of Ernest's pod flickered on just like the one at the head of Captain Carter's pod. Slowly the pod started working on addressing his issues.

Catherine shrugged and decided she might as well get her own checkup and climbed into the next medical pod where the process repeated.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Colonel O'Neill looked up after clearing the last of what appeared to be treatment authorization screens for the captain. Teal'c had moved to a guard position with his back against the wall where he could keep an eye on the entire room, and he nodded in acknowledgment of the Colonel's renewed attention.

His team was accounted for, but his two V.I.P.s weren't readily visible, though their location was easily resolved when he spotted the two additional active medical pods and their waiting holographic screens.

"Ugh, I am not scrolling through a hundred treatment options again, those had better have a simple option to approve some sort of standard recommended full treatment course," O'Neill complained as he marched over to examine the new options. "Daniel, any thoughts?"

Colonel O'neill looked around before remembering that the team's archaeologist had been in the hologram room, so he hadn't been transported with everyone. Sighing, he grabbed his radio. "Daniel, you there?" He grumbled a bit when there was no response, they should still have been within radio range if Ernest was correct about the support building being so close, but the storm might be interfering even if the construction of the castle or this 'sickbay' weren't blocking things, and looked back at the dialog box over Ernest Littlefield. Shrugging and grumbling, he pushed a finger into the hologram that obligingly reacted, the holographic button moved inward away from his finger until the entire dialog request blinked out of existence.

"Huh, so that's a thing," O'Neill said and repeated the process for Catherine's pod.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Hot diggity dog!" Ernest exclaimed as he danced a little jig in front of the medical bed. "I feel like I'm in my twenties again."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"You certainly don't look it," Catherine said from where she sat on the edge of the medical bed having finished her own round of treatments. "Ah, you simply don't realize how many aches and pains you live with until they're gone."

"Catherine?" Ernest wiggled his eyebrows at the rejuvenated Doctor Langford.

"Ernest!" Catherine giggled, as Doctor Littlefield picked her up and twirled her around before setting her on her feet. "Oh, you silly man."

The two touched foreheads sharing the moment between themselves while Teal'c turned to give them some privacy.

"They said your name is Teal'c, right?" Ernest said several moments later.

"That is correct, Doctor Littlefield," Teal'c replied.

"I take it Captain Carter is okay?" Catherine asked.

"Good, you're up. And yes, Captain Carter is recovering," O'Neill interrupted.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.

"The medical pod just doesn't want to release her yet," O'Neill whined.

"I guess even advanced ancients treat concussions seriously," Sam interjected exasperatedly.

"Would be nice if we could just take the pod with us," O'Neill muttered.

There was a clunk noise behind them.

"What's it doing?" Samantha Carter asked.

"The pod appears to have detached from the floor and wall," Teal'c replied.

"I'd really really like to be out of here soon," Captain Carter said.

"Relax, based on that timer display I think it's saying it'll be done in about an hour?" O'Neill said. "Or is that a three? Hmmm. But we need to get back to the gate."

There was no flash of light to send them back, and O'Neill grumbled before digging in his pack for the four rain ponchos he'd packed for emergencies. Then he clipped a line to the hovering medical pod and his belt and trudged towards the door.

"You know the way back?" O'Neill asked.

"Of course," Doctor Littlefield replied, and took point.

There was no flash of light to send them back, and O'Neill grumbled before digging in his pack for the four rain ponchos he'd packed for emergencies. Then he clipped a line to the hovering medical pod and his belt and trudged towards the door.

"You know the way back?" O'Neill asked.

"Of course," Doctor Littlefield replied, and took point.

O'Neill, Teal'c, Doctor Littlefield, and Doctor Langford trudged out of the infirmary onto a muddy path followed by the medical pod with Captain Carter, a thin golden bubble shield appearing over her pod to block the water that was dripping from everything except the sky which was currently glowing a teal blue as it stopped the storm from affecting the area.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis Hologram Room

O'Neill's poncho crinkled noisily as he took a seat, shedding droplets of water next to the team's archaeologist. Jack frowned and firmly tugged the journal out of Daniel's hands.

"Careful," Daniel started. "You're dripping water everywhere."

"Oh, so that's what you notice first? I'm very much not happy with you right now, Daniel," Colonel O'Neill said quietly as he slipped the journal into his pack.

"Why? What just happened?" Daniel asked.

"While you were too busy fiddling with that meaning of life crap, the storm tossed a tree through the gate room and Carter got injured while trying to dial the gate," O'Neill said, still a little miffed at Daniel.

"It's not crap, Jack. It's an important discovery, probably one of the most important ones we've ever made," Daniel muttered.

"Daniel, the entire rest of the group has been gone for four hours, you've been in here stuck in your head, that journal, and that hologram for four hours without noticing we've been nowhere around." O'Neill said. "And possibly ignoring your radio as well, for that matter."

"..." Daniel was speechless.

"There's a time and a place to geek out over new discoveries, the middle of an ongoing situation with someone else's written notes that you can take with you isn't the time," O'Neill said.

Daniel slowly looked up, and hesitantly said, "okay? But—"

"Ah-bup, no buts. You quite literally have a written journal here that you can take with you, every observation Doctor Littlefield made over the thirty or so years he spent here," O'Neill patted the pack with the journal. "I fully understand that this is exciting new information for you, meaning of life and all that, it won't do anyone any good if you get stranded here, or killed because the area wasn't safe to stay in. Understood?"

"Understood," Daniel reflexively swallowed; O'Neill having unknowingly hit on just the right approach to drive his point home.

"Now, I do have something your talents could help me with," O'Neill said and held up the handheld remote for the kino. "I think this might have a dialer program for the gate."

Daniel nodded and opened his own notebook and notes on the Ancient script.

O'Neill tapped the button that he had previously learned would go deeper into the menu tree and give him another list of options. A wireframe image of the stargate appeared, reminding him of the diagnostics that had appeared back at the SGC. There were more menu options, and he found the one word that had appeared in the breadcrumbs list when the remote dialed this place. It looked sort of like the Latin word, clavis, if one used their imagination and rotated the C to stand on its opening, and the V to rest on its left side.

The breadcrumbs list updated, adding the blocky word he was pretty sure now was Astria, and the menu updated to show three new options. The first one gave him what he assumed to be a "favorites" list that only held the address to the dungeon planet, assuming he recognized those symbols correctly. Maybe he could add Earth? The second seemed to be some sort of directory of local stargates within a set range, or at least he assumed that some of the maybe-numbers were distances. They were supposed to be close to Earth, and he wasn't surprised to find the correct set of symbols included.

Tapping the little 'favorite' symbol from the previous menu had it highlight as though selected, and then he pointed at the likely-distance numbers. "I think this might be how far away from Earth we are."

At Jack's prompting, Daniel scribbled the maybe numbers down in his notebook and put the distance from earth to heliopolis next to it with a question mark, since Carter had a program that told them roughly how far away an address was in lightyears after dialing.

The Final menu option was the manual dialing option he'd been looking for with a sort of virtual keyboard on the screen with all the gate symbols.

Now that he'd found what he was looking for, he quickly cycled through the options, returning to the option that reminded him of the favorites from the bigger list and tapping that to autofill earth's address in the input box, the seventh symbol showing up on its own for him. Another button on the remote lit up, visually hinting that if he pressed it then the remote would send the address to the stargate in the other room.

"I think that does it," O'Neill said.

"Hey, wonder what's with the two compasses," Daniel said, pointing out that at the top of the screen there were two dials pointing in different directions, and they moved with how Jack was holding the remote.

Jack fished out his military issue compass and compared, "interesting, one of them is definitely the magnetic compass since but it's pointing south, maybe the other one points at the gate? It's pointing that direction, anyway."

"Should we test it or something?" Daniel asked.

Jack fiddled with his remote until he was back at the dialing program, then walked to the other room and around the gate.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked following him.

"Confirming that theory about the compass, it's definitely pointing to the gate," O'Neill said. He then looked at the others.

"Alright, campers, everyone ready to go home?"

"Just dial the thing already," Carter said from the medical pod.

SGC Gateroom - October 13th, 1997

"This is gonna be a good one," General Hammond's exasperated tone could be heard over the intercom as the MALP came through the gate followed by SG1 around a medical pod with Captain Carter, and their two V.I.P.s. The medical pod was hooked to the railing on the MALP and gently hovering freely behind it. "Someone get Doctor Fraiser down here."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Infirmary - October 13th, 1997

"Well, captain, you're recovering nicely. I can't even tell that you had a concussion. Though, I have to admit, you guys coming back with a way to keep any of you from limping out of the infirmary wasn't something I expected. I think I'd have preferred if O'Neill was the one in the bed though, given that I believe he's behind on a couple of expected checkups." Doctor Fraiser said.

"Just get me out of this thing already," Sam muttered.

"Ah, it says observation for another hour, Captain," Doctor Fraiser smirked, before frowning. "Or at least that's what I think this timer says based on what the Colonel indicated, anyway."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis - October 14th, 1997

The stargate activated and several short figures with bushy hair full of leaves and twigs stepped through, the tallest and oldest figure looked around and spotted the partial disassembly of the DHD and started grumbling.

The second member of the group shook their head and made a gesture at one of the walls revealing a hidden door and a series of control consoles one of which was a more advanced version of the dialing device. "Ignore it, that's part of the ancient's test, and you know it."

"It's a ridiculous test anyway," The third member of that team said, they stepped around the mess of crystal rods and metal panels to examine the hole in the ceiling closer.

"We each have our tests, ours may seem ridiculous to the others, our ways are ours, as their ways are theirs," the eldest said. "Besides, from the smell of things, I think there's some foreign materials in there and that particular version of the test has been damaged beyond the norm."

"There's a stock of them in storage, I'll just trigger a replacement," the second member said, now reviewing the logs from the revealed control room.

The third member of the group adjusted a woody vine wrapped around their wrist causing the stone to seemingly liquify before flowing upwards into the gap before turning solid once more.

The second member finished what they were doing in the control room and the pile of DHD components and disassembled DHD disappeared in a flash before being replaced with a new though non-functional duplicate that lacked the massive damage of the original.

The fourth and youngest member of the little expedition was just happy to be there and made no comment while examining everything with wide, excited eyes.

A moment later the second sighed and spoke up. "Janus, of all people, upheld his people's responsibilities and then some, while we somehow missed that someone was trapped here for decades."

The first flinched at that. "Are they still here?"

"No, another group removed them recently."

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 6

SGC Infirmary - Tuesday, October 14th, 1997

"Someone get Colonel O'Neill down here, this healing pod, bed, thing is driving me insane," Doctor Janet Fraiser ordered.

The medical pod was in the process of examining Airman Fredericks after he'd sprained his left wrist during his morning physical training in the gym. The medical team was trying to compare the readings on the displays with their own diagnostic equipment, but aside from the obvious ones like heart rate with the characteristic spike and a reading they were pretty sure was the oxygen levels the rest of the charts were all guess work.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC, General Hammond's office

"You're sure about this," General Hammond said.

"Sir, I have this bad feeling that we're going to need the training that place can provide, and more so, that we'll need to get to the end of whatever the dungeon planet has for us. The sooner the better," Colonel O'Neill replied.

The general sighed and ran a hand over his head, "I was afraid you'd say that. Though you'll be delayed somewhat as I've been notified they want another try at things. Seems they may have listened to reason this time, and are only sending a four man team with the explicit instruction to retreat before they get themselves killed. They'll be here by Thursday morning."

Colonel Makepeace knocked on the door to the general's office interrupting any further discussion.

"You have a moment, sir?" Makepeace asked.

"Makepeace," O'Neill said.

"O'Neill," Colonel Makepeace returned the acknowledgement.

"How can I help you, Colonel?" General Hammond asked.

"I may have been approached by the fools responsible for that group of idiots that came through here last week," Colonel Makepeace said.

"Oh?" Jack said.

"They, uh— tried recruiting me as a mole. And I have zero interest in being their catspaw, given the incompetence I saw on display," Makepeace said.

"Take a seat, Colonel," the general sighed.

"You know, I just realized that I have heard of these guys before," Jack snapped his fingers. "Part of those events related to my service jacket that we pretend doesn't exist, well, everyone referred to them as the Notional Idiot Department. I just wasn't making the connection," Jack said.

"Notional?" Makepeace asked.

"Yup, you heard me right," Jack said.

"Ah, the Negative Intuition Division?" Colonel Makepeace suggested, getting into the spirit of things.

"That too," Jack grinned.

The general snorted. "I think it might be time to introduce the two of you to a friend of mine. Unless you'd rather not know about this O'Neill."

"Oh, I am all ears. Besides, I still have contacts on that side of things that you might like to have digging into them too," O'Neill said, shifting his seat to the side to make room for Makepeace to pull the other chair forward for the coming discussion.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Infirmary

"Aw shucks doc, what's the deal? I know I'm not due for a physical yet," Jack O'Neill said as he entered the doctor's demesne.

Janet Fraiser merely raised an eyebrow and pointed at the advanced medical pod that had been installed in a corner of the infirmary.

"What's it doing?" Jack asked.

"How can I be expected to evaluate this when it doesn't respond to anything me and my staff do and doesn't seem to allow us access to the patient while that golden field is up," Janet complained. "And I've been waiting hours for you to make it down here to help."

Colonel O'Neill walked over and started tapping at the hologram floating above the third airman to volunteer to use the thing.

"Right, so I think that's the authorization screen..." Jack said after a moment. "Now how to get it to register you and the rest of the medical staff."

The screen flickered and a new box appeared in front of Janet.

"This isn't very helpful," Janet said looking over the blocky text.

"Oh, I know this one, there should be an English translation option. The dungeon planet managed it in the safe room," Jack said, and poked at the holographic box until it seemed to fitz and then a single word of the blocky text changed to English like it was struggling.

"That seems a little slow," Janet said.

"Maybe it doesn't have the processing power for it?" Jack said. "Come on now, the dungeon training facility already has the english translations, can't you just download it from there?" Jack grumbled.

The hologram blinked out of existence and then a new screen appeared with a blinking counter and two buttons. There was also a familiar gate address on the display, but Jack figured that was just to confirm where the update was supposed to come from. Jack immediately pressed the one he'd come to associate with a confirmation, only for the base alarm to go off.

Jack let out a few colorful curses knowing this was somehow his fault.

"Unscheduled stargate activation," Walter's voice came over the base intercom.

SGC, Stargate operations, Control room

"And that's how you control the stargate," Ernest said, with the excitement of a kid being given an exclusive tour of Santa's workshop.

"Yup," Captain Carter replied. "We started off with the basics that Doctor Langford had already established and worked forward from there. Those racks there are computers with trillions of transistors on silicon microchips. They're wired into an access crystal on the gate that sends and receives signals hundreds of times a second."

"That would explain how enigmatic the whole thing seemed to us," Ernest replied. "We were just starting to experiment with digital encoding using vacuum tubes. Oh, those machines were so unreliable and filled multiple rooms and entire floors. Getting the response times just right would have been a nightmare."

"The interesting part is the DHD module that we picked up just last mission," Carter said.

"Oh?" Ernest asked.

"Yes, it triggered a diagnostic program remotely from my lab," Carter said.

Just then the two were interrupted by the stargate activating, and Carter made sure they were out of Sergeant Harriman's way while she used the nearest terminal to access her own copy of the readings from the stargate.

SGC Infirmary

A moment later there was a progress bar that sped to completion and the bed holograms all disappeared before returning in english this time.

"Thank you, Colonel, I think I can take it from here," Janet said, seeing how all the holographic screens were now in front of her and there appeared to be some sort of application process that was registering her as the designated medical professional.

"I think I need to go up to the control room to fill them in anyway," Jack said. "They'll not have a clue what just happened."

SGC, Stargate operations control room

"Anyone care to explain what just happened?" General Hammond said.

"Something on the base activated the stargate. This log entry here indicates that the connection was initiated from our end and not offworld," Captain Carter said.

"How?" the general asked.

"Well, it wasn't the new dialing console that was powered down while I finished going over those example programs on the program crystals," Carter said.

"There's a signal spike here," Walter said, pointing to one of the readouts from the sensors monitoring the gate.

"That's a massive data transfer," Captain Carter said after a moment. "I think we can safely say it's all being sent from the other side."

"Ah, you're all here," Colonel Jack O'Neill said.

"Sir?" Captain Carter said.

"I believe I know what caused the latest mystery," Jack said.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, Colonel," General Hammond said.

"Captain Fraiser was having issues with the uh, medical pod that we brought back from Heliopolis, and since it seemed to respond so well to me, she requested I go down and try and get it to cooperate with her and the rest of the medical staff. In the process we may have told it to download some updates like an English translation pack and apparently the easiest way for it to do so was through the stargate," Jack replied.

"I can't fault you. She's a definite menace, but she's also the best in her field," General Hammond sighed.

"Ah, sir, I was just about to head out for that thing," Jack said. "At least before Fraiser had someone all but drag me down to help her, if we're done here?"

"Go ahead, colonel," General Hammond said.

"Is it always this exciting around here?" Ernest asked Captain Carter as the room cleared.

"Only some days," Carter replied jokingly, "let's go see that new dialing module I was talking about before."

"Lead the way," Ernest grinned.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Colorado Springs, Random Payphone

"Feldspar's Pizzeria, what's your fresh pie today," the voice answered from the other end.

"Tell Chef I need the special delivery for Starflight," Jack said.

"Anything else?"

"Spicy Supreme if you would, and ask Chef if he still hates canned pineapple," Jack said.

There was a little silence then the voice replied, "Chef said canned pineapple will get you an army of angry Italians up your ass."

"I'd prefer the angry Italians honestly, they've actually got brains," Jack snarked and hung up.

The colonel returned to his truck and pulled a piece of paper out of his glove compartment, there was a series of numbers scribbled on it that told him what to tune his radio to.

"This is KMRL radio. Your MAGIC Rock station, I'm your host Jeff Wright. Don't be wrong, Colorado, listen the Wright way here on KMRL. We have a call in request. Caller, you are on the air," Jack paused to listen as the radio host went through a short chat, as he listened, he caught the three indicator phrases that this was the correct caller for him...except that two of them had come from the DJ, not the caller, and he suspected that the first couple of things the caller had said were codes for the DJ. Then the DJ was back with the requested song. "Up next we have a request for Angus, if you're out there man. Here's Sweet with Fox on the Run."

Jack left the song playing on the radio because it was a good song and pulled out his atlas. Within a few moments he'd found Fox Run park just a short drive north of the city and was on his way.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Colorado Springs, Fox Run Park

Jack O'Neill strolled through the park, happy the park wasn't crowded for the time and day and found a picnic table with a view of the lake to relax. He plopped the grocery bag with sunflower seeds he'd brought along to throw at the non-existent birds, so he could snack on them while he waited.

He'd not been sitting there very long when someone sat at the picnic table on the bench behind him.

"How's Marge," the other man said. Jack heard the crinkle of a newspaper being used to help reflect the voice.

"Still with Homer," Jack replied, with the next sequence to the code he'd established with this contact. If for example he'd have said she was spending some time with the Bouviers that'd have sent a different message.

"At least someone's happy," the man replied, this was both a finisher for the code phrases and a statement of how the man's line of work was going these days.

"You know if you ever want to change tracks I know a guy..." Jack said, fairly certain who he was talking with at this point but intentionally not acknowledging any names, even in his own head.

"Same here, it's just not the same without you and Kowalski around."

"Trust me, you'll want to come my way, and the offer's open for anyone on your team or that your team works with too," Jack said.

"I'll let them know but don't hold your breath. Now, you don't look nearly panicked enough for an army of angry Italians ready to take issue with your choice of toppings. What's happening?"

"That's 'cause I'm not, we managed to prevent them from using it on our pizza, but it doesn't change the fact that it was in the same kitchen."

"How serious could it be?"

"Take a look at the paperwork on the Surstromming they brought with their chef... not to mention the chef wasn't there voluntarily." Jack handed him a copy of the datasheet on the chemical weapons they'd brought along.

"Well, shit. And you're not asking us for that army of angry Italians because?"

"I need some passive intel on that bunch of idiots in the Notional Intelligence Dumping ground. Not active, not guns blazing, but if you see their name attached to something or someone, paperwork whatever, they stuck their nose into my business and it's just begging to get cut off," Jack said.

"And you don't want us going in guns blazing yet?"

"They have notional support from the big man in the big house. But, we think they lied to the guy so we're using a soft approach until we can dump what we have on the big-man's desk. Worse, we think these are a rogue sub-group, because our official contacts have been clueless when we called them."

"Out of curiosity. If I were interested, though, would that involve travel?"

"My frequent flier card maxes out in a single step of every trip," Jack replied dryly

"Right — and you don't want to get out of there?"

"The ride can be a little rough, but the destinations are more than worth it. Most of the time."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Captain Carter's Lab

"As you can see the dialing console uses the same symbols as the stargate, and there's an internal power system, and the ability to interface with an external system for programming and review of console logs," Carter said.

"And those card slots in the back?" Ernest asked, poking around the DHD module.

Carter tapped a few keys on the terminal she'd hooked up to the DHD panel. "Those are macro program cards, they can override the behavior of the dialing device and the stargate, for example this one here looks like it can take the incoming matter buffer and redirect it to an alternate address."

"So, you could use that instead of the Iris?" Ernest asked.

"I think so, yes, I'd just need to enable this flag in the program here and tie it to the status of the iris, if the iris is open then travel can happen normally, if it's closed the gate will redirect travelers to one of the addresses from this list here." Carter pointed at the code on the screen. "It's surprisingly intuitive."

"Are there any other interesting macro programs in there?"

"Quite a few yes, this one here for example will immediately disconnect an incoming connection and dial back. This one should turn an outgoing connection into an incoming one by instructing the destination gate to reinitialize as though it had just dialed back, but if I'm reading the code right it causes the safety disconnect timer to malfunction and has to take over the disconnect timer manually."

"Quite a few different possible programs then, Captain," Ernest said.

"Yup, and room for me to write a few of my own," Captain Carter grinned.

"What if you," Ernest started and continued on to explain his idea to the Captain that would change how they handled the security implications of the stargate.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC, General Hammond's office

"Sir," Captain Doctor Janet Fraiser knocked on the door.

"Come in," George Hammond shoved the bottle of tums he was about to open back into a drawer as he spotted the doctor.

"I'm going to ignore that, and jump right to why I'm here," Doctor Fraiser said.

"I appreciate that, Doctor," the general said dryly.

"There've been some increasingly insistent proposals from the medical researchers at Langley regarding Teal'c's symbiote. I'd been rejecting them but with the new immune system booster drugs they've been working on and now the medical pod that SG1 brought back, I'm running out of denials," Doctor Fraiser explained.

"I see, Captain, I don't make it a habit to order the men and women under my command to undergo experimental procedures," General Hammond said.

"I wouldn't ask you to, and I hope you know me better than that," Captain Janet Fraiser said.

General Hammond sighed, "You can ask him."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Infirmary

"It's not too late to back out," Fraiser said.

"No, Doctor Fraiser. I have agreed to assist you in this endeavor, if my assistance can aid in removing the Jaffa's reliance upon the primta, I must participate in these trials. Just promise me that the symbiote will not be removed from the base," Teal'c said.

"I have my most trusted ensuring just that," Fraiser said.

"Then we should proceed," Teal'c said.

"Alright Teal'c, administering the first immune boosting compound test now," Fraiser said, and moved the needle to the injection port in the saline IV bag.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC, Daniel's office

Catherine smiled as Daniel laid out the pages of notes he'd made on the ancient language and started explaining his ideas and theories to her.

"So this is all the examples for that block style writing we've managed to get. This is from the dungeon, and this page from heliopolis, this one is Jack's kino remote." Daniel said. "I also suspect it might be related to Latin, but that's a suspicion based on a few words from the hologram on the dungeon planet. Specifically, it called the stargate an Astria Porta, and named the hostile bugs, Iratus bugs."

"I can see how you came to that conclusion but those symbols don't look much like what we know of as the Latin alphabet," Catherine said.

"True, but our modern alphabet descended from several prior alphabets, and these symbols specifically have some resemblance to the early phoenician," Daniel said, placing copies of both mentioned alphabets on the table between them.

"This character here that looks like an L rotated upside down looks like it could be an A, but then it could also be the letter gimmel," Catherine muttered.

"I asked one of the programmers to write up something that would cycle through each letter and check with a few common latin words to see if that would get me anywhere," Daniel said, dropping a stack of papers on the table. "So far I think this is the closest one that makes the most sense but there's still large parts that are roughly incomprehensible like this line here about a fruit of the earth being the answer."

"Don't forget most cultures have their own in-jokes and sayings that don't always translate, sometimes you just don't have the context, but that's a problem with most translations."

"I also noticed that the characters have mirror counterparts, which was a problem with this page here because the scan image I gave the program was upside down and it gave me two different results based on which direction it was facing when read in."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Infirmary - Late Evening October 14th, 1997

"No immune responses for test compounds one through four, unfavorable reaction to compound five, the symbiote appears to have filtered all the test compounds out so far," Doctor Fraiser noted the results in the log. "Teal'c, are you sure you want to continue?"

"I am sure doctor," Teal'c said while laying reclined on the infirmary bed.

"If you're certain. Alright, beginning test number six," Janet Frasier picked up the sixth syringe and presented the prepared symbiote tank for Teal'c to place his primta within while they tested the latest compound.

Once the symbiote was safely contained, she injected the latest compound into the intravenous tube and watched Teal'c's vitals.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Daniel: "Jack what are you doing?"
Jack: "Huh?" continues pressing buttons on the ancient handheld computer
Daniel: "Jack..."
Jack: "What?"
Daniel: "What are you doing?"
Jack: "Playing Legend of Zelda."
Daniel: "How?"
Jack: shrugs; "this thing scanned the game cartridge, only annoying part is all the text is in ancient, somehow."

 

[JohnSmithMIB]

No clue where this is going but I'm enjoying the ride. The Atlantis expedition could turn out very different if enough SG teams cycle through the dungeon for training.

If they can disassemble a handful of Kinos to understand how they float that'd also accelerate SG R&D and capabilities massively.

The easiest enemies would be Replicators, Unas, Priors, and Kull Warriors. The Reetou are also an option. The worst room would be if there were scholarship tests involving minutiae of the protected planets treaty.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 7 - Ethical Medicine, Chulak, Back again?

SGC Infirmary - Late, Tuesday Night, October 14th, 1997

Teal'c felt like fire was racing through his veins. Had he the spare mental capacity to wonder about things he might consider the possibility of betrayal, though he would ultimately dismiss the possibility where Doctor Janet Fraiser was concerned, that wouldn't rule out those that had pushed for the test even as he'd ultimately agreed to them. Unfortunately, his mind was otherwise occupied with the searing pain of his returned symbiote thrashing within his pouch as it worked to neutralize the chemicals the Tau'ri doctor had injected him with. He would've screamed but he was out of breath and his heart felt like it was struggling to beat.

"He's crashing," Janet Fraiser yelled, her staff moving over to surround him immediately. "Move, move, let's get him into the medical pod. Ready on three. One... two... three."

Teal'c felt the hands lift him off the infirmary bed, the tug of the IV tube on the needle in his hand, the searing line of pain as the symbiote writhed with the swinging motion as he was moved, and then sudden instant relief as the advanced systems within the medical pod they'd brought back from Heliopolis started to work on him. With the sudden lack of pain he slipped into unconsciousness and with sleep came the dream.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Fraiser looked on as the isolation field of the medical pod allowed her admittedly less advanced diagnostic equipment to remain attached. After several times looking back and forth between the medical pod's display and her own equipment the medical pod's display flashed. She glared at the pod itself as it automatically sorted the holographic displays until each of her instruments had an equivalent holographic reading floating nearby with the same graphs.

"Now you're just showing off," she muttered, and started flicking through the information on the closest of the holographic displays. "What exactly happened though..."

The display flickered bringing up an image of a group of molecules, and a warning symbol. A second window opened showing the circulatory system and a spread of color from the IV port to the rest of the body, then a brief paragraph of text appeared, describing the effect of each of the compounds and how the combination triggered an inflammatory immune response that escalated as the healing cells of the symbiote worked to combat the combination.

"That is definitely not the immune response I was looking for," Janet said.

Doctor Fraiser examined the new screen that appeared after she finished going over what had gone wrong with their experimental treatment and frowned, the bed was telling her that it had detected precisely what she'd been working on fixing, though it labeled the damage as genetic. It also identified the symbiote, and now it was downloading information from somewhere to create treatment options. The download rate was painfully slow, but she'd need to warn others before hitting the 'dial the gate to get updates faster' function.

Then the screen flashed red, and she scowled.

"Of course. Why should I expect my being the registered senior medical professional should allow me to download updated medical information," Janet said. Appearing to react to her ire, the screen flickered to show that the source of that particular update required a different type of security authorization as it wasn't from a pre-approved source, she frowned at the glyphs thinking those looked like the address for Heliopolis.

Aside from that one hiccup, the other update was coming from the dungeon planet address, this one appeared to be a consolidated file with contributions from other sources with a list of about ten other addresses though some of them looked wrong having too many glyphs, and one of them used symbols not on the stargate. She used the infirmary's documentation camera to snap two instant photos of the list before setting them aside.

Janet sniffed at the delay and waved over one of her staff. "Go get O'Neill down here, I don't know why this infernal machine likes him, but apparently it needs someone that isn't the registered senior medical officer to approve this download."

The man ran off, and a few minutes later the recalcitrant colonel showed up at her door.

"You bellowed?" Jack snarked.

Fraiser wordlessly pointed at the screen with the pending security request.

Jack tapped on the screen. "Weird, that's Heliopolis' address," he commented.

"I thought it looked familiar," Janet said, gesturing to the camera and instant photos on the bedside table. "The dungeon planet had an address list of data sources. I've already alerted the control room that there might be dial out to download additional data."

O'Neill silently clicked through the prompts until the pod's systems seemed to agree that everything was kosher and it finally approved the file. He even cleared having the pod dial out to download everything faster and triggered that process for her.

"There, I think that does it, anything else?" Jack asked.

"You may go, and take the instant photos of the new addresses up to Sam," Janet waved him off, already engrossed in the pages of new information, some of which was going over her head as it referenced medical knowledge outside of her expertise.

After a few minutes the medical pod finished working through all the gathered information and presented her with a recommended course of treatment.

She spent the next thirty minutes interrogating the thing over every item getting clarifications and more in depth explanations of what exactly it was doing. She even struck a few items off the list experimentally to see what effect that would have before restoring them. The one item she left off the list completely though was sealing Teal'c's symbiote pouch closed, he was still going to need Junior while his body recovered and needing to cut him open to remove the symbiote later would be less than ideal, and she had a feeling the Jaffa wouldn't want that.

When she was ready she pressed the confirmation button and watched the medical pod go to work applying the updated treatment plan, including genetic alterations to restore Teal'c's immune system completely, and what the system said was extensive modifications to the sections of the symbiote's genome responsible for the racial genetic memory the bulk of which had come from that restricted packet that O'Neill had to download for her.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Teal'c dreamed of himself as a young man, laying on the altar as the priest approached with the ceremonial athame. The priest chanted archaic words about the gifted curse that the gods were bestowing upon him, the larval goa'uld, a primta that he would need to carry for all his days as the supposed sign of the God's favor, and Teal'c screamed in reflex as the blade pierced the skin of his abdomen opening his pouch to the air for the first time.

The dream shifted and then he was seeing a different boy, younger but far more important in his own way.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Infirmary - Early Wednesday morning, October 15th, 1997

"Ryac!" Teal'c awoke with a cry in the infirmary.

"Easy, easy now, easy," Doctor Janet Fraiser said, tossing a stress ball to the big man that Teal'c caught and squeezed. She felt terribly bad for the problems caused by the medical tests but was glad the gentle giant of a man seemed to be recovering from the ordeal.

Teal'c took deep breaths and forced himself through the first few steps of a kelno-reem meditation. "I believe I am well now, Doctor. What happened?"

"You had a bad reaction to the sixth test compound, we tried to return the symbiote but the combination of compounds caused your body to go into anaphylactic shock and begin to reject the symbiote, I had to move you to the medical pod," Janet said.

"I must speak with General Hammond when he is here."

"You were calling out for someone named Ryac, Teal'c," Fraiser said.

"It was not a call, but I had a realization and I must discuss it with General Hammond," Teal'c said.

"Alright, I'll let you return to your meditation," Fraiser said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Operations Briefing room, October 15th

"Are we ready to explain why Teal'c was in the medical pod now?" Jack asked.

"Teal'c agreed to test a few immune boosting treatments that showed promise. Unfortunately the combination of the last few compounds caused a systemic allergic reaction. We returned his symbiote to the pouch only for the allergic response to worsen," Janet said. "I'm also going to request that everyone involved with the last three compounds get examinations, the medical pod gave me a laundry list of potential problems for non-jaffa humans exposed to them."

"Issues doctor?" Hammond asked.

"Well for one, an increased likelihood of melanoma, that is skin cancer, the simulation showed the compound binding to the cell in a way that inhibited programmed cell death, which is one of the body's defense mechanisms when a cell becomes damaged. The other compound heightened the histamine and cytokine responses well above sustainable levels. The third seemed to bind the first two together in disturbing ways," Janet replied.

"So, the pod was the only option," Jack finished.

"Exactly, now if what I read from the recommended treatment is correct, the pod was able to edit Teal'c's DNA and restore the portions related to normal human immune response. But his immune system will still be practically non-existent and incredibly weak for at least a year while his body uses the new genes to rebuild his immune system."

"I take it that the boys at Langley will just have to be a little disappointed," Hammond said.

"Additionally, as you all know the pod downloaded a large amount of medical information. The log indicated it was uploaded to the medical systems at Heliopolis after SG1 left. That information was related to the portions of the symbiote responsible for the symbiote's genetic memory. Junior as you so affectionately referred to it should now be missing the vast majority of goa'uld memories that would've influenced any personality it would develop as it grew. Not that I'm willing to have anyone test that supposition. I wasn't all that confident in the proposed course of action to begin with, not after the last encounter we had with a supposed immature symbiote—" Janet trailed off not wanting to bring up what had happened to Kowalski.

"If a primta is needed, we can still obtain one if that is what you need," Teal'c said. "There are many hundreds of Goa'uld larva on Chulak."

"Out of the question," Hammond said.

"It is one of the few worlds in all the galaxy with such an abundance," Teal'c said.

"But, we didn't exactly leave a good impression the last time we were there," Daniel said.

"If what was done for me by the medical pods can be repeated for others," Teal'c started, only to trail off.

"Woah, where is this coming from?" Jack said.

"Is this what you wanted to speak with the General about this morning?" Doctor Fraiser asked.

"Ryac," Teal'c said.

"That was the name you called out early this morning," Doctor Fraiser said.

"Yes, my son," Teal'c said.

"Your son?" Hammond asked.

"Teal'c buddy, you told us you didn't have any ties to Chulak left," Jack said.

"It was the truth to some extent. As a warrior my people understand that family can be used against you. We sever all claim to our pasts when we are captured or leave the service of our lords both to protect them and ourselves."

"That doesn't exactly clear up the trust issues," Hammond interjected.

"I truly did consider myself dead to them."

"Ah, the issues with the tests and your symbiote," Jack said.

"Indeed. Now, I am concerned for the life of my son," Teal'c said.

Captain Carter reached out as if to rest a hand on Teal'c's shoulder before stopping and setting it back in her lap. Daniel leaned forward with his head tilted towards the Jaffa.

"Teal'c, what has you so concerned?" Daniel asked.

"Within days my son will come of age. If permitted, he will be called before the priests of Apophis, where he will undergo the prim'ta rites, and ceremonial implantation. It is the day when a young Jaffa receives their first symbiote and becomes a true jaffa, just as all other jaffa before him," Teal'c explained.

"And, I take it you don't want that to happen?" Hammond asked.

"Indeed, if I might spare my son the trauma of the priest's dagger, as his symbiote pouch is torn open by the blade, and he is forced to carry such evil for the rest of his life, then I must go. My first teacher, the jaffa master Bra'tac; he knew very well that the Goa'uld are false gods. But I cannot, I will not allow my son to become a slave."

"There must be more than this Bra'tac who believe such," Jack said.

"Bra'tac would be the one to know, he has spent many years of his life training Jaffa and knows their minds better than the false gods know them," Teal'c agreed.

"You believe this, Bra'tac, could be the start of a Jaffa rebellion?" George asked.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "In fact, he may already be working towards that goal without us."

"It's worth a shot, sir," Jack said.

"Are you absolutely certain this mission is necessary?" General George Hammond asked.

Colonel O'Neill caught Teal'c's eye and saw the determination there. "Yes sir," Jack said.

"When is this ceremony going to occur," George asked.

"It could be within the day," Teal'c said.

The general looked around the room and then sighed. "Mission approved, get your gear," the general said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Chulak

SG1 stepped through the silvery blue puddle of the stargate dressed in the concealing robes of the Jaffa priesthood, with the exception of Teal'c,who was wearing his old serpent guard armor, helmet raised.

The team had barely stepped onto the winding path away from the gate when they were intercepted by a cadre of priests and Jaffa guards.

"Kree!" the lead priest called out. "Halt and state your business, travelers."

"These are scholars from the court of Apophis. I escort them on my lord's business," Teal'c boomed from the audio pickup in his helmet, his voice slightly distorted from a bit of intentionally introduced damage.

The lead priest stepped forward. "And you do not show your face my lord?"

"Kree, hal mek, cha'hai, my helm was damaged in my last battle, priest. Our lord has commanded me to not remove it until he has judged I have suitably learned my lesson. It is our lord's command and my punishment, until he sees fit to assign one of his servants the task of repairing the damage."

"As the lord wills." The priest cringed in sympathy. "Though, were I you, I would be sure to regain favor soon. A damaged helmet does not allow one to partake in the joys of life," the priest bowed obsequiously and the rest followed, clearing the way for Teal'c and SG-1 to bypass the group.

"Indeed, yet our Lord is merciful, for I shall be granted a tube through which I might be sustained. This is just one step along the path in which our lord considers my lesson to be learned," Teal'c replied, before turning to lead his charges on their steady march down the hill.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Granted a tube through which you might be sustained?" O'Neill asked.

"I thought that part was fairly inspired," Daniel said.

"Who's idea was that again?" Carter asked.

"Hey, it worked didn't it?" Daniel asked.

Teal'c adjusted his stance to make it more obvious that he was shaking his head behind the serpent guard helmet. "The tubes are indeed unpleasant. The liquified gruel in particular is only barely palatable."

The other three paused, and turned to him. O'Neill finally chuckled. "Good one."

"I would not jeopardize this mission by making such a claim unfounded. This punishment is indeed known to me, Colonel O'Neill."

Beneath his priest robes, Daniel grimaced, having just realized that he'd unknowingly come up with something similar to an actual Goa'uld punishment.

"Where to now?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

"We will go directly to Bra'tac. My former home is along the path, and there is a chance it still stands. If it does, the ceremony will be held there, Bra'tac will know otherwise," Teal'c said.

"Lead the way," O'Neill gestures to the path.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"We are far enough from observation that you may adjust your robes and hoods," Teal'c said, triggering the serpent guard helmet to lower.

As the team crested the hill they spotted a burned wreck of a building. Only two of the walls remained standing with the rest having been pulled down and blast marks from staff weapons scarring the structure.

"Teal'c?" Daniel asked.

"Is that...?" Jack trailed off.

"Yes, my former home. A reward from Apophis for many years of service, in more ways than one," Teal'c said. "I had expected this much, but it still hurts to see it."

As the team rounded the side of the ruined structure a symbol was revealed, painted in white against the charred stone of the standing wall. It spanned the height of the building and looked like a sword stabbing down with serpents wrapping around the hilt and a slash through it.

"What does that mark mean? I don't recognize it," Daniel said.

"It marks the dwelling of a Shol'va," Teal'c said.

"Traitor," Daniel translated.

"I expected this, but seeing it," Teal'c said.

"Hurts, doesn't it," the colonel said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said. "Come."

The team continued along the path until the sound of a staff weapon opening behind them brought them to a halt.

"Obi-Tan! Kree, kree, kree," Bra'tac called in a commanding voice. His staff was pointing at Jack's face.

The team slowly turned in their tracks hands out until Teal'c spotted the man.

"Tek ma te, Bra'tac," Teal'c said. Bra'tac slowly moved his weapon away and upright, as he turned towards the Jaffa member of SG1.

"Teal'c," Bra'tac's face broke into a grin.

"It is good to see you," Teal'c said.

"Humph, were I an enemy, you would be dead," Bra'tac replied.

"My wife and son?" Teal'c asked.

"They escaped the burning. I had a feeling you might return in time for your boy's ceremony, Teal'c. Brave, but unwise."

"Others?"

"Do not know you as well as I," Bra'tac replied. "I expected you, not these."

"Friends, Colonel O'Neill. Captain Carter. Daniel Jackson. Warriors of great skill and cunning."

"As you say," Bra'tac said skeptically.

"I'll have you know," Carter started.

"These? Warriors of great skill and cunning? I could snap you like kindling!" Bra'tac said, looking Daniel up and down. "You bring these hasshack with you?"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Who you calling a hassock?" Jack asked, knowing by the tone that he should be offended. Jack turned to Daniel and asked. "What's a hassock anyway?"

"Ah.. weakling, cannon fodder, fools," Daniel whispered back.

"So you challenge me, hasshack?"

"No?" Jack said.

Bra'tac burst into motion, his staff went from the relaxed upright position to swinging around the aged jaffa warrior and towards Colonel O'Neill stomach.

Colonel O'Neill was ready though and moved with the staff, he caught it and pulled it out of the elder warrior's grip. Bra'tac lost his footing in the loose gravel of the path and fell back, ending up with his staff in O'Neill's hand with the plasma projector in his face.

"You know, if you didn't want to be part of our little mission you could've just said so," Jack said.

Bra'tac just laughed. "You have chosen your friends well. Be glad I am not a hundred years younger. That would have gone much differently."

"A hundred years?" Jack asked incredulously, moving the staff to a position where the Jaffa could use it to pull himself back up.

"A hundred and thirty three." Bra'tac said using Jack's sudden deference to sweep the colonel's legs out from beneath him while reclaiming his staff.

"I can only hope I'm as spry when I get to be your age," Jack replied.

"No one has ever defied the Goa'uld and lived to tell of it. There was much talk in Chulak of the warriors of the Tau'ri." Bra'tac held a hand out and pulled Jack to his feet.

"Ryac?" Teal'c asked.

"Your family is kreshta. Outcasts. The kreshta live in a handful of camps outside the city. It may take some time to locate them as the outcasts are not allowed permanent dwellings."

"If we are discovered, you will be brought before Apophis along with us." Teal'c cautioned.

"Well we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it." O'Neill said.

"No. The bridge is too well guarded." Bra'tac replied.

"That was a figure of speech," O'Neill said.

"We should go now, and we can share what made us return at great risk to ourselves."

"If you don't mind, sir, Daniel and I will go complete the secondary objective and then find a spot to secure an exfiltration path at the stargate," Carter said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"So, you challenged the caves of Kalach Shaltek," Bra'tac said.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied.

"And what of the risk," Bra'tac asked.

"Kalach Shaltek seems to somehow approve of the Tau'ri and specifically the members of SG-1, it does not permanently kill them or those with them," Teal'c said.

"Hmph, you are not the only one to have been treated such," Bra'tac replied and revealed an empty symbiote pouch. "I was once punished with the removal of my primta and survived. But, I had a secret, that I had made it through to the second stage of the caves and died there only to be treated. My symbiote remained with me but I was never as reliant upon it from that moment onward."

"There's more than just Kalach Shaltek though," O'Neill said.

"Oh?"

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"Yes. We know of medical equipment that appears to have been built by the same people that built Kalach Shaltek. That's what we used to treat Teal'c," Jack said.

"But are you certain that it will work," Bra'tac said.

"It's worth a try," Jack said. "And it was able to keep Teal'c and Junior alive when some experimental medicines nearly killed both."

"...Junior?" Bra'tac snorted.

"That is how Colonel O'Neill has chosen to refer to my symbiote," Teal'c replied.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Larval Primta Creche, Chulak

"He must have gone through a lot keeping quiet about this," Daniel said.

"Huh?" Carter asked lowering her binoculars to look at the archaeologist.

"Teal'c, I was just saying," Daniel said.

"Yeah," Carter said, her eyes back on the path ahead of them. "But now is probably not the best time, I think."

Daniel only had a moment to look up before Carter had snagged his arm and pulled him behind a convenient hedge bush. From their hiding spot they watched the procession of priests led by the priestess as they escorted an ornate glass container. It was hanging from carrying poles like the goa'uld version of the ark of the covenant, and reinforced with a golden metal. Through the glass from the distance, they could just make out the indistinct serpentine form of an immature Goa'uld larva sloshing and creating turbulence in the fluid.

"The priestess must be escorting a larval Goa'uld," Daniel said.

"Look, there," Carter pointed to the building the priest and Jaffa had come from, it was a sort of shrine jutting out from the side of a steep hill and had a large stained glass window in the shape of Apophis' symbol over the entrance.

"You think?" Daniel asked.

"Only one way to find out," Captain Carter replied, and pulled Daniel behind her as the two moved from cover to cover. Then, not seeing any Jaffa approaching they made a run for the entrance.

The building wasn't very deep and just inside of the opening, there was a tub of bubbling water deep enough for an adult to wade in. Unfortunately the tub was empty of anything except bubbling water.

"Huh, It's empty," Daniel said.

"There's some sort of electrical current and nutrient mix being pumped through it," Carter said.

"There's a sign here," Daniel paused to run a hand over the Goa'uld hieroglyphs.

"What's it say," Carter said, finished with her examinations.

"Something about the primta being moved to the court of Apophis for security reasons. It's not an exact translation and I'm losing a lot of context," Daniel replied, before extracting a camera from his gear and snapping a picture.

"Well we need to get out of here, I think I see another patrol headed this way," Carter said pointing at the staff weapons just visible over the bushes lining the path.

Daniel didn't have any objection and followed Captain Carter away from the empty creche.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Outcast camp, Chulak

The two jaffa were not inconspicuous as they approached the camp. There were expressions of more than a little fear and concern and even an abrupt strangled scream cut off by a fellow outcast clamping a hand over that person's mouth.

"Hmph. Your wife and son should be in that one," Bra'tac pointed to one of the better looking tents.

Teal'c had recognized the tent the instant his eyes landed on it though and was already making strides through the camp to the entrance to that tent.

"Ryac," Teal'c said, spotting his son feebly coughing.

"Father?" the boy's brow furrowed as he looked towards Teal'c's voice, the boy doubled over coughing.

Jack and Bra'tac arrived just as a concealed figure dove into the tent tackling Teal'c to the ground. The two rolled on the ground in front of the boy who was suddenly sitting up and trying to yell for them to stop in between coughs.

The figure's hood fell back revealing a Jaffa woman with a severe expression.

"Drey'auc?"

"Teal'c?" Drey'auc asked.

"Teal'c?" Jack asked.

"My wife," Teal'c said.

"Why have you returned?" Drey'auc asked.

"My son will not be a slave. You do not have to be a slave," Teal'c said.

"A slave? You have condemned your son to death," Drey'auc said. " Your heresy is an abomination, Teal'c. Even by the outcasts I am shunned. The priests decry you and your son as tainted and unworthy of the gift of life."

"The abomination is being cursed to carry a being of evil within your body knowing they care not if you live or die."

"How can you call the gods your enemy?"

"What need have gods for starships and torture," Teal'c said. "The tau'ri have proved their claim to godhood a lie."

"Do you not see where your son lies on his deathbed? Is this supposed to be better than the home Apophis granted you as his first prime?"

"It is not," Teal'c said.

"You have abandoned and betrayed us. Do you know what I have endured to convince the priests we are still loyal? I was but days away from having the mark of shame lifted from our shoulders."

"So you want this more for yourself than for our son?"

Teal'c rocks back from the strike on his face.

"I spoke in anger, forgive me. Our son need not die of this," Teal'c said.

"No, no. I know not what foolish notion has filled your head. What would you have me tell him? That his father left his son for people he does not know? Those not of his blood? You tell him that, husband, witness the dishonor in his eyes."

"Ryac?"

"I knew he was not dead," Ryac coughed, in between glares aimed at both of his parents.

"You are ill, how long have you been," Teal'c turned to Drey'auc, "How long?"

"Since we were driven from our home. His cough grows worse by the day."

"The illness is one of the first signs that the time for the implantation grows near," Bra'tac said. "It is not a matter of preventing once an illness such as this shows. He is the son of two Jaffa who in turn are both descended from Jaffa, if he had even a single human grandparent there might have been a chance."

"You speak nonsense old man. You know that such is forbidden," Drey'auc said.

"It was not always such," Teal'c said. "I had hoped."

"We have medicines for that, you know," Jack interjected. "Plus, there's the medical pod in the SGC infirmary which I'm sure would have no problem treating this."

Drey'auc looked at Jack, shock in her eyes. "You believe you can heal him without a primta?"

"By the end of the year, I will no longer be dependent upon mine to survive," Teal'c confirmed.

"Wait here, there are more young Jaffa in this camp than just your son," Drey'auc said.

"Wait, more? I don't think the one pod at the infirmary will be enough for this," O'Neill muttered.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Stargate rendezvous point, Chulak

"There," Daniel said, pointing in the opposite direction where Teal'c and O'Neill had appeared from the treeline followed by several others carrying children.

"What?" Carter started.

"No time to explain," Jack said as soon as he got in speaking distance. "We ready to go?"

"Yeah, there's a problem with that," Daniel said, motioning to the priests and Jaffa blocking the path to the gate.

"We're about to have company," Captain Carter said.

"I was afraid of that," Jack said.

"Teal'c?" Carter asked.

"These others were nearing their own time of implantation," Teal'c said. "Soon they would have become ill and been forced to accept whatever demands of service the priests placed upon them."

A tall female jaffa with the symbol of apophis inked onto her forehead stepped forward at this point and spoke softly to Carter.

"We are kreshta, outcasts, forbidden access to the primta that would save our children. If you can save their lives, we will pledge ourselves to your cause, I am Ha'kiera," the now-named Ha'kiera said.

"Kree!" shouted a voice, and a horn sounded calling reinforcements from the town, the Jaffa at the gate holding their weapons ready.

"Bra'tac," Jack looked up.

"I believe it is time to burn that bridge, O'Neill," Bra'tac said.

"Carter, you brought the party favors, right?" Jack asked.

Captain Carter smirked and tossed her shock grenade into the assembled group of Jaffa and priests blocking the path to the gate.

There was a flash of light from the stun grenade that cleared the opposition from the path, allowing SG1 and company to finish their approach to the stargate.

"Heliopolis," Jack said as Captain Carter approached the DHD.

"Sir?" Samantha Carter asked.

"There's no way we're putting this group through the one medical pod at the SGC," Jack said.

"Okay," she started to dial, inputting the symbols for Heliopolis and then pressing the red dome only for the DHD to start blinking. "The hell?"

Jack looked up and frowned, "That's new."

"Yeah, never seen a DHD do that before. It's not invalid or blocked or it would just stop, try the remote," Captain Carter said.

Jack pulled out the ancient handheld computer and kino remote and scrolled through now familiar menus until he got to the dialing section but there seemed to be a request to authorize the connection and a timer in addition to the normal dialing interface. With a shrug Jack pressed the collection of symbols he knew was an approval from all the previous uses and the DHD stopped blinking and finished the dial out.

"Interesting," Carter said.

"I'm sure it is, but right now we need to go," Jack said, spotting a second patrol in the distance.

As the last member of the group entered the stargate, the DHD flashed and cleared the address before lighting all the glyphs at random several times and then going dark again.

 

[Stephenopolos]

7.1 Deleted Scene - bad planning

"What's the plan," Jack asked motioning to their gear and Teal'c. "We are obviously not welcome, and you're considered a traitor and would likely be shot on sight and wake up in a sarcophagus to be tortured by Apophis."

"Indeed," Teal'c said and opened the door to the storage room with the items they'd taken from their first visit to Chulak.

"You will conceal yourselves beneath these," He thrust the bundle of priestly robes at the team. "I will go in my armor and claim my helmet is damaged."

"Workable, but I've got a better thought. Apophis and other Goa'uld aren't unknown to make sometimes seemingly ridiculous commands. Claim that apophis commanded thus after you damaged it as punishment until he could be bothered to repair it," Daniel said.

"Good thinking," Jack said, eyebrows raised in compliment.

 

[Stephenopolos]

7.2 Deleted Scene - larval goa'uld

The building wasn't very deep and just inside of the opening, there was a tub of bubbling water deep enough for an adult to wade in. The surface of the water frothed at their approach. The larval Goa'uld churned within.

"What do you think these things eat?" Daniel said out of morbid curiosity.

"I doubt it's your standard fish food from the local Safeway," Carter said.

"Here," Daniel said, and offered her his thermos.

"Oh god, so gross," Carter said grimacing as she dipped the now empty thermos into the water and then jerked it back up quickly, sealing the cap on top having caught a curious larva.

"We need to get back under cover now, we're about to have company," Daniel said. In the distance he'd spotted the sooty smoke from another torch carried by one of the priests of apophis approaching along the winding path.

"Ugh, I absolutely hate leaving this here like this," Carter said.

"I don't think we have time for you to plant any explosives," Daniel said, as he pulled Carter along.

The two disappeared behind the hedges just in time as the next group of priests rounded the corner to approach the larval creche.

7.2b Alyssonal rider - (From Polydicta)

"We got an even dozen, but I'm not sure what to feed them," Carter said. The team was looking at the larval symbiotes swimming through an aquarium full of fake coral and those cheap aquarium castles and other decorations. Daniel suddenly stood up and ran out of the lab before returning a few minutes later at a run with a golden cardboard canister with garish print and the label "Goldfish Food ... brings out the colour of your pets!" under the safeway generic brand label.

"You're not going to..." Jack said.

"Daniel!" Carter exclaimed as Daniel ignored them and pushed the little plastic spice jar style cover open and started sprinkling the pellets of fish food into the tank.

Daniel closed the feed opening with a smirk and set the food can onto the table next to the tank before turning back to the group with a smirk.

"What, I thought it might be worth a try," Daniel said.

Behind him the twelve symbiotes abandoned their chasing after each other to go after the pile of fish pellets slowly sinking into the tank.

A week later a clumsy airman accidentally left the tank open with his back turned, but the most that happened was one of the symbiotes popping its head above the water to screech at him until he dropped a handful of the golden fish food pellets into the tank.

 

[Stephenopolos]

7.3 Apocryphal Apophis (Thank CmptrWz for this one)

Apophis held his glowing karakesh over the DHD accessing a secret recording computer he'd had installed. The logs made no sense to him, how did they go anywhere without a registered address.

The Goa'uld System Lord refreshed the log file again and located the section related to when the infernal tau'ri team and that Sholva had left the planet. There, that's the address, but no, the log didn't indicate a connection, surely that meant they simply mis-dialed.

Experimentally, the system lord carefully input the symbols himself, only for the address to immediately fail to connect and go dark. Not that he had any idea of the need for the second bit of equipment the Tau'ri had lucked upon that allowed for the DHD to register an authentication device capable of supplying the handshake protocols the destination required for a connection.

The System lord decided that his recorder must have a flaw that allowed the pestilential Tau'ri to leave without logging their real address after they redialed, though it was only a few symbols off from one address he was already aware of connected to the Tau'ri. Trust humans to be so flawed as to misdial Abydos' address.

 

[Stephenopolos]

you can all thank bethofdeath for this one:

"...Carter? Why did the...whoosh... come out as a huge flock of butterflies?"

"Kaleidoscope," Daniel corrected absently.

O'Neill twisted around. "Huh?"

"Huh? Oh, a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope."

"Huh. Carter, why did the whoosh come out as a huge collideaskup of butterflies?"

"I don't know sir. I'm sure we'll find out later."

 

[JohnSmithMIB]

Huge potential for the Jaffa, Tok'ra, or a third goa'uld faction. If the pods can extract Goa'uld from a host while keeping the host alive that also has big butterfly potential. If it can heal Goa'uld like Egeria that's another possibility.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 8 - Back again? Lumos-Nox, Home free.

Heliopolis stargate room

"Someone, other than us, has been here, and recently," Daniel said warily.

The difference in the heliopolis stargate room was obvious: it wasn't humid and stifling to start with, likely because the hole in the ceiling had been repaired. Even the mess they'd made of the DHD had been cleaned up.

"I had a feeling after the medical pod downloaded that update from here," Colonel O'Neill said.

Captain Carter shook her head. "Janet's report said the downloads needed your approval, sir. They could've been in a system queue here waiting for that kind of approval for quite some time."

Colonel O'Neill raised a finger and looked like he was about to argue further, only to sigh and lower it.

"...fair point, but... counterpoint, those are repairs," O'Neill gestured at the clean and fresh looking gate room.

"Touché," Carter agreed, looking around the room.

"If you are finished, this location would not appear to be capable of supplying the treatments you described," Bra'tac interrupted.

"Okay, we're here with a medical emergency," O'Neill said. There was a light flash across the group, followed by nothing happening.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Bra'tac asked.

"Huh. Well, good news! Nobody is going to keel over from an immediately life-threatening medical condition," Colonel O'Neill said brightly.

"And the bad news, sir?" Carter asked.

"Ah, yes, the bad news; we have a bit of a walk ahead of us," O'Neill deadpanned. "Luckily, no thanks to Daniel, I know how to get there. Though, now I'm worried about the wind and rain. I don't imagine anyone packed their umbrella. At least our emergency ponchos should be in our kit, even if we have to double up the kids, we should be able to at least keep them dry."

"Teal'c obviously isn't carrying one," Daniel said, and set the map printout down to fish out the two prepackaged ponchos he'd packed.

"I see we were on the same page," Carter had followed suit retrieving three of her own.

"And here's another four," O'Neill said and dropped the four from his own pack onto the pile.

"Four sir," Carter asked.

"Well, I said to myself, Teal'c doesn't carry a pack like ours, and then I thought, Daniel might forget, and then I considered things. They really don't take that much space, so I thought, I might as well pack four. I'd have packed five if I could fit them all in the pocket."

"...might forget?" Daniel said incredulously.

Carter winced, "That's why I grabbed that third one."

"Sam?!" Daniel sounded betrayed.

"Hey, how many times did we trade off on helping you pack your bag before you got it down?" O'Neill asked.

"Jack..." Daniel grumbled, whined, and then winced, likely remembering several prior incidents of forgetting things he'd not considered important.

"Alright, that's nine ponchos. We can at least get the kids covered," O'Neill said, ignoring the grumbling and opening the first of the packets.

"Humph, such flimsy things and you're sure these will be of use?" Bra'tac asked.

"I have endured the rain before, O'Neill. Bra'tac may evaluate the effectiveness of my rain poncho, if he desires it," Teal'c calmly stated.

O'Neill looked over the group; Brennad, the youngest of the adult Jaffa, if he'd caught the name correctly from the quiet conversation between the Jaffa was limping from an impressive looking wound. "That will do, Tee. Unless several others are hiding wounds like that one."

The young warrior looked up from his charge in bewilderment at the sudden attention, and carefully shifted his weight away from the injured leg.

"Sir, I think Daniel and I should stay, we can contact the SGC and advise them of our status, plus I'd like to examine that replacement DHD," Carter said.

"You and Daniel want to stay?" O'Neill asked.

"Teal'c will obviously be going with you, his son is part of the group," Daniel said.

"And, you'll be needed for the medical pods, as they seem to respond best for you, though heaven knows why," Carter said.

"Okay, but your radios stay on you, and on at all times, and if I get even a hint that your radio wasn't out of range or blocked and you didn't respond. Well, I don't know what I'll do, but there'll be consequences," O'Neill said.

It didn't take very long for them to distribute the rain ponchos, and the group soon left the gate room behind. O'Neill led the way down the muddy path he'd taken just a few days before into the tree-line.

The children looked up in awe as they followed the path, overhead there was a swirl of teals and blues shimmering in the sky, lighting the area in an ethereal glow. The environmental shield was doing its job holding back the might of the storm, and fluorescing as it deflected the heavy rain. The older Jaffa of the group merely smiled at the enthusiasm, though were obviously less impressed as they had seen similar shields in use before.

After roughly ten minutes of walking they reached a clearing from which they could see the infirmary building with just a few large trees between it and them, and that was the moment when the shield overhead deactivated without warning. They had only a few seconds from the glow fading, and the growing sound of the storm reaching them, before they were drenched by the sudden deluge of water.

In the distance, the light from the infirmary door was now their guide.

O'Neill, Bra'tac, Teal'c, and the other refugees broke into a run. Carrying the children, they sprinted the remaining distance into the safety of the entrance.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis - Infirmary

"I suppose these ponchos may be more useful than they might first appear," Bra'tac said, shedding the thin plastic once they were well inside the building and clear of the torrential downpour.

"I knew you'd appreciate them," O'Neill said, and helped to hang the ponchos in the vestibule that kept the outside out of the infirmary.

"Indeed," Teal'c said, and led the group through a blast of warm air that helped dry them and push away the chill before they entered the octagonal main room of the infirmary proper.

"Alright, kids, into the medical pods." O'Neill said, pointing to the six pods around the room, the seventh pod being the one they'd run off with and apparently not replaced, and the eighth wall not having a pod at all as it would've sat against the door they just entered through.

The group followed his instruction except for the young man that was injured, as his charge was arguing with him.

"Woah, hold on," O'Neill said. "What's going on here?"

"Brennad is injured, I can wait," the young Jaffa told O'Neill solemnly.

"Zahkad, you are my responsibility, my injury has waited this long, it can continue to wait," Brennad immediately countered.

"He is correct," Teal'c interposed himself into the argument. "You are his charge and it's his responsibility to see that you are cared for."

"The pods are reusable, you know," O'Neill interjected. "Your brother can use the healing pod as soon as it finishes with you."

"Promise?" Zahkad asked.

"I pinky promise, and that's the most solemn vow there is," O'Neill replied, holding out his pinky finger.

"How's that work?" Zahkad asked.

O'Neill showed the young jaffa the custom.

"Zahkad, just get into the medical pod," Brennad groaned in frustration.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis - Stargate room

Captain Carter watched the Colonel and the Jaffa as they disappeared down the path before she returned to the gate room and the replacement dialing device.

"Now what?" Daniel asked.

"Now, you look around to see if there's anything in here that might suggest a secret door that Ernest might not have noticed," Sam said, reaching out to start pressing the glyphs for their home address.

Daniel shrugged and clicked on his flashlight to wander around the gate room. "Not sure what you're expecting me to find, stone is a thick building material and just about anything could be hidden with the right techniques."

"It was just a thought, as there's obviously technology hidden here, but I'm not actually expecting much," Sam said, and frowned as the dialing device was acting erratically. The glyphs she'd pressed hadn't lit up, but multiple other glyphs elsewhere had. With a sigh, she pulled the crystal interface tools out of her pack followed by a toolkit and her laptop. She started her laptop booting before working on prying open an access panel on the dialing device.

"Having problems?" Daniel asked.

"The dialing interface is glitched, it just lights up random symbols," Carter said, now into the guts of the dialing device and looking over all of the internal components.

"Well, there's maybe three spots I'd consider potentially hidden doors, but I don't see any way to trigger a mechanism," Daniel said. "Four if you count that the passage to the hologram room looks like it can be sealed off."

"I take it you want to go look at the hologram room?" Carter asked.

"A thousand times, yes," Daniel said, practically bouncing on his toes.

Captain Carter laughed and removed another access panel. "It's probably going to take me at least twenty minutes to diagnose whatever's wrong with this, so go ahead."

"Thanks Sam!" Daniel yelled, running out of the room to Carter's continued laughter.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis - Infirmary

"What now?" Ha'kiera asked once all the children had been situated.

"Now? The medical pods activate, tell us if there's anything that needs attention, and then they get healed," O'Neill said.

Around the room, the medical pods had already sensed their new patients and did exactly as Colonel O'Neill had said. Shimmering fields of energy had formed over each Jaffa child.

"You know it'd be nice to have a single interface for all of these, or maybe some sort of assistant to tell me what I'm doing." O'Neill said as the first of the holographic dialog screens appeared. "On second thought, since we have the guardians present perhaps they should be the ones making medical decisions for their charges."

The screen that appeared in front of the Colonel with each pod's readings and a summary of the findings stayed where it was at, while separate holographic displays appeared over each of the children, suitably translated into goa'uld text. While they were reading their individual results, O'Neill spotted a note on his screen that a common condition was present in all patients and an existing treatment for that condition had already been approved for general use.

With the overview screen, O'Neill was able to monitor their progress with an english translation as they worked through the list, and point out for Teal'c when something needed to be explained to the parental guardians of the younger Jaffa, but eventually each child's care had been settled and the pods set to work applying the fix to the genes responsible as well as clearing out any existing problems that had arisen as a result of their growing lack of immune system or the work needed for restoring it to a functional state.

Unlike Teal'c, who'd been without a functioning immune system for most of his adult life and would need to continue to rely upon the symbiote still in his abdominal pouch, the young Jaffa being treated would only feel a temporary vulnerability for a few days while their bodies adapted to the genetic changes, restarting the process of building new immune cells to replace the ones that had died off.

"I would speak with you, Teal'c," Bra'tac said, approaching his former student while the medical pods worked on the younger Jaffa.

"What is it you would have of me?" Teal'c asked.

Colonel O'Neill watched as the two Jaffa turned away from the group discussing things, only catching a few snippets about training and unfamiliar goa'uld words, and decided it was time to check in with Carter and Daniel.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis - Stargate room

"Yes!" Carter cheered as her laptop reported that she'd successfully negotiated a connection between the dialing computer within the DHD and the program on her laptop. "Now to see if we can actually dial somewhere... just as soon as it finishes the start-up checks."

The dialing pedestal had been laid bare, with every access panel that could be removed now on the floor. The red dome of the central button was lying off to the side and Carter's attempt at her own diagnostic cable was trailing from one of the data crystals normally under the dome to her laptop. The access cable that the team had gotten as a reward from the dungeon planet was attached to the second port of her laptop, looping around to the open access panel on the backside of the DHD and vanishing to connect deeper within the internals of the device.

A heavily modified version of the SGC's own dialing program that the Air Force Captain had been working on to interface with the dialing console they'd picked up had been hastily patched to work with the DHD instead and it was now scrolling through a series of diagnostics sending requests over the serial-optical adapter at the fastest possible speed for her laptop. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the slowest possible speed the DHD would understand. Her customized dialing software was building up a list of hardware IDs to work with by poking the DHD for control ports she was aware of and through it the stargate.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Colonel O'Neill clicked the radio a few times.

"Carter, what's your status? Over," O'Neill said.

There was a short wait which Colonel O'Neill assumed was Captain Carter getting her hands on the radio to respond.

"All clear up here, that replacement DHD appears to have some sort of intentional sabotage but isn't outright damaged like the old one, sir, over," Captain Carter replied.

"Do you need me up there? Over," O'Neill asked.

"Not as of yet, over," Carter replied.

"Where's spacemonkey, over," O'Neill sent.

"Looking for hidden rooms in the hologram room, I think I found some possible buttons for a door but the exact combo is a mystery, over," Daniel interjected from his own radio.

"Nice to see you paying attention, over," O'Neill replied.

"If that's all, sir, I need to get back to disentangling the mess in the DHD, sir, over," Carter replied.

"Understood, captain, O'Neill out," O'Neill replied, returning his radio to the pocket of his tac vest.

Zahkad's medical pod was the first to stop glowing, the arms returning to storage and the field dimming until it winked out of existence, the first of the Jaffa children to finish their treatment and kind of proving that they'd not needed to go before their brother. O'Neill considered things and wondered if he could convince the systems to ask the adult jaffa directly what treatments they'd agree to rather than needing him to read through pages of medical information and make decisions for them.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"That sounded promising," Daniel said, strolling back into the room having exhausted his search for buttons and unwilling to spend the time just yet trying to brute force a combo on the one set he'd found.

"It is, I've managed to get my laptop to interface with the control crystals. It's going through the programming on the DHD now. I did find the obvious problem though, as there's a missing connection here," Carter pointed at the darkened crystal that linked the upper section of the DHD with the lower section. "Also, if I'm reading this right, the upper portion of the dialing device has a program that just runs through random combinations of glyphs whenever you press one, and every seventh glyph press it lights up the dome before resetting the lights."

"That seems like an odd thing to do," Daniel said.

There was an unexpected noise of metal against metal that interrupted Carter's next comment as a metal iris slid out of the pocket in the stargate closing over the opening.

"What," Daniel asked.

"That's weird," Carter agreed, and picked up her laptop and started poking at the log. "I thought I disabled that section."

Daniel frowned. "Because there shouldn't be an iris here?"

"Well, yes, and because in testing on other gates without an iris, and before we installed our iris back home, even attempting to talk to that system caused a thirty second delay in the program runtime," Carter said.

"I take it this is something Jack should know about?" Daniel said.

"Probably, but let's see if I can get it to retract before we radio him," Carter said hopefully.

"Just a thought; Are you sure it was your program and not Jack playing with the remote that closed the iris?" Daniel asked.

Carter frowned and reached for her radio.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Well, that's new," O'Neill said, staring at the darker colored iris that matched the metal of the gate far better than their own version.

"You're telling me, sir," Carter said.

"If we could think of it for our stargate, I'm not exactly surprised there are other stargates with an Iris," Daniel said.

"We hooked our iris up to existing hardware in the gate," Carter pointed out. "All of them seem to have it, most just don't have anything attached and that causes attempts to talk to the hardware to fail."

"So, how'd this happen?" O'Neill asked, walking around the stargate and reaching out to rap his knuckles against the metal of the iris.

"I've been working on an updated version of the dialing program for if we ever decide to install the new dialing console, sir. There's a section on startup where it goes through a discovery loop for devices and then a brief test script to determine if all the connected hardware is functioning properly, including iris controls. I swear I commented out the iris control section of the code, but apparently I ran the version that didn't have it commented out," Carter explained.

"Well, get it open again then," O'Neill said.

"That's what I've been trying to do but it doesn't seem to be forwarding that signal to the gate," Carter said.

"Maybe the ancient remote can tell it to retract," Daniel suggested.

"Wait! One last try with an alternate routine I should have a copy of," Carter said, opening up the code file and uncommented an alternate code to control the iris derived from the new dialing computer before restarting the dialing program. She impatiently watched it scroll through the startup sequence one more time. O'Neill and Daniel watched the screen with her as she pressed the 'Open iris' control on the graphical user interface.

On the other side of the room they heard the characteristic slide of metal against metal as the iris almost reluctantly started to retract, getting about a quarter of the way open before abruptly reversing direction and slamming shut.

"Oh, for crying out loud," O'Neill muttered, reaching for the remote in his pack.

Carter and Daniel watched amusedly as O'Neill deftly navigated through the familiar menus to the program for the stargate and started looking for anything that might indicate an iris control. After a few minutes Daniel looked over his shoulder and pointed out a word, "I think that might be it."

"Thanks," O'Neill said sourly, and jammed a finger onto the selection button.

The iris abruptly sprang open at full speed with a startling thunk noise.

"There, see?" O'Neill said triumphantly.

"Uh sir," Carter said and pointed to the gate.

"Jack?" Daniel was also pointing.

O'Neill turned to look and the iris was slowly extending out of the pocket back into place with increasing speed, once he was fully paying attention as though it gave up on sneaking it sped back into place fully closed over again.

"Oh that is just," O'Neill started to complain. But, before he could get fully into his rant, the stargate activated behind the iris, and then a moment later, the iris opened normally as though nothing had been going on.

SG1 readied their weapons, not quite pointing them at the stargate. They were happy for the latter as several Nox soldiers, the only description they could think of, showed up with what looked like actual weapons.

There was a tense standoff with neither side willing to move much before a look of recognition and the Nox shifted into a more relaxed, though still ready, stance.

"Oh. It's you," The leader of the team of Nox soldiers said sourly.

"Yes. Us. Wait, are those actual weapons?" O'Neill snarked before fully registering that the Nox had come loaded to bear.

There was hesitence in the response but the lead Nox eventually replied, "...yes. We greatly dislike the necessity, but the last three times followers of the Goa'uld found this planet they were determined to dismantle it for their 'god' and we don't have quite the same access to our normal methods here."

"That does sound annoying," O'Neill observed nonchalantly.

"Would you happen to have seen a group of their followers? I believe they refer to themselves as Jaffa..." The leader said.

"I believe you can consider this group to be ex-followers, they've defected," O'Neill seemed inordinately proud of himself at this statement. "And they're currently using the medical pods. As such, they should have no plans on tearing things apart," he asserted.

"Astounding," the Nox said and made a gesture over a vine wrapped around his arm. "You'll forgive me if I don't stay and verify the information. I've requested those more familiar with you come deal with this."

A moment later Lya and Opher stepped through the gate, and the Nox strike team leader made another motion that caused the stargate to flicker and reverse direction before leading his team back through.

"I would see these Jaffa being healed," Lya said.

"I can accompany you, my lady," O'Neill offered, not wanting to sit around for another lecture from Opher about the ways of those young and old.

Lya took his arm and made a gesture as though pulling something out of the air with her free hand and the two of them disappeared from the stargate room with a flash of light.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis - Infirmary

By this point most of the children had completed their treatments within the medical pods and were resting in a pile against one of the walls while their guardians were now taking their turns within the medical pods.

"Lya! Do my old eyes deceive me?" Bra'tac greeted them as they arrived.

"Bra'tac," Lya smiled softly in recognition, she held her arms out, palms up, in the traditional Nox greeting for Bra'tac to take. "You are doing well, I hope?"

"Indeed, I am honored to be in your presence once more," Bra'tac said, accepting her greeting and bowing his head in return.

"Always so formal with you," Lya said.

"I was unaware that you were acquainted with Lya of the Nox," Teal'c said.

"There are many things about me that I expect you are unaware of, Teal'c," Bra'tac replied.

"It is good to see you again as well, Teal'c," Lya said, offering him the same greeting.

"It is agreeable to see you again as well," Teal'c returned her greeting.

"What made you seek out this place?" Lya asked the group.

"The young Jaffa currently resting in a pile against the wall had been denied their first symbiotes, my son is still in the pod there being treated for the sickness," Teal'c said.

"We knew the medical system here could help after we treated Teal'c for an incident where he and his symbiote were poisoned. Given proof in the form of Teal'c's treatment that the pods could solve that issue, and with the number of Jaffa involved, we came here," O'Neill interjected.

"You used the treatment we uploaded to the medical systems?" Lya asked.

"Including the modifications for the symbiote," Teal'c acknowledged.

"That was quite the risk, we had not completed testing," Lya started making another gesture causing a holographic screen to appear with the information from Teal'c's treatment. There was a dense block of text and some diagrams.

"From your expression the medical system appears to disagree," O'Neill said.

"Yes, it seems the system already had a fair amount of data that it was able to combine with the incomplete procedure we supplied to create a viable therapy," Lya said distractedly. "Though, now I'm wondering if I should inform the other teams."

"Oh?" O'Neill prompted.

"The system here is being remarkably verbose. I expect that half of them would immediately petition the elders to reopen our residential housing here so they can upload their projects and see what commentary is returned," Lya replied.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

O'Neill sauntered into the hologram treaty room where Daniel was making last minute notes before they left. He looked up, strolling around the room until he was at Daniel's side. "Yup, still a dry treaty between four boring old stuffy races. Come on, Danny boy, time to go home, we've overstayed our welcome," O'Neill said and started packing the notebooks Daniel had left lying around back into his bag.

"Show me a treaty that isn't dry," Lya said, having followed O'Neill.

"The young and old are generally in agreement that treaties are boring, it is only the young for which that is a problem," Opher commented.

"It's only a problem when Danny here gets lost in trying to decipher it," O'Neill muttered.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Heliopolis - Gateroom

"You're sure about this?" O'Neill asked.

"I may be an old man, but I still have some fight left in me," Bra'tac said.

"I trust you will listen to everything Bra'tac tells you, son," Teal'c said.

"Yes, father," Ryac replied.

"You have the address?" Bra'tac turned to Captain Carter.

"These symbols, correct?" Carter asked showing Bra'tac the screen of her laptop with the selected address in the dialing program ready to be sent to the DHD.

"Before you go," O'Neill held out his GDO with a small piece of paper with a code Captain Carter had generated written on it for Bra'tac.

"What is this," Bra'tac asked.

"We have an iris on our gate. If you ever need to reach us you'll need the code to open the iris to come through. Watch for the red light here to turn green, that's the signal that the iris has opened. Just give us a few days to get the code registered in our system though," O'Neill said.

"There's a small handle that pops out of the back, if the light doesn't turn on at all, turn that handle for about a minute and then try it again. Just be careful because the dynamo is noisy, you'll want to make sure it has charge before you need to reach us if stealth is a concern," Captain Carter said.

Bra'tac accepted the offered device and memorized the numbers on the paper, then turned to Carter and nodded. "We are ready. Ryac, Zahkad, come."

"Good luck, Bra'tac," O'Neill said.

"O'Neill, I look forward to when next we meet," Bra'tac said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Briefing room

"This certainly wasn't the stated goal of the mission," General George Hammond said.

"General," Jack started.

"Save it, Colonel, I'm not sure what sort of facility you think we run here, and I could've excused Teal'c's wife and son, but I'm going to have a much harder time with several complete unknowns and their dependents, and you didn't even bring back his son."

"Ryac and the other boy Zahkad accepted Bra'tac's offer for training in the way of Jaffa warriors. My wife, Drey'auc, chose to go with them," Teal'c said.

"We also met up with the Nox at Heliopolis and in my opinion left them with a much better impression of us. They claimed to be members of the alliance that originally built the place, And they told us that while they didn't mind the occasional visit we shouldn't stay there for long or frequently as its intended use is a neutral meeting place between the members of their alliance," O'Neill spoke up.

"I take it the plan to set up an offworld base around the infirmary building is off the table then?" Doctor Fraiser asked.

"I believe that seems to be the case, yes," General Hammond replied. "If that's all? SG-1 dismissed."

"Oh, Daniel," O'Neill caught the archaeologist on the way out of the briefing room.

"You needed something?" Daniel said, pausing to allow the colonel to catch up to him.

"Yeah, I'm getting tired of feeling dumb whenever the Nox show up with their pithy little sayings. Got any recommendations for books with equally pithy quotes of wisdom?" O'Neill asked.

"You mean like Zen Koans?" Daniel said.

"Sure, and anything else you got," Jack said.

The rest of the conversation between the two was cut off as they meandered their way towards Daniel's office and away from the briefing room.

"Did you need something, Captain Carter?" General Hammond said.

"While we were at heliopolis I was able to work on the DHD there, and well, I've completed the updates to the dialing program so it can work with both a regular DHD and the dialing console we brought back. I've also completed my general evaluation of the dialing console itself, it's much more secure than our current system, sir," Captain Carter said.

"And I take it, you want permission to install the new dialing device," General Hammond said.

"Yes, sir," Carter said.

"Get me a report before you leave for the day and I'll let you know in the morning," General Hammond replied.

"Yes, sir," Carter replied, leaving the room happily.

 

[Stephenopolos]

"It's only a problem when Danny here gets lost in trying to decipher it," O'Neill muttered.

Opher nodded. "Ah. Even the old sometimes fall into that trap."

"The overly-pretentious holographic display based on elements likely isn't helping," Lya added with a shake of her head.

O'Neill raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Nice to know that we're not the only ones that go overboard with our monuments."

"Even the old can make mistakes. Our ancestors once terraformed a moon as a living monument, but without properly considering the effects of the gas planet on the orbit and atmosphere. It takes...far too much maintenance."

"See, now you're admitting to being fallible. Ruins the mystique you've got going."

Opher shook his head. "You are not so young as to believe us to be infallible, and we are not young or foolish enough to pretend it."

O'Neill nodded. "It's nice to have you admit it though."

"It's a lesson your people could learn as well."

"I've made many mistakes in my lifetime. Many of them still haunt me."

Daniel finally finished packing his notebooks away, having scribbled in several of them before placing them in his bag and still holding one. Looking at the three of them, he frowned. "Did you say something?"

"Nothing important enough to repeat," O'Neill replied. "Let's get going."

 

[JohnSmithMIB]

As enjoyable as slice of life but carrying meaningful changes to future plots. The updated security could prevent the Anubis gate weapon, avoid poisoning that sun, or not lose that SG team to the black hole in "A matter of time". Avenger 2.0 could go as intended this time.

 

[Gelleriewe]

This is amazingly well written and researched, I hope you continue !

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 9 - 2nd NID, Queen, Astronomy Plague

SGC General Hammond's office, Thursday, October 16th

"Thanks for keeping me up to date on the science teams' progress, Colonel," General Hammond said.

"It's all part of the job, Sir. But, are you sure about installing that thing?" O'Neill asked.

"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts, Colonel. You were very clear about the security implications," General Hammond dropped the file he was holding on his desk.

"All still entirely valid, I just don't like relying on something we didn't build ourselves," O'Neill said, pacing from the hallway door to the window looking at the briefing room and back. "Even with the best possible isolation from our systems."

"Well, thanks to your reports, I didn't get any pushback from base security over the proposed changes, meaning the captain's report was just the final piece of paperwork for the process," General Hammond said.

"Sirs?" Captain Carter knocked on the door.

"Come in, Captain," General Hammond said, motioning to the empty chairs in front of his desk.

"Good morning, Captain." O'Neill said, turning away from the briefing room window.

"Good morning, sir," Captain Carter returned the greeting.

"You're sure about that dialing thingy," O'Neill asked.

"It's fine, Sir. I've gone over all the programming," Carter replied.

"Just double checking," O'Neill held his hands up in surrender.

"I've reviewed your report too, Captain," General Hammond said, motioning to the file folder with Captain Carter's report laying open on his desk.

"Good news?" Carter asked.

"I've been keeping up to date with your progress on the device since you started working on it. So, yes," General Hammond said.

"So, I can get started installing it then?" Carter asked.

"We sent out the recall order last night, everyone except for SG-7 should be back, they requested to stay since their situation seemed relatively stable. So, as soon as Sergeant Siler says all the teams are in, you can proceed," General Hammond replied.

"Yes!" Captain Carter exclaimed, and then clapped her hands over her mouth in mortification.

General Hammond chuckled, "just check with Siler."

"Understood, sir," Captain Carter nodded, before leaving the room.

"Well, that's settled then," O'Neill said, returning to his seat in front of the desk.

"Speaking of, you're in charge of integrating the Jaffa you brought back and their paperwork, that's why I recalled the teams, I expect you to meet with them sometime today regarding team composition, maybe we can get an extra team out of this," General Hammond said.

"Understood, sir. What about the NID team that was supposed to be here this morning?" O'Neill asked.

"They should still be on schedule. I'm expecting them any minute now, stick around and you can help if they're like the last group. Now, you mentioned a contact you were going to visit regarding the NID," General Hammond said, only to be interrupted before he could really start asking for details.

"Sir, the NID team is here," Sergeant Walter Harriman knocked on the door.

"Speak of the devil," General Hammond said. "Please have them join us in the briefing room, Walter."

"Understood, sir," Sergeant Harriman motioned for the airman standing guard in the hall to show the team into the briefing room before closing the general's door.

"Remind me to ask you about that other topic later," General Hammond said, picking up Captain Carter's report and tucking it away in his secured filing cabinet.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC, Primary Briefing Room - October 14th, 1997 - Kahue's team

"Fancy digs you got here for deep space telemetry," Lieutenant Colonel Kahue said, shaking O'Neill's hand.

"Kahue, they made you a Colonel? And please, you know that's not what we do here," O'Neill replied.

"Lieutenant Colonel, please. I know, no such thing, Jack, just like you wouldn't know anything about Sloan sniffing out anything the NID is involved in," Kahue grinned.

"Colonels?" General Hammond interrupted the boisterous reunion.

"Ah, pardon our enthusiasm, sir, Lieutenant Colonel Kahue served a few missions with me back when he was a major," O'Neill said.

"General Hammond, my team, Captain Jason Byron, Second Lieutenant Marshall Perry, and Sergeant Matthew Bennett," Lieutenant Colonel Orrin Kahue introduced his team.

"I'd be happier to meet you under different circumstances, Colonel," General Hammond said.

"If I may speak freely, sir. I'm not entirely a hundred percent on why my team was sent, sir. We're specialized for counter terrorism and normally get deployed to other areas of the world. Not America's backyard," the major said.

"You can trust me when I say that we aren't just dealing with the backyard," General Hammond said dryly.

"Well, if someone hadn't shredded over half the reading materials we should've gotten regarding this mission," Second Lieutenant Perry muttered.

"Not my fault, I keep telling you," Sergeant Bennett sing-songed back.

"Shut it." Captain Byron hissed.

"None of us would've put the contact poison on that half of the paperwork anyway," Sergeant Bennett said.

"Contact poison?" General Hammond said, alarmed, to instant silence from the team.

"We, that is to say, can't actually prove the existence of any theoretical contact poison. Of course, everyone else back at the base suddenly deciding to wear gloves while handling paperwork before we left is surely just an affectation and not a statement of intent," Lieutenant Colonel Kahue said.

"The more I learn about things," General Hammond muttered with a heavy breath. "How can we help clarify?"

"Well, sir, we understand that a team already came through before us, unfortunately we don't... uh... we didn't get to see any of the footage we know exists, not to mention a briefing on what exactly we're doing here 'cause apparently we're on someone's shit list and didn't get a proper briefing aside from being told to sign the largest pile of NDAs we've seen yet," Lieutenant Colonel Kahue said. "Quite impressive, given the size of the previous stack I had to sign."

"I'm sure we can bring you up to speed with minimal tears," General Hammond adjusted his approach, pleasantly surprised to not have another batch of idiots; he'd been dreading the possibility ever since the heads up call from the pentagon alerted him to the incoming team.

"General, you've got a call on the pentagon line," Sergeant Harriman interrupted the briefing.

"Thank you, Walter, I'll take it in my office. Lieutenant Colonel, I'll leave you and your team in Colonel O'Neill's capable hands. O'neill I'll trust your judgement on how to bring them up to speed," General Hammond said before disappearing through the door to his office.

"Where to start," O'Neill said, standing up and walking around the room to the window with the blast shield.

"Why do I get the feeling you're about to rip the rug out from under us?" Kahue asked.

"Oh, wait till you see this," O'Neill said and pressed the switch to raise the blast shield blocking the window overlooking the stargate.

"What the devil is that, Jack," Kahue asked, stepping towards the window with the rest of his team as they got their first view of the stargate.

"That, lieutenant colonel, is a stargate. I suppose we should stop by Daniel's office, for his lecture on what we do around here, but first the control room."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC General's Office, Thursday, October 16th

General George Hammond held the red phone up to his ear while he watched O'Neill smirking at Kahue and the rest of the surprisingly sane team through the window between his office and the briefing room.

"You certainly kicked over one hell of an anthill, George," General William Taft said.

"I can't say that wasn't expected, Bill," General Hammond replied.

"I wouldn't say it's unwelcome either. It got me read-in on what you're doing over there. Deep space telemetry, George? Is that the best we could come up with? There's gonna be consequences. But, things needed shaking-up anyway," General Taft said.

"I'm sure you had more reason to call me than to just pat me on the back for giving you more work," General Hammond probed, getting a chuckle in reply.

"Perceptive as ever, eh George? You're right though. I intercepted this report from one of our less conformist air force officers, based on her record I'm thinking someone is trying to tank her career. She's a remarkably level headed officer, if you don't take her for the program I'm going to see if I can get her transferred to one of my projects," General Taft meandered off topic a bit.

"You're stalling, send me her file and get back to the topic," General Hammond said and cleared his throat a little.

"You're right, I've got what looks like a possible foothold situation out of Soto Cano base: five foot ten female of indeterminate ethnicity with dark red hair, going by the name of Hathor. Eyes that glow, strange voice, megalomania, and something of a curveball for you, the ability to command men around her," General Taft rattled off.

General Hammond involuntarily inhaled sharply.

"Fits the criteria for one of your what was the term again, oh yes, Goa'uld," General Taft said.

"What?" General Hammond asked.

"You heard me, George, it's a foothold situation; our girl nearly got the drop on this Hathor character, seems she was a bit lacking in the feminine charms department, which is the only reason we managed to get ahead of what was going on. Try to keep up with me George," Taft repeated.

"So she's contained then? Do you need me to send SG1?" General Hammond asked.

"No to both," General Taft sighed. "The Soto Cano base was compromised late last night, with the majority of the base's women being detained, except for our girl who wrote me that report. Seems this Hathor person issued some instructions to have a crate shipped to you, well, your base, and then disappeared. The affected men followed her instructions to the letter before waking up with very muddled or no memories of the event once the crate was on its way. I'm jumping on an express flight straight to you with everything I managed to collect about this, should be there in about five hours."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC, Stargate Operations Control Room

Colonel O'Neill led Kahue's team down the spiral staircase into the operations center. They emerged into a mess of activity as the controls and the long console against the window looking into the control room was mid-disassembly by Captain Carter's team.

"Castleman, get me that socket wrench," Carter's voice came from under the control desk.

"Here you go," Lieutenant Castleman handed her the requested item. The engineering team had made short work of stripping the place bare with only one control station left untouched at the far end of the desk, where the computer screen was open to the iris control program reflecting the status of the iris they could see through the window currently closed tight.

"I think that does it," Carter said, emerging from beneath the desk.

There was a moment when Carter spotted the new arrivals looking at them in confusion as she didn't recognize them.

"Already getting a head start on things, Captain?" O'Neill raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't see a point in waiting since everyone is back on base, sir," Carter said. "Though I'd appreciate not having to interrupt the work to play tour guide."

"No need Captain, I've got the tour guide part down. I should make introductions," O'Neill said and quickly ran through proper introductions in both directions.

"Ah, Captain Carter?" Sergeant Bennett asked.

"That's me," Carter said.

"I seem to have something here for you, give me a moment," Matthew Bennett dropped his pack and fished out a long cardboard box that he handed over.

Captain Carter was taken aback by the sudden package and looked it over before grinning, "How did you? When did you..."

"Long story, but we had our own requisition from that manufacturer to pick up, and yours bumped ours. But since we were headed here we offered to bring it. If you don't mind though, we'd like to know what it is?" Sergeant Bennett asked.

"Ah, it's for our new equipment. Some special cables and mounting brackets that I didn't have the materials to make here. I placed that special order a few days ago, hoping they'd be here on time, since that manufacturer is only authorized to work with a specific courier out of our list of cleared couriers and they're notorious for being late or losing packages entirely," Carter said, and opened the box to verify the contents before handing it off to Sergeant Siler. "I was starting to think we'd need to macgyver some temporary replacements for now and order them through a slower more reliable partner to fix it later."

"Yeah, that's why we pick up our orders from them directly, I think that courier is some senator's pet pork project," Sergeant Bennett said.

"Regardless of the circumstances, thank you, you've made my day, but it's time for you all to get out of here so we can finish our work," Carter said, motioning for the door.

"Right, as you were, Carter. Let's go see Daniel now," O'Neill led the way down the steps from the control room into the corridor of level 28. "Say, how long do you guys have?"

"We're running a little early. So, I'd say we have a few days before our superiors expect you guys to report our ignoble deaths," Lieutenant Colonel Kahue said after a moment's thought.

"And you're sure you don't want to transfer?" O'Neill shuddered.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

O'Neill kept Daniel mostly on track; so the new team didn't spend too much time having their ears filled with side tangents while being told about the existence of aliens before moving onto the video they'd requested. Daniel had a copy that he was planning on editing together with some of his other materials for a series of videos so he didn't have to keep making the speech in person.

"They did what?" Lieutenant Colonel Orrin Kahue asked incredulously. Colonel Makepeace's video of the other team sent by the NID was eye opening for the team.

"Oh, yes, they did that and more," Jack said pointing to the frozen image of the MULE being unloaded in the gate room.

"Why haven't we requested a transfer yet, sir," Second Lieutenant Perry asked.

"That'd be because you guys refused to abandon Harry to that den of vipers," Sergeant Bennett said.

"I'm starting to regret that decision," Lieutenant Colonel Kahue muttered.

"Why are we doing this again?" Captain Byron asked.

"Cause you all agreed the colonel was sounding more than a little fanatical last time he spoke to us," Lieutenant Colonel Kahue said.

The exchange between team members didn't go unnoticed by O'Neill and Daniel.

"Unfortunately, we do have to actually make an attempt now that we're here," Kahue said, pulling everyone back to the topic at hand.

"We could do with someone showing us the ropes," Captain Byron said.

"Oh?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's normal for you guys to go through that ring on a regular basis, but our usual travel methods are more conventional; you know, planes, boats, cars, and trucks, that sort of thing," the second lieutenant said.

"I feel I should mention, General Hammond has full authority from the joint chiefs and the president to poach anyone sent here," O'Neill said and started to pack everything up.

"I can get all that," Daniel told him, looking up from the book he'd been working on.

"Thanks Danny," O'Neill said, leaving the office.

The other team shared some silent communication before following him out the door.

"We'll think about it," Kahue said as they caught up with him in the hall.

"Huh, I'm supposed to be meeting with the other team leaders in a few minutes. We recently rescued some more Jaffa that weren't happy with their situation like Teal'c, and the plan is to shuffle the teams a bit and add a Jaffa team member to some of the teams like Teal'c for SG1, maybe make a fourth team out of the extra members. If you guys don't mind splitting up we can have you each join one of the teams on a mission," O'Neill offered.

"Sure," Kahue replied.

"I think the next one we had planned was this neat observatory on a little planet called Hanka, it's a binary system with one blackhole orbiting the other star. If any of you are interested in that sort of thing you could tag along with us," O'Neill said.

"Dibs," Kahue said.

"Not even going to wait to learn what other missions are planned for the other teams?" O'Neill asked, jokingly.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC General Hammond's Office

"Sir, that person you're expecting from the pentagon is here," Sergeant Harriman said.

"Well, let him in," General Hammond said.

"You were never this big of a trouble magnet when we were lieutenants," General William Taft said.

"What the devil is going on Bill?" General Hammond asked.

"A mess," the visiting general replied and opened the folder he'd brought with him. "This is our suspected Goa'uld, Hathor, and the crate she instructed the Soto Cano base to ship up here."

General Hammond examined the photographs in alarm.

"My thoughts exactly. At least I've got some good news though. We managed to divert the crate to Sheppard Air Force Base before it'll move on. That will give us a brief window to examine things before it arrives," Taft said.

"Too bad we can't stop it there," General Hammond said with a sigh. "But Hathor probably isn't safe elsewhere and we have contacts that might be able to help detain her permanently."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC Daniel's office

"General Hammond's looking for you," Sergeant Walter Harriman poked his head into Daniel's office.

"Oh? What's going on?" Daniel said, and carefully put the paper with translations he was working on into the reference book and both onto the desk next to his computer monitor.

"No idea, something to do with a visitor from the pentagon," Sergeant Harriman replied and left the office.

"Huh," Daniel said and finished putting the things Jack had left out away.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Stargate Operations Control Room

"Testing stargate control system," Captain Carter said into the microphone, visually confirming that everyone in the gate room heard her.

Sergeant Siler dutifully pressed his palm on the scanner and tapped a button on his keyboard, the program on his screen updated to show he'd requested that the iris open and sent the command to the dungeon supplied dialing computer installed flush with the countertop next to the scanner.

Everyone watched the iris retract into the pocket in the gate, and as soon as the iris was fully open the various screens in the room showing the stargate reacted to the dialing computer reporting success and updated to show that the iris had opened.

"Dial the test site," Carter said.

Sergeant Siler navigated through the program to the address book and selected the test site address, obviously taking a moment to confirm he had the correct address selected as was procedure before pressing the dial button. The program fed the glyphs to the dialing console and the stargate seamlessly connected.

"Walter's not going to be happy, he likes saying the chevrons," Siler said.

"Sergeant Harriman can still say the chevrons if he wants to use manual mode," Captain Carter replied.

Siler shrugged, "Ready to test the Iris redirect?"

"Gotta do it sometime," Captain Carter replied, before leaning over to speak more directly into the still-active microphone. "You can go through, remember the iris will be closed when you dial back so do not come through. Just throw the test ball and wait."

The airman nodded and took a running jump through the stargate. A moment later it shut down.

"Closing the iris," Carter announced, and Siler hit the button.

A moment later the stargate connected with the iris closed and the control program on the screen flashed a red alert about the open connection with a closed iris.

"Ready to proceed?" Airman Fredericks asked over the radio.

"Just the test ball Airman, we're not risking you on this thing," Carter replied.

"Test ball has been sent," Airman Fredricks said a moment later over the radio. There was no thump against the iris as might normally be expected and a second or too later the gate disconnected before dialing out again on its own.

"Captain?" Airman Fredericks said a moment later over the radio before the gate disconnected.

There was a pause and then they got another dial in.

"It's Airman Frederick's GDO," Siler announced, the screen in front of him showing a warning that automatic iris control was disabled.

"Open the iris," Carter said, and Siler opened it. A moment later, Airman Fredericks showed up with the test ball in his hand. The engineering team that had been working on getting everything connected cheered.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC General Hammond's office

"Apparently, this is Hathor," General Taft repeated the bit of his briefing he'd already gone through with General Hammond, showing the photograph of the woman with striking red hair to Daniel. "We've backtracked her path from the Soto Cano base to an archaeological dig in Honduras."

Taft pulled out a second picture that had Daniel Jackson drawing in a breath, "She compromised Soto Cano base last night and arranged for this item to be packed and shipped here."

"That's one of those box things that Ra used to revive us back on Abydos, a Goa'uld sarcophagus," Daniel said.

"I had a feeling," General Taft said. "Luckily, with the advanced warning from Diana Eak, that level headed officer I mentioned, we diverted the crate to Sheppard Air Force Base."

"She's probably in the sarcophagus in stasis mode," Daniel speculated.

"That makes some sense," General Taft said.

"Maybe, can you contact Sheppard Air Force Base and have them add some of the heavy duty straps around the sarcophagus to keep it closed?" Daniel asked.

"That's a good idea. The problem is that Hathor has that ability to subvert those men in close proximity to her," General Taft said, pondering the picture.

"She likely set it on a timer of some sort, the diversion to Sheppard Air Force Base should arrive well before the timer expires so there's a window there where you can have a team of ladies verify the sarcophagus is still closed before moving in," Daniel said thoughtfully.

"Sounds like a plan, just in case though, I'm recommending that we clear as many of the men from the base as possible. I took the liberty of grabbing the personnel files from Peterson for anyone with a high enough clearance that can be transferred here on short notice."

"I'll let Colonel O'Neill know to speed up the deployment of the teams," General Hammond said, accepting the stack of personnel files.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Messhall

"Alright listen up everyone. Captain Carter says the new dialing computer has an advanced drift correction algorithm; that means we're no longer waiting for the blinky rocks we tricked into thinking about numbers real hard to figure out coordinate corrections," O'Neill announced to the room in general. The mess hall had been temporarily turned into a meeting room for all the SG teams.

"As part of the test, we're deploying basically everyone. So listen up as these are the assignments. SG-2 you're going to P3X - 1279. SG-3 and SG-9 you're going to P3X - 794 also known as Cimmeria to check up on them. SG-4 you're going to P3X - 866, beautiful place, I'm jealous, really. SG-5, SG-6, and SG-8 you're being held in reserve here but if nothing happens in the next 12 hours you'll be deployed to P3X - 513 to check up on the Avnil. Any questions?"

"Yeah, what the devil's going on?" Colonel Barnes of SG-6 asked.

"No idea, but please keep in mind the Jaffa and our visiting sane NID team members when you're out there," O'Neill said to a chuckle at the mention of sane and NID in the same sentence.

"What about SG-1?"

"SG-1 will be joining SG-7 already on site, for the astronomy mission on Hanka."

"What about the MALPs?" Major Howe of SG-4 asked.

"Captain Carter already sent out the MALPs for the new addresses while testing the new dialing computer and didn't see anything discouraging so grab your briefing packets with the planet addresses and what information we've gathered. If you come across a situation and SG-5, 6, and 8 have already been dispatched then reach out to one of the other teams directly with the address for that planet, cheat sheets will be handed out to team leaders before you depart. Check in every six hours and pack for an overnight stay just in case. SG-4 you're going first, and before anyone asks why that's just the order Carter said we're going in."

There was grumbling and scattered movement of chairs as the SG teams chatted amongst themselves while SG-4, and their extra members Second Lieutenant Marshall Barrett and the Jaffa Ha'kiera, left the room for the stargate room to start their mission.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Stargate operations, gateroom

After a few minutes and more teams leaving, it was SG-1's turn, Lieutenant Colonel Kahue and the young Jaffa warrior Brennad joining them in the gate room.

"Dial it up," O'Neill waved to the control room.

"PX8 - 987, Hanka, encoded, and locked," Sergeant Harriman said over the intercom.

"Snazzy," O'Neill made a low whistle, as the gate smoothly connected without manually working through the chevrons for dialing.

"I'm just not used to it not going through the symbols," Sergeant Harriman said to Sergeant Siler in the control room.

"Impressive," Kahue said, leaning back reflexively even though he was nowhere near the danger zone for the splash of the unstable vortex from the connection process.

"So, what exactly are we going to see after this eclipse begins? I mean, it is black, and it is a hole…" Daniel asked.

"I don't know Daniel, maybe it'll be a black hole," O'Neill replied as he led the way up the ramp.

Daniel shot a dirty look at the colonel's back while Kahue snickered, "Okay. Let me put that a different way."

"No Daniel, you're right. You can't exactly see it, not the singularity itself. It's so massive, not even light can escape it. But, during the totality phase of the eclipse, you should be able to see matter spiraling towards it," Carter interrupted with a laugh.

"That'd be the accretion disk," O'Neill said.

"I guess it's easy enough to understand why the local population would be afraid of something like this…" Daniel trailed off and turned towards O'Neill as what he'd said sunk in. "What did you just say?"

"He said, the accretion disk," Kahue interjected.

"You didn't think the Colonel had a telescope on his roof just to look at the neighbors, did you?" Carter asked.

"What? It's just an astronomical term. And, not initially," O'Neill wheedled. "Besides, binoculars are better for that."

O'Neill, and Teal'c stepped into the puddle.

"Oh, Captain," Kahue stopped Carter just before she went through, and reached over pulling the earth home symbol patch off her shoulder and rotating it before putting it back on.

"What was that for?" Carter asked.

"You had the patch upside down," Kahue shrugged.

Carter flipped the patch back before she leaned over and whispered, "We're trying to see how long it takes for O'Neill to notice, but thanks."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8 - 987 - Hanka - Stargate

"I still do not understand this black hole," Teal'c said as they exited the stargate on PX8 dash 978

"Well a black hole is..." O'Neill paused mouth open, "is really..." he fumbled around for words, "a big thing. It's uh..." he gestured with his hands, "basically it's a..." he continued making cupping motions, "massive..." not having any other words he continued with, "hole, ok?"

"I see..." Teal'c deadpanned.

"Ah, and... what happens is, everything gets sucked into it. Even light. That's why we can't see it. It just gets sucked in..." O'Neill continued, while Kahue chuckled in the background.

"Thank you," Teal'c said, deciding to let O'Neill off the hook in explaining things.

"Sure. Alright, I know we're a little early, but SG-7 still should've had someone out here to greet us," Colonel O'Neill said, clicking his radio a few times. "Carter, you did call to let them know we were coming right?"

"I spoke to Major Smith this morning before we took the gate offline," Captain Carter said.

O'Neill's radio suddenly crackled, and the team could hear coughing and pained groans as someone tried to say something but only managed a pained, "colonel," and then the radio was silent again.

"What the?" O'Neill said, holding up a hand to signal they should all stop.

"O'Neill," Teal'c said and pointed to the basket lying on the path. There was a low groan as one of the villagers raised a hand covered in sores.

"Right, MOPP-4, MOPP-4, everyone," O'Neill said, pulling his pack around to retrieve the emergency CBRN mask and gloves out of the storage pouch. Carter, Daniel, and Kahue copied him.

"The pain must be debilitating," Carter said, moving to the villager once she had her mask and gloves on. "Hold still, we're here to help."

"Carter, I'm calling in reinforcements, if there's one there's more," O'Neill said, and lifted the remote. He worked his way through the menu to the gate controls where he dialed earth.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Gateroom

Captain Doctor Fraiser reached up to move a strand of hair out of her face, her other hand was directing the medical pod through the entrance to the gate room. She stumbled a bit when the pod came to a halt unexpectedly and looked up at SG-6, SG-8, and her staff getting ready with their bright yellow isolation suits. And a mule with the decontamination gear.

"Hey doc, better finish suiting up," Specialist Sean Maxwell, already fully suited up in the isolation gear, reached out and grabbed the other handle of the medical pod. The chemical warfare specialist had been poached from the NID's first attempt to send a team through to the dungeon planet earlier in the month.

"Careful," Fraiser started as she grabbed her helmet from the medical pod.

"I got it," Maxwell grinned from behind the transparent plastic covering his face. Doctor Fraiser grumbled incoherently under her breath and moved to the front of the group.

"Alright people, keep your isolation gear on at all times. SG-1 didn't give an indication as to the nature of the event on PX8-987, but it appears to be highly contagious with a rapid gestation," Fraiser said. "Once you clear the gate, you will head directly for the observatory building and begin work decontaminating the structure. It's our best option for a FOB to assist with this. Maxwell, since that thing is behaving for you, you're in charge of getting the medical pod to a suitable spot in the observatory."

Sean Maxwell nodded and rocked the medical pod forward and backward pretending he was holding the handles of a bike.

"Everyone check the isolation seals on the person next to you, and then we can go," Fraiser said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8 - 987 - Hanka - Observatory

"Orrin! I heard you were here. Take this would you?" Specialist Maxwell called out and handed the dumbfounded lieutenant colonel one of the equipment bags from the MULE the medical team brought with them.

"Sean? What the devil are you doing here?" Lieutenant Colonel Orrin Kahue accepted the bag.

"The best work I've ever done in my life, for once," the CBRN Specialist replied.

"Where am I taking this?" the lieutenant colonel asked.

"I think we're setting up triage in the observatory, think you can handle being my extra hands? I trust you to not make any stupid mistakes seeing how I'm the one that got you your B.W. certifications," Maxwell grinned.

"Mind answering some questions about the SGC while I help?" Kahue asked.

"Only if you return the favor and tell me all the details I'm missing after transfering," Maxwell grinned right back.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8 - 987 - Hanka - Observatory Triage Center

The building had been sanitized to within an inch of its life and there was now a decontamination booth that everyone had to go through when moving from outside to inside.

"How many are affected," Fraiser asked, her yellow isolation helmet still on.

"Based on our estimate of the size of the village, it's everyone. Roughly a thousand people," Carter said, now in her own isolation suit. They didn't think SG-1 had caught whatever bug this was, having immediately enacted MOPP-4 protocols at the first sign of the illness, but better safe than sorry.

"We've located all of SG-7, they're all in bad shape," O'Neill said, stepping out of the decontamination shower.

"I just put Major Smith into the medical pod," Fraiser said, motioning to the makeshift isolation room where Sean Maxwell had parked the medical pod. The golden glow of the isolation field could be seen through the transparent isolation curtain.

"I wondered what that alert was about," O'Neill said, showing the screen of the Ancient remote control.

"Colonel O'Neill, the stargate just activated," Lieutenant Fischer announced over the radio.

"Say again," O'Neill said into the radio, making an about face back to the decon airlock.

"Stargate is active, no radio from the SGC, there's someone coming through now. I think they might be the Nox, sir. Maybe you should be the one to greet them?" Lieutenant Fischer replied.

"I've got to go handle this," O'Neill said to Fraiser and the team.

"By all means go," Fraiser waved him on.

"Whatever you do, do not aim at them. I'll be right there," O'Neill replied to Fischer over the radio.

"Sir, those don't look like typical weapons, but I'm pretty sure the Nox brought along their equivalent of a heavy combat team," Fischer sounded a little panicked.

"Don't make me repeat myself, lieutenant, just hang tight and I'll be there shortly," O'Neill said again.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8 - 987 - Hanka - Stargate

"A full combat team, guys?" O'Neill said as he strolled toward the assembled unexpected visitors. There was a twitch like they were about to raise their weapons until they recognized him. "Woah, and I thought seeing the weapons the other day was a surprise."

"Engineered plagues are one of the few situations where we grudgingly authorize lethal force," the Nox at the head of the group replied.

"So wait, the last team was using non-lethal weapons?" O'Neill asked.

"That is correct," the leader of the team replied again.

"Are those medical pods?" O'Neill asked, spotting the slightly older looking but still recognizable medical devices hovering behind the Nox.

"Yes, if you would show us to the triage area we can set them up with our portable power source and get to work.

Just then the stargate activated again, and a new figure in an all-concealing silvery suit that had layers like robes stepped through. About the only thing he could determine for sure was that they should probably have a humanoid shape under that suit.

The silvery figure looked around at the assembled group and identified the leader talking with O'Neill.

"Greetings honored elder, I could have sworn that as a plague alert situation you'd arrive with appropriate protective equipment," the silvery figure stated, their voice distorted by the suit's isolation systems.

"We are not as unprotected as we may first appear, Representative of the Furling Assembly," The Nox Elder reached over and lightly touched a subordinate on the shoulder where a visible flash of light revealed he had not made contact.

"Ah, isolation fields, barely acceptable, you recall that they are flawed and did not protect the eldest. A physical barrier is always preferred. You may call me Kesh." Kesh the furling stated.

"You may call me Obenne," Obenne the Nox elder replied.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, but you can call me O'Neill," O'Neill said, getting looks from the Furling and Nox, like he'd spoken out of turn but the former was a little harder to tell given the silvery robes covering them concealed everything.

"We are wasting enough time, let's be on with this," Obenne said motioning to the medical pods.

"Right follow me," O'Neill said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8-987 - Hanka - Observatory Triage Center

Colonel O'Neill led the Nox medical team through the decontamination shower and into the makeshift infirmary and triage center they'd set up inside the existing Observatory structure. Frowning a little at the looks they were giving the equipment. But pleasantly surprised that the silver suited Furling seemed to be happy with what they were seeing given their nod of appreciation.

"Your facility is a little outdated but serviceable and well within acceptable standards," Kesh's distorted voice broke the silence.

"Colonel, where is their isolation gear?" Fraiser asked as soon as she looked up and spotted the newcomers.

O'Neill gave a pointed look to Obenne, the Nox representative of the group.

"We are suitably geared for this type of mission," Obenne said, demonstrating the isolation field again. The furling chortled at the comment.

"That's all well, however, as this is my Triage Center, I will not accept the risk of staff that are only protected by fields that could fail or lose power or be bypassed at any moment by unforeseen events," Doctor Fraiser said standing up. She then pointed to the rack full of isolation suits. "If you're planning on assisting here you may wear one of the isolation suits we've brought along or go retrieve something a little more physical from your own stores. You will not be entering my triage center otherwise."

"Bah, even this young one questions the wisdom of only using isolation fields," Kesh said when they finally regained control of themselves.

Half the Nox present shrugged and grabbed one of the yellow isolation suits from the rack and started figuring out how to wear them. Of the other half a few of them looked thoughtful before examining the woody vine that was wrapping around their arms, while the remainder, stony faced and stubborn, turned and left.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Have a nice chat?" O'Neill asked, during a lull in the activity when Kahue was no longer being run into the ground helping Sean.

"Your organization.. It infected him," Kahue chuckled, showing that he wasn't trying to be mean with the comment.

O'Neill looked around the room and back to the lieutenant colonel, "how so?"

"He seems to think that this is a reasonably straightforward day," Kahue said.

"Let me ask you something; what's your favorite aircraft," O'Neill stopped walking and turned to Kahue waiting for his answer.

"Easy, the F-16 Fighting Falcon," Kahue said without missing a beat.

"You enjoy flying it right?" O'Neill asked.

"Right," Kahue agreed.

"What is your opinion of people that don't like flying?" O'Neill asked.

"Insanity, who doesn't like flying?" Kahue asked.

"Well, getting to use that stargate is like flying, lieutenant colonel, even the best planes take a few trips to get used to, but if you can't say you love it before your mission at the SGC is over, I wash my hands of you." O'Neill replied.

"Not sure if it's growing on me yet to be honest," Kahue muttered.

The day isn't over yet," O'Neill replied and clapped Kahue on the shoulder, before turning back to the path.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"Interesting, the medical pods are usually only good for five or six patients before they exhaust their resources," Llwyn commented to Fraiser on seeing the medical pod the earth team was using. "That is why we had to bring a power source with us."

"Oh? By my count we've had nearly fifty patients use it so far," Fraiser replied to her Nox colleague, motioning to the currently glowing isolation field. A screen popped up from the pod showing a patient count of 63, and Doctor Fraiser frowned. "Perhaps my staff have not been logging their use of the pod properly."

"That is far more impressive, and it may be time to see if we can trade ours in or upgrade them somehow," Llwyn commented.

"Hmm, yes. The medical pods you brought along did appear to be a slightly older model," Fraiser said, slightly distracted by the screen where she was now scrolling through the details of the treatments. "I know we tested curing hangovers on a lark, but that was only once, so why are there three entries for that?"

The pod updated the screen she was looking at expanding the list to show the test she'd been referring to was actually categorized under capability test trials so there were actually four hangover cures in the list.

"Interesting, ours are nowhere near as responsive," Llwyn said, eyeing the screen over Doctor Fraiser's shoulder. Behind them a team of Nox healers were assessing the triaged patients that were waiting their turn in the healing pods and using their healing abilities to keep them just this side of life.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

The Nox combat team and those that refused the isolation suits to work in the triage center carefully canvassed the village, alerting the SG teams whenever they found someone needing to be taken to the medical triage area and working their way out towards the forest at the edge of the fields.

Overhead there was a flash of light as a new star appeared, bright enough to be seen through the daylight. It signified that something in high orbit above them had exploded, and was shortly followed by flashes of light that started collecting the villagers.

There was a rustling of movement from the vine around Obenne's wrist and he looked at it as though confirming something before looking up.

"The Asgard have arrived," Obenne said. "I believe many will now be saved that would otherwise have perished beyond even our ability to help, though something in orbit obviously delayed them."

 

[Stephenopolos]

"But, just look at that purple sky sir," O'Neill said, morosely.

"Yes, I'm sure it looks gorgeous," Hammond said.

"I could just run down to the locker room and get my gear, take like 5 minutes tops," O'Neill continued.

"No, and that's final. You're in charge of integrating our new Jaffa into their teams for the next week, colonel," Hammond said. "Besides, Anders has his hands full, if under control with his extra temporary team members."

"Yes sir," O'Neill said.

Through the bulletproof window of the briefing room, he watched SG-4 walk up the ramp. Trailed by Ha'kiera and one of the NID team. Colonel Anders of SG-4 turned and threw a salute just as he did before every mission back towards the control room before falling back through the blue puddle of the gate. "Smarmy git," Jack muttered.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Hathor was annoyed at how...inefficient the Tau'ri were with moving her Sarcophagus around, but had finally made it to the facility that likely housed the Chappa'ai. Approaching the obvious guard station, she frowned as she realized that it was manned by armed women.

Well, all she needed was to get to the point of a male in charge speaking to her, so she approached the guard station.

"Hello," she said, aiming to at least not be attacked immediately. Needing to heal would be...inconvenient.

One of the women looked at her, then down at something in the little structure. "Hathor, right?"

They knew of her? "Yes."

"We're sorry, but we're already in the middle of a significant plague situation. We'll need to reschedule your attempt to take over the base. We're hoping to be done with the plague by Thursday, if you'd like to come back then?"

She blinked, and considered. "A plague?"

"Likely engineered, possibly by one of your contemporaries. Or possibly not. We're a bit out of the loop up here."

"I see. How many sunrises away is Thursday?"

"Three."

"Thank you, I'll see about returning then."

 

[PaterRichard]

She blinked, and considered. "A plague?"

"Likely engineered, possibly by one of your contemporaries. Or possibly not. We're a bit out of the loop up here."

"I see. How many sunrises away is Thursday?"

"Three."

"Thank you, I'll see about returning then."

Click to shrink...

Hathor: atleast they are nice enough about my future successful conquest.

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 10 - Queen, Allies, Research

SGC Level 1 - Cargo Loading Dock C

"Any idea what's in the crate?" the delivery driver asked.

"Nope. No idea. And we don't get paid to ask those questions," the second backup driver replied, making a mark on their clipboard and showing it to the Airman ready with the pallet jack.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Airman Louis said, adding their signature to the paperwork before returning the clipboard. Then they used the pallet jack they'd brought with them to move the crate into the cargo elevator, thankful it was small enough to not need the use of the crane down the missile shaft.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8-987 - Hanka - Triage Center - October 16th 1997

"Well, the results are back, and I have some bad news. The samples my team collected show the entire area is contaminated. It's in the water and soil," Doctor Fraiser said.

"And that's bad, right?" Kahue asked.

"Yes, it means the entire area will need an extended project to clean everything up," Sean said.

"I'm not sure where we'd begin with a project like that," Carter said.

"Ah yes, containment is a little beyond us at this point. Though we can at least use standard sterilization procedures and disinfecting sprayers in the gate room to keep this from spreading. The lucky part, so far, is that the bacteria doesn't seem to be airborne. Though it has shown the ability to survive in a variety of environments. it's a gram positive bacteria, and the infection process greatly resembles an unholy mix of Cutaneous Tuberculosis and Yersinia Pestis," Doctor Fraiser continued.

"Yersinia, that's scarlet fever and bubonic plague, right?" Captain Carter asked.

"Correct. From the external appearance I might have made the assumption that this was a normally harmless earth native bacteria that someone had inadvertently carried through on their shoes. We already know it's possible for normally symbiotic organisms to learn undesirable traits and become a problem. However, the way the healing pod reacted indicates this isn't the case, it was able to highlight persistent and extensive signs of genetically engineered changes to the bacteria," Doctor Fraiser continued.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8-987 - Hanka - Village - October 16th 1997

"You have quite the competent team of first responders," Kesh said, interrupting the colonel's thoughts.

"Huh? Oh we do alright for ourselves," O'Neill said, he'd ducked out of the triage center part of the way into Fraiser's briefing after being assured that the plague wouldn't manage to circumvent their protective gear.

"I have no complaints. I'm actually feeling somewhat superfluous in spite of my own medical qualifications. Between your Doctor Fraiser's staff and the medical pods the Nox brought along, the triage center appears to have all the hands it needs," Kesh said.

"Is that a request to join me in searching for more villagers?" O'Neill asked.

Kesh tilted their head, but was interrupted by a melodic tone indicating their field computer had received a notification. They activated the holographic display in their gauntlet to examine the alert.

"Shame I did not load the extended Asgard identification files. I was not expecting this level of interaction with old friends, and I have no idea which of the Asgard are traditionally in charge of the Rothery or the Sleipnir," Kesh said before answering the communication request.

A hologram flickered into existence above their wrist, shifting from the log file interface to a video feed window, and what appeared to be a classic 'Roswell' grey alien with large eyes in a large head on a tiny body appeared in front of them. O'Neill had to take a moment to try and process that, almost missing the beginning of the discussion.

"Honored Furling, your presence is unexpected but welcome. I am Heimdall. My companion Hermiod and I stand ready to assist," the apparent-Asgard stated.

"Your assistance is most welcome, Heimdall of the Asgard. You may call me Kesh," Kesh replied.

Heimdall nodded. "Hermiod has set his ship to guard the system from further incursions, and I have already configured my transporters to begin teleporting those affected for stasis and treatment. May I enquire as to your companion?"

"I believe he introduced himself as Colonel Jack O'Neill, but indicated a desire to be referred to as simply O'Neill. He is of Terra, though I suspect there is more to his heritage. Something about him reminds me of certain friends of old, and he carries the most intriguing of devices."

"Now that is interesting. Well met, Colonel Jack O'Neill. I am, as you hopefully noted, Heimdall."

"Heimdall, right. Any relation to Thor?" O'Neill raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed. Thor is the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleets. Kesh, I will beam down a supply of transponder tags for the bodies that don't register to my transporter sensors. If you will excuse me, I need to monitor the progress of the medical systems," Heimdall stated simply, there was a flash of light that revealed the indicated bag at Kesh's feet, and then Heimdall cut the connection.

"The voice says female, but I have no idea if I should be applying human expected norms to an alien race like the Asgard," O'Neill confided after a moment.

"The voice does say female doesn't it. In this instance your instinct is correct, the Heimdall line is female, and of course, since I know it will probably come up, Hermiod is male," Kesh replied with obvious amusement.

"Speaking of, I'm unsure about..." O'Neill trails off motioning to the suited figure and their complete lack of clues.

Kesh laughed. "My native language has some sixteen different terms that regularly fail to translate, more if you include combinations. I'd try to teach you the terms I prefer for myself, but your vocal system is incapable of generating several of the sounds required and you'd likely damage your teeth to generate one of them. You can stick to the indistinct third, they, or refer to me as you wish. I will not take offense."

O'Neill cringed. "Sheesh. And I thought that learning languages that apply one of two genders to everything was annoying. Sixteen or more would be ridiculous."

"Luckily, we don't apply the terms to items for which they have no meaning," Kesh replied.

Heimdall and Hermiod didn't waste time. Their transporters were already at work even before the communication with Kesh, rapidly identifying living plague victims and moving them into the transport buffers.

Typically Asgard teleporters would not have had the capability to hold a subject in transit over an extended time frame. For safety reasons the majority of Asgard transporter systems just weren't designed for it.

However, medical ships like Heimdall's made use of the technique to serve as emergency stasis units, and could store arbitrarily large numbers and coordinate with unmodified transporters like Hermiod's to increase the capacity and throughput of the system. Their goal now was preventing any further deaths and providing safe storage of the unfortunate few that had died and were now beyond recovery. Some of whom would need to be manually located by teams on the ground.

"What are you guys up to?" Daniel appeared, having stayed till the end of Doctor Fraiser's briefing.

"I believe we were just about to carry out the task of looking after the dead and those who may yet be saved, but are far enough gone to no longer register for transport," Kesh replied.

"Sounds about right, we'll search there first," O'Neill said, pointing to one of the houses that didn't have one of the orange ribbons used to indicate it had been checked yet.

They found a body within the house and Kesh reached out with their handheld scanner to evaluate them. The sad part of this event was how hard it had hit the oldest of the community. Kesh stood, shaking their head. They proceeded this way through another three houses and found a few young villagers that functionally appeared to be dead, but Kesh said they still had enough of a spark of life that they were still just this side of life and could hopefully be revived.

"Another too far gone," the Furling pronounced over the latest in the long line of villagers, and the body disappeared in a flash of light. "I hope we are not overtaxing Heimdall's systems," Kesh said. The tag they'd left letting the ship know not to send the body to one of the medical pods.

Eventually, when they were finished with their grim task and the area had been cleansed, the remaining villagers would be returned with their dead so they could perform the culturally appropriate last rites.

The part O'Neill appreciated most about their new Asgard friends and their ships in orbit was how quickly they'd dealt with the Goa'uld ship he hadn't even known was there until it exploded. He wondered again what it had been doing there and if they had anything to do with the plague.

"The remote just buzzed at me again. Just a moment." O'Neill extracted the device from the pouch. "I still don't know what this is saying exactly, but that's the word that showed up when we put the first patient in the pod, and I think that's the word for the stargate. So I'm assuming this is something related to the stargate and quarantine procedures."

"If I may?" Kesh asked, holding out a silver coated hand.

"Sure," O'Neill handed the remote to the Furling.

"Yes, you're making good progress with the language. It seems someone is trying to circumvent the quarantine and dial out. They have accessed the dialing console's internals," Kesh said, returning the device.

"Lieutenant Fischer, report," O'Neill said into his radio. "Have you seen anything odd near the stargate?"

There was no reply and O'Neill was getting a little worried.

"I will ask Hermiod to scan the location of the stargate," Kesh reassured Colonel O'Neill.

"Hermiod? Heimdall? Like Thor?" Daniel seemed a little less than enthusiastic.

"I see you're already aware of the Asgard as well, Daniel Jackson. That is good," Kesh said.

"Just Daniel please," Daniel said. Kesh simply held up a hand, over which the holographic image of one of the Asgard appeared.

"My ship detected the access violation alert from the dialing console before it went offline. As a matter of course I performed a more in depth scan. It seems there was a cloaked Goa'uld host attempting to circumvent the quarantine lockouts. I have beamed them up, as well as the human that was in a guard position nearby. The human appears to have been knocked unconscious. Since the dialing pedestal is not responding, someone will of course need to go to the dialing console in person to determine if there is any damage and enact repairs," Hermiod said, and O'Neill could hear the difference between Heimdall and Hermiod's voices, with Hermiod just having a more masculine voice.

"That's suspicious," O'Neill commented.

"Suspicious indeed. However, I have not been authorized by the council to handle interrogation of Goa'uld hosts. If the Furling representative wishes to trouble themselves with extracting information from our guest they are welcome to have them," Hermiod replied with a slow blink.

"Perhaps when we have finished cleaning up here," Kesh replied.

"Very well. The timing of this call is fortuitous, however, as Heimdall estimates that we will be completed processing the remaining villagers through our medical systems within the next two hours. Once a final sweep of the village has been completed we can focus the full efforts of our transporter systems on cleansing any remaining examples of this bacterial agent from the environment. At that time I would be happy to host you all aboard my vessel while the work is completed," Hermiod said, his hologram winking out of existence with the closing of Kesh's fist.

"Huh, definitely a male voice there," O'Neill said.

"Let us go check in with the rest of your team before we examine the dialing console," Kesh said.

"We can probably just radio Carter and have her take care of it," O'Neill said, grabbing his radio. "Though if you'd like to help her then I won't complain."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Level 12 - Secure Storage Room

Captain Helvetia Thrace sauntered into the storage room where Hathor's sarcophagus was tied up inside the shipping crate.

"What have we here," Thrace muttered, trailing a finger along the rough plywood and wincing as she caught on a splinter. "Damn. Harry had better be right about this being something good."

The visiting captain on loan from Peterson grabbed the pry bar off the nearby shelf and shoved it between two of the boards before working it around the crate. She ended up working her way around the thing twice before she'd loosened the entire top enough to lift it away. She winced as the plywood top slid to the side and fell off with a resounding slap against the concrete floor, hoping nobody had been close enough to hear it.

Captain Thrace let out a low whistle at the golden sarcophagus once revealed. It was covered in colorful ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs and intricate carvings, though the view was incomplete as it had been wrapped in heavy duty wire reinforced cargo straps. Helvetia laughed at the thought of the sarcophagus having its own mummy wrappings.

"Such a pretty box to be bound so crudely, I wonder just what is inside," the Captain muttered. She searched the storage room, and at the far end of the room she located a set of bolt cutters that she grinned at.

"Better be quick, I've only got another ten minutes before security resets that camera feed," Thrace said to herself after glancing at her watch, before she started cutting the bindings.

As she clipped through the last strap at the base of the sarcophagus, there was a wisp of fog that slipped through the top covers. With a sudden ponderous grinding noise, the two halves of the cover split down the middle, shifting on the pivot point. The Captain grimaced at the unwanted noise.

From the depths of the container, an elegant hand arose. Captain Thrace stared avariciously at what she assumed to be a mere bit of jewelry, even as she backed away from the unexpected hand. She was unprepared for the burst of light from the focusing gem. Hathor's other arm gripped the side of the Sarcophagus as Ra's former queen lifted herself into a sitting position still holding the golden stream of light from her kara'kesh on the visiting Captain.

"Who dares," Hathor spoke in the dual tone voice of a Goa'uld symbiote demonstrating its control over its host as she sat up. She looked around the room still holding the Captain enthralled under the power of her kara'kesh before returning to the idiot that had released her. Something seemed to lift out of the girl's forehead into the device and then back.

"Pathetic," Hathor said after a moment's examination and intensified the beam of energy being emitted, scrambling the Captain's brain.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8-987 - Hanka - Stargate

"Good news, I don't think our Goa'uld spy broke anything," Carter said, having laid out all of the crystals on the access panel next to the DHD. "Though like most of the network, I can't imagine that this has had a proper maintenance cycle in quite some time."

"Agreed," Kesh said, holding a hand over the crystals and allowing their scanner to work.

"I should be able to have everything put back together in a few moments," Carter said, working through the control crystals still within their sockets and verifying their placement on the diagram on her laptop. Frowning, she moved to get a look at one in particular, then plucked it out of its slot. "Kesh, could you scan this one please?"

Carter held out a blue crystal that didn't look like it should be damaged at a first glance.

"Interesting, there's a hairline fracture in the second submatrix," Kesh said, allowing the light of their glove to play over the control crystal before handing it back. "It should be fully repaired now, though it would not have prevented anything from working for at least a decade. Just out of curiosity, how were you able to detect that flaw?"

"There was some slight discoloration from stress-induced birefringence," Captain Carter tilted her head looking over the crystals again, "It shows up as a rainbow-like effect where the structure has been stressed or fractured, but only when viewed through a polarizing filter or lens. Our isolation gear includes polarized lenses designed for reducing glare and reflections, though I also have some handheld filters in my kit as well." Carter examined another crystal she'd pulled while talking, "Huh, this one looks damaged too."

Kesh accepted the second crystal, scanning and repairing it as well, "Fascinating."

Having already found two flawed control crystals, Captain Carter decided to check each of the remaining crystals for stresses, and found another two that Kesh fixed for her in short order. Then she pulled up the diagram she'd made the last time she had access to the inside of a DHD, and used the reference document to socket all of the control crystals back into the appropriate locations within the dialing pedestal.

The large red power crystal was the last one to be slotted back into place, and the DHD cycled through the lights before blinking a cycling pattern of glyphs to indicate it was still in quarantine mode.

"Excellent work, Captain Carter," Kesh said, after running a diagnostic to verify everything was in working order. He was about to say more but was interrupted by the chime of the communicator in his suit.

"We have acquired enough data for the transporter biofilters to process the area around the settlement and remove any remnants of this disease, if you would like to move the remaining recovery operations to Hermiod's ship. I will begin the procedure once Hermiod has notified me that everyone is onboard," Heimdall said over the communicator in Kesh's suit.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Level 19 - Secondary Armory

Hathor looked around the room full of primitive weapons with a sneer. She'd lucked out and a male she could enthrall had been down the hall from the storage area her Sarcophagus had been placed into, but she'd wanted him to lead her to proper weapons. Not this primitive garbage, especially when her thrall admitted that there were far more females than she could expect to subdue present and very few males she could enthrall.

Worse, her thrall had a communication device that had informed him that the woman who had freed her had been found and that the few males present were to isolate themselves to avoid being enthralled themselves. She could no longer trust that the path back to the Sarcophagus was safe, but the Chaapa'ai was just a few levels further down. She'd just have to risk the trip. Luckily, her thrall believed he could move them much closer without being seen by the camera systems installed in the hallways.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Hanka Orbit - The Sleipnir - Hermiod's ship - Multipurpose Lab

"Hermiod, right? Nice digs," O'Neill said, looking around the room aboard Hermiod's ship. The group from the clearing by the stargate were the first to transport up, and Hermiod was standing behind a curved console covered in lines and norse runes that O'Neill was judging for aesthetics and usability.

"Greetings. Please wait while I bring the rest of the teams up," Hermiod said.

Kahue leaned over to O'Neill and hissed in his ear, "how the hell do you guys just go from 'scientific expedition' to 'emergency medical situation' like toggling a light switch?"

"I told you the day isn't over yet," O'Neill said, not turning away from watching the diminutive grey alien moving the smooth white control stones across the console.

Hermiod ignored his guests, focused entirely on the controls in front of him. Their patience was rewarded as the remaining teams of humans and Nox appeared in a flash of light, including one unexpected addition of a healthy young girl.

"Curious," Hermiod said, additional musical alert tones sounded around the room, and a cone of light appeared from above illuminating their unexpected guest.

"Who's this?" O'Neill asked. Everyone was now looking directly at the unexpected child, who was standing there frozen in place.

"I did not expect anyone but your respective teams to be actively moving. She appears to have been following one of the search units and was tagged alongside them."

"We're probably scaring her. Back up everyone, I think she's going into shock," Doctor Fraiser said, moving to the child. "What's your name?"

The child remained staring blankly into the distance.

"Can I remove my protective gear?" Doctor Fraiser asked Hermiod.

"Yes. The transporter system has removed all contaminants. The environment is sterile and neither of you will harm the other," Hermiod replied.

"How about a bed? She's likely to respond better if we can make her more comfortable," Captain Carter asked as the Doctor started to remove her suit.

"You would know best," Hermiod said, and used the command stones to deposit a newly constructed Asgard model medical bed in a flash of light.

"There, now. Everything will be okay," Doctor Fraiser finished removing her isolation gear and gently lifted the girl, carrying her to the newly constructed medical bed, shortly followed by Captain Carter pulling her own gloves and mask off. "How about a blanket?"

Hermiod needed no further prompting and tapped a few more times on the console causing a silvery blanket to appear folded on the bed. With another tap of the command stone on the control console a shimmering privacy field extended around the area of the room with the girl and the two human women working on comforting her. Seeing that the human doctor had the child taken care of, for now, Hermiod turned to the Nox expedition.

"Greetings, Obenne," Hermiod nodded.

"Well met, Hermiod," Obenne replied.

"Heimdall informed me that this was a class four plague event. The Furling is in their encounter suit. The humans are in their isolation gear. In fact, several of your people are clearly using loaned gear from the humans. But you and several of your contingent are not attired similarly."

"Our isolation fields are sufficient," Obenne said, and Hermiod's eyes narrowed.

"Sufficient indeed. It's my supreme displeasure to inform you then that the transporter biofilters cleaned sufficient levels of contaminants to restart this plague when you returned to your home, and worse those contaminants were removed from beneath your isolation fields," Hermiod replied.

A moment later there was a spark of light and Obenne's isolation field failed, shortly followed by three other fields across the team.

"I can practically hear you thinking it, Kesh. Please, do not say it," Obenne said in a tone that indicated he was clearly starting to rethink his life decisions.

"The planet's magnetic field expresses several oddities, likely an interaction with the blackhole that might have created an accidental deconstructive interference with our fields," the Nox standing to Obenne's left said.

"And that is why physical barriers are always preferred. You never know when something might compromise anything less," Kesh nodded.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Level 28

Hathor marched confidently through the corridor to the control room. Every now and then she used the concussive shock wave generator in her karakesh to blast any stray personnel they encountered out of her path. As expected from the primitive communication device that had warned the base of her presence, all of the guards they encountered were female.

The access door to the control booth was locked, but it seemed they hadn't had the chance to revoke her thrall's access card, and he dutifully let her into the room.

The females within hesitated unwilling to harm the male thrall that was between them and her. She however had no compunctions and quickly blasted the three with her karakesh tossing them away from her with negligent ease. Regrettably, she was running out of patience to be gone from this place and didn't want to spare the time to punish these impudent females beyond knocking them out cold.

As she looked around the primitive systems with a sneer, her eyes alighted upon the one piece of equipment that looked out of place. She wondered how such primitives could have come up with their own custom interface with the stargate's systems, though this one was not constructed in the same manner as the rest of the equipment. Nevertheless, it would do. Ra's former queen ran a hand through her hair while considering what possible addresses she could try. And, she hoped would still be under the control of one of the more sympathetic system lords, perhaps Bastet or maybe even Hekate. She could hear the echo of the defense forces in the corridor and the alarm was giving her a headache.

Finally making a decision, she tapped her chosen address into the dialing console and only paused long enough to verify that the stargate had accepted the command. She was pleasantly surprised that the stargate connected quickly and smoothly the instant she accepted the address as complete. She spared a moment's glance at the alien dialing device considering if she could steal it before deciding that it would take far too long to extract from the rest of the equipment and turned away reluctantly. Besides, it was a known annoyance that disconnecting dialing devices tended to close the Chaapa'ai.

"Come, I am ready to leave this vile place," Hathor said to her thrall.

Her thrall obeyed her command. A few short steps, and a swipe of the thrall's access card at the blast door, and she was standing before the stargate on the ramp.

The goa'uld queen styled after the Egyptian goddess of sex, drugs, and music turned and gave the room one last look of contempt before taking her shendyt in her hands and leaving through the open gate. The thrall tried to follow, but it seemed someone in the control room had managed to wake up in time as the iris slammed closed before he could leave.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Hanka Orbit - Hermiod's ship - Observation lounge

Hermiod had moved everyone except for Doctor Fraiser, Captain Carter and the girl to the observation lounge, in recognition that the eclipse would be an interesting event to watch.

There were smart displays along the windows showing a variety of sensor readings and a magnified view of the event, suitably dimmed for ease of viewing.

"Did we tell you what we were originally here for?" O'Neill asked.

"I don't believe so," Obenne said, having calmed down from his initial snit over the isolation gear.

"Our little observatory down there is still set up to record as much as we can get of the accretion disk of the black hole during the solar eclipse. As well as the following transit of the black hole," O'Neill said and pointed out the window at the star and its partner in the slow dance of celestial objects.

"Ah, I'd forgotten about this old art project," Kesh said, startling Obenne who had not sensed them approaching.

"Art project?" O'Neill asked, having spotted the Furling's approach but not hiding his grin at Obenne's reaction.

"Yes, it's not everyday you see a blackhole that small, most of them are pretty big, but this one is maybe three to six times the mass of the steller reactor in your home system, I could get a more exact measurement if you really want. Ah, it's good to see people appreciating the classics even if it means The Assembly is likely to push forward with maintaining it for additional cycles now instead of dismantling it safely as originally planned," Kesh made a slurping noise as they extracted the clear fluid from the round construct they held in their hand.

"Carter would probably appreciate the precision," O'Neill said.

"Then I'll see about making sure she has a suitable copy of the scientific data available in a compressed format suitable for your slower and smaller storage devices," Kesh offered.

There was a subtle beeping noise and Kesh looked down at their wrist computer, at the same time O'Neill spotted Obenne and Hermiod examining their own devices.

"What's that?" O'Neill asked.

"An alert from the Alliance meeting place. There's been an unexpected visitor, from Terra, and it looks like the medical systems flagged them as being a potential risk and beamed them into stasis," Kesh replied distractedly.

"Alliance Meeting place?" O'Neill asked.

"Pretentious place our four races set up way back when we first managed to iron out the diplomatic issues and finally come to a mutual understanding, there's a bunch of tests involved for anyone not a member. Speaking of... Hey, Obenne, is it your people handling that alert?" Kesh leaned back, aiming that question towards the Nox.

"How did you know about the alert? We only just set those up and hadn't configured them to send to everyone after having to correct a few oversights recently," Obenne said.

"I only just arrived in the galaxy. The meeting place of the alliance was my first stop and seeing there was a convenient set of local alert channels set up, I of course added myself to all local alerts," Kesh replied. "It was pleasantly surprising to find out I did not need to perform any maintenance on the meeting place when I arrived."

"I always remotely connect to the six local facilities and request alert updates as well," Hermiod added. "Otherwise we would not have known to come here."

"You're talking about the place with the treaty room and the crazy holographic elements display aren't you," O'Neill said, putting the pieces together.

"That's the place, yes," Kesh replied.

"What is the official name for that place anyway? I think we designated it Heliopolis," O'Neill asked.

Obenne, still in the vicinity of the conversation, caught the last question and interjected, "...it has several overly-pretentious official names. Most of us just refer to it as the meeting or gathering place, only adding mention of the alliance when that would be ambiguous."

Kesh scoffed and made a swiping gesture, "Forget that. I think I like the name Heliopolis, if I got the mental impression of the place name correct? Disregarding that dreck about Ra, the location was historically important as a center of diplomacy, learning, and knowledge. I'm registering it as that."

Several of the more pretentious members of the Nox present seemed taken aback by the sudden declaration, though they remained speechless. Though Hermiod appeared to have been busy at his console. As she spoke up, "Heimdall and I both concur, and Thor has sent me approval to register it as such in our systems as well."

"Getting back to the topic at hand, I believe the Nox will be sending a team to investigate, yes," Obenne said, ignoring the rest of the byplay over the naming conventions.

"What's this about Heliopolis?" Captain Carter asked, having left Janet to work with the yet to be identified girl.

"It appears someone arrived there from Terra unexpectedly," Kesh replied.

"Ah, that likely means someone ran afoul of the new security on the dialing program. I set it to silently redirect dialing attempts to all but a few whitelisted addresses if they aren't approved by select personnel," Carter said.

"Oh, then that's probably Hathor," Daniel spoke up.

"Hathor?" Hermiod asked shortly followed by several other people present.

"Yes, as I was saying, it seems some of our archaeological teams recently unearthed her sarcophagus on earth. We had her contained in the sarcophagus last I was aware, but that obviously changed. While we're on the topic of sharing things, I've been looking for a chance to mention that we may have accidentally broken Thor's hammer on Cimmeria to free Teal'c after it nabbed him," Daniel continued.

"We should warn you. The Goa'uld sarcophagi are an imperfect technology, and more of a headache than they're worth. I recommend sticking to the healing pods," Ahndar of the Nox interjected.

"I've only had the one experience with them, and now that you mention it, in hindsight I'd prefer one of the medical pods if at all possible," Daniel muttered.

"It may be annoying that you only mentioned this now, but emergencies do take priority over lesser concerns," Hermiod said.

"When we are finished with this alert, I would not mind talking with you further regarding your security system. There are codes you can use for these sorts of events, and alternate destinations as well," Ahndar said to Captain Carter.

"Did your team want to be the ones handling that alert then?" Kesh asked Obenne.

"It would probably simplify things," Obenne muttered.

"Get some actual isolation gear first, or better yet only send a team of females," Daniel said.

"I can to some extent understand your first comment, but the latter seems odd," Obenne said.

"Hathor has some sort of pheromone ability that she can use to enthrall males, and I'd hate to discover that the Nox are not immune," Daniel replied.

"Where's all this coming from," O'Neill hissed at Daniel.

"That meeting I had with the general and his guest before while you were showing Kahue's team around. We just didn't get the chance for me to let you know what was going on in the rush to deploy," Daniel replied.

"I have cleared the immediate area around the gate of plague materials, you are free to proceed with your task when you wish," Hermiod informed the Nox.

"While they're doing that, how about setting up that isolation cell where I can begin my questions of your captive goa'uld?" Kesh asked.

"I will have them in a cell and ready for you momentarily," Hermiod nodded.

"Speaking of, I am curious where they were hiding while we were there, have you checked for any hidden complexes?" O'Neill asked.

Hermiod tapped a few commands on the console, "Very insightful, O'Neill. There is indeed a hidden complex underground within the forest outside of the village. It is shielded and difficult to spot, but the transportation rings are very obvious and noisy by nature as a connection point, and I can interface with it."

"The day isn't over yet," Kahue said quietly to O'Neill.

"Exactly," O'Neill replied with a grin.

A/N: You're going to get the rest of this in chapter 11, next week, cause this was growing too long and I didn't have that half edited.

 

[Dreadis]

Aah once again the craziness of the lives of SG teams. Head off to check out some pretty astronomical event, switch to emergency bio-warfare recovery, now time for some basic diplomatic small talk with people you have never met or even really heard of before.


SG1 gets it bad but its crazy to think that every single team is expected to be able to do at least half as well if they run into the same situation.

 

[NinjaMAster]

I really like how easy it is to picture all of these changes coming from one Ancient (or SI, or time traveler, or whatever) taking a look at the available tech and thinking: I could host one heck of a gaming session with this. And all the rest just flows from there.

The Nox are the Healer-mains who are now sick and tired of the enemies focusing on them, the Furling is an Artificer/Bard that could probably solo a lower-level adventure on their own thanks to having so many abilities/toys, and the Asgard have done more than a little power-gaming. Although admittedly that last one isn't all that new, just applied a bit more flexibly than they would have before.

 

[Kenji Kage]

I also find this wonderful especially that the alliance races seem/are competent

 

[Stephenopolos]

Chapter 11 - Lab, Family, Dog

Hanka - Nirrti's lab - October 16th 1997

"This lab is definitely ground zero and probably still a hot zone. Please, keep your isolation suits on," Specialist Sean Maxwell reminded the team as the rings dropped.

Colonel O'Neill slowly panned the beam of light from his flashlight around the room and whistled. The beam of light was clearly visible due to the presence of a fine mist.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Well it's just, why are all these Goa'uld labs so dark and creepy? Would it kill them to install better lighting? Maybe a sunroof?" O'Neill said.

"Jack, the Goa'uld have better night vision than us, the room probably appears bright as daylight to them," Daniel said. "The lower light levels might even be more comfortable to them."

A moment later the dim orange lighting orbs in the corners of the lab brightened to a blazing yellow, filling the room with light.

"Even we don't leave the lights on when we leave," Captain Carter said from where she'd found the dimmer switch.

"Oh, well I guess that makes sense," O'Neill said and turned his flashlight off. "Especially as they're using human eyes, so they really should have at least some of the same vision as we do."

"What's that?" Sean asked, pointing to a containment unit that had been in a darker corner of the room until the increased brightness revealed it.

"I think that might be one of the things we came down here for," Daniel said.

"Well, let's call Hermiod then. How do you operate this thing," O'Neill said pointing at the Asgard communications relay that had been ringed down with them.

Carter sighed and pointed to the projection that had just appeared.

"There is no need, O'Neill. I have been monitoring the situation," Hermiod replied.

"Say what?" O'Neill jumped back from the hologram.

"There should be a Goa'uld crystal computer nearby, please use the supplied control rod and locate a suitable empty socket in the computer. It will allow us to remotely download the contents of the lab's storage for review. In most scenarios that should be enough to gain full control unless this particular Goa'uld shows the uncommon intelligence of using additional non-networked computer systems. In which case, I may have to beam down additional control rods. They do not however strike me as being that intelligent," Hermiod said and triggered a command to open a container in the relay pillar revealing a clear control crystal.

"Where's that going to fit?" O'Neill asked.

"I suggest trying to find an access panel between those two pyramidal columns on either side of the operating table." Hermiod pointed to the strange lab bed in the center of the room covered in circuit-like patterns. "I have also alerted Heimdall to your discovery; she is more experienced in these matters."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Level 12 Storage room

Major Doctor William Warner crouched next to the barely alive Captain staring blankly into the ceiling. Having entirely the wrong specialty for assisting with a hot zone event, the surgeon had volunteered to remain at the base while Doctor Fraiser was responding to the crisis on Hanka.

He waved the two female soldiers standing guard by the door over and motioned to his patient.

"She's basically comatose at this point, and the sarcophagus is right there, go ahead and drop her in," Warner ordered. Captain Thrace was non-responsive and based on previous reports from SG-1 the torture mode of one of those Goa'uld hand devices was a painful way to go, like a repeated concussion coupled with an aneurysm.

"Sir?"

"She's going to die if we do nothing, and I'm not willing to wait for the medical pod to return," Doctor Warner said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Hanka - Nirrti's lab

Heimdall appeared in a shimmer of light in front of the holographic projector. The grey Asgard looked around the room curiously.

"Ah good, you are still within your isolation suits. Please do not remove them. I've disabled what I believe to be a dispersal mechanism within the lab, which should mean our efforts to clean up this pestilence will be more successful. And yes, I do believe you have stumbled upon the source of the plague," Heimdall tilted her head towards the containment unit, a wavering line of distortion scrolling across her image showing she was only present in a virtual sense for the consultation.

"About the rest," Daniel said motioning around the lab.

"I am beaming down a containment device. Simply affix it to the surface of the existing unit and step back. Once activated, it will remain here as evidence while Thor invokes the appropriate clauses of our treaty regarding the development of bioweapons. If you would remain a moment longer, though— the logs indicate there should be an additional storage room. I believe I can remotely trigger the door to open, please observe your surroundings for the entrance," Heimdall said.

"Holy Hannah," Carter said a moment later. Heimdall appeared to have been successful as a section of wall slid aside. The opening led to a hall lined with obvious containment pods. Large glass tubes filled with fluid, bodies floating within them, the closest one by the door to the room held a dark haired woman with a square jaw that reminded the captain of the girl on the ship. There was a screen with Goa'uld text next to each pod.

"Great, just what we needed, more goa'uld horrors," O'Neill said as Daniel looked over her shoulder, both of them grimaced.

Teal'c merely stepped around them and approached the first screen.

"Subject is very promising, however there remains a few minor genetic issues. If I can resolve them I will consider this program a success," Teal'c read with a raised eyebrow.

"I would be impressed at the appearance of seemingly sane research practices from a Goa'uld, had I not already read some of the uploaded log files. I expect you could liken their approach to flailing about with a pain stick in the dark," Heimdall chimed in. "You will have to excuse me. I have had to expand the containment perimeter and need to monitor the filtering process, we underestimated how far this particular contaminant has spread."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Hanka Orbit - Hermiod's ship - Outside Nirrti's holding cell

"You have yet to explain what allowed two of your ships to respond to the plague alert, I was under the impression that you had pressing concerns in your home galaxy," Kesh said.

"Pressing needs, yes. You were lucky we were in the area. Heimdall uncovered records of several archaic Asgard vessels we sent out long ago to explore neighboring galaxies, from before we developed our advanced hyperdrives. We would try to intercept these between galaxies but space is vast. We've pinpointed several potential locations within this galaxy where we can expect to see one of these ships arrive within the next few years," Hermiod said.

"Ah, so rather than try to intercept them in transit, you hope to catch them on arrival," Kesh said.

"You surmise correctly. Though I was also under the impression that your kind had moved on from our space a long time ago," Hermiod replied.

"In a sense, yes, however we still have quite a few projects we inadvertently left operational. I was sent to begin the process of shutting those down, but imagine my surprise to receive this alert so soon after my arrival. It is somewhat amusing though that I ended up here, as this was actually one of those projects in my list," Kesh replied.

"There is a furling project in this system?" Hermiod asked.

"The gravitational singularity is the project, yes. I'm still considering how I want to handle that," Kesh said.

"I hope you would not object if our ship sensors observed if you choose to dismantle it," Hermiod said slowly.

"Not in the least, and feel free to supply a suitable copy of the data to the humans, if you wish," Kesh replied.

"I believe I have all the containment procedures in place. If you are ready I will deposit the goa'uld now," Hermiod replied.

"Please," Kesh replied.

An aged male appeared in the holding cell in a flash of light, he looked around the room and frowned.

"What Asgardian would dare to interfere in the business of the god Nirrti the Great. I demand an explanation for this, this violation of the treaty. You will release me at once," Nirrti's eyes flashed and the dual tone distorted voice of a Goa'uld host resounded throughout the cell.

"Ah, so you are Nirrti then. No, I think not. You are merely an overgrown parasite with delusions of grandeur," Kesh slipped through the hologram disguising the entrance to the interrogation room and interrupted Nirrti's rant.

"You dare?" Nirrti whirled around, their eyes flashing. He flung the hand with his Karakesh device towards the suited figure to no visible effect.

"I dare nothing. We have already located your research lab and secured the bioweapon you developed in contravention to the treaty you're so ready to claim the protections of. Your name was the final piece we needed for our complaint to the council of system lords, which you just provided so nicely," Kesh replied. "It wouldn't have been appropriate to rely on your lab's logs being accurate, after all."

"Release me, I have done nothing wrong," Nirrti demanded again.

"No, worm. Even if you had done nothing else wrong, you were caught trying to bypass a quarantine lock during a plague event. That alone allows us to petition that you be denied free travel rights for a century," Kesh replied. "We can see about reducing our demands on the council and your own punishment if you cooperate and confess to any other violations you may have in the works. We do not need your confession, we are fully capable of and will find every world you have touched during your entire life without your help, but we won't say no to your cooperation."

"I care not, for I have done nothing wrong," Nirrti sniffed. Enraged, the old man slammed a fist towards the silver suited figure, only to rebound off of the forcefield barrier bisecting the room.

"I'll remind you that any potential ticking timebombs you may have left lying about will require a proportional demand from us by the very treaty you just now attempted to invoke," Kesh replied.

"I have done nothing wrong and refuse your attempts to intimidate me," Nirrti said again, now cradling their broken fist. The sullen Goa'uld started to cross his arms, but winced. Instead he opted to turn away from the furling.

"As a preliminary report without querying any of our monitoring stations I have the following list of addresses directly from his karakesh," Hermiod interjected over Kesh's suit allowing the Furling to project the list between them for both to see.

Nirrti's expression shifted to concern now, his face white as he continued to bluster.

"So be it, I believe some time to think about things might be in your interest. I continue to find myself amazed at the levels of self-delusion your species manages on a daily basis," Kesh said.

"There's a security program within his Karakesh with codes associated with each address," Hermiod said once Kesh was fully outside of the field. "That is likely one of the reasons for his abrupt shift in behavior. Having those addresses means I also have the security program. The log on the karakesh indicates he usually sends the code after leaving a planet or just before arrival. There may be traps or other security measures at each facility."

"I hate it when the bad guy has some brains," Kesh said.

"You may hate this more, my ship is reporting that all the villagers currently within treatment pods now have a mass of naquadah and potassium forming near their hearts," Hermiod said.

"I changed my mind," Kesh turned around to go back to the interrogation room.

"What are you doing," Hermiod asked.

"I have a sudden urge to introduce Nirrti's brains to my cricket gun," Kesh said.

"That will have to wait. Killing Nirrti, accidentally or otherwise, would make it far harder to use them as leverage against the System Lords. It may be preferable that you refocus your energies elsewhere, Heimdall and Doctor Fraiser may need your assistance with the child," Hermiod stated.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Hanka Orbit - Hermiod's ship - Multipurpose lab

Captain Doctor Janet Fraiser looked up at the flash of light from the Asgard transporter depositing one of their small grey Asgard hosts in the room.

"Ah good you're still here," Heimdall said.

"Can I help you," Doctor Fraiser asked.

"Curious, I think I like your voice, Doctor. Yes, or rather it is I who have come to help you," Heimdall replied.

"How so," Doctor Fraiser asked.

With a gesture of the control gem within her hand, the medical pod that the Terrans had brought with them appeared next to the Asgard bed.

"In the process of healing the villagers your healing pod identified a retrovirus that my own medical systems failed to detect. I have brought your medical pod here to verify, as I believe the young female may also have this retrovirus present, it is uniquely coded to each of their genetic profiles and appears to be unable to be transmitted like any other traditional virus," Heimdall replied.

"A retrovirus, we've only just begun to work on figuring those out," Doctor Fraiser looked back at her young patient and smiled.

"They are one of the first tools a young civilization looks to when studying genetic manipulation, yes," Heimdall said.

"I have reservations, since this is likely to be a scary event," Fraiser started.

"Understandable, I would point out that the medical pod defaults to introducing a soporific effect in younger patients. That should alleviate much of the trauma," Heimdall commented.

"You have a point," Doctor Fraiser said, returning to her patient.

"What's going on? Where is everyone? I'm not—?" Cassie asked.

"Shh, you're perfectly alright, everything is just fine sweetie. You're not going to die, and we've been working on healing as many of the villagers as we can," Doctor Fraiser soothed, and waved Heimdall forward. "I'd like to introduce you to a new friend."

"Greetings, I am Heimdall," Heimdall said.

"Cassandra, or, well, Cassie, please, call me Cassie," Cassie responded.

"That's a lovely name, Cassie. Did you see the pod that appeared when Heimdall did?" Doctor Fraiser asked.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - level 21 - Infirmary

"Doctor?" General Hammond said.

"What? In my defense, I was left unsupervised as the highest ranking medical officer. As I was also the only doctor on the scene, I used my best judgement," Doctor Warner started.

"Not what I was about to ask," General Hammond said.

"Oh well, in that case. How can I help you, sir," Doctor Warner said much calmer.

"What can you tell me about our patient," General Hammond asked.

"Captain Helvetia Thrace. Freshly transferred to us from Peterson for the duration of our little crisis. She was supposed to be working in the Armory on level 19 and was on break during the incident. Based on the reconstructed video evidence we believe she opened the crate and cut the straps holding the sarcophagus closed allowing the automated programming Hathor installed to complete the scheduled wake up. Hathor used the hand device for a short interrogation and then scrambled her brains," Doctor Warner replied.

"How is she," General Hammond asked.

"Delusional. I've requested Doctor Mackenzie look in on her. The sarcophagus appeared to fix the damage, but she's lost a fair amount of memory of the events in question. I hesitate to make any mental diagnosis, I'll leave that up to Mackenzie as that's his area of expertise. But I don't know that we'll get much information out of her as she is, I think the medical pod might be able to help further," Doctor Warner said.

"Keep me updated," General Hammond sighed.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Hanka Orbit - Hermiod's ship - Multipurpose lab

"Good, you have her within the medical pod," Kesh said as they entered the lab.

"What," Doctor Fraiser started, only for Kesh to motion for her to step aside.

"No time to explain," Kesh replied.

The Asgard and Human doctor watched as the Furling gently pushed their hand through the isolation field over Cassie's chest and let the light of their glove scan over her heart. Eventually, a dull grey ball of metal slowly phased through her skin. Kesh closed their glove around the device, extracting it from the isolation field.

Heimdall blinked rapidly while Doctor Fraiser held a hand over her heart.

"How did you—" Doctor Fraiser started.

"I am a registered medical doctor with the systems at Heliopolis," Kesh said dryly.

"What is that?" Doctor Fraiser asked when she finally calmed enough to speak.

"It's a tracker, and Nirrti's revenge on any interference in his experiment," Kesh stated, using the scanner in their glove to examine the device, they adjusted their equipment.

"Explain?" Doctor Fraiser asked.

"That virus you found in the population; it's Nirrti's attempt at engineering a better host. The villagers have been his test subjects, and the ones he found promising he implanted this tracker. These trackers, phone home, I believe is the term you'd use, to the lab on the surface, but we're in orbit and blocking communication," Kesh replied, as potassium and naquadah began to separate forming into separate equally sized orbs slowly rotating around a much smaller Goa'uld device.

"And that was implanted in a child?" Doctor Fraiser asked, leaning back from the now threatening device.

"Yes. The revenge part is the shell that began forming around it after we started blocking communications. Nirrti anticipated the potential for another Goa'uld to try and steal his test subjects away. If they go beyond the range of the lab the device senses the presence of large quantities of refined naquadah, while pulling naquadah and potassium from the body, and with the quantity here... it would have been quite a powerful explosive too. Even at this small size," Kesh replied.

"And if we'd been a day later, and brought Cassie home with us after finding the village dead," Doctor Fraiser mused out loud.

"Had she remained within proximity to any quantity of naquadah the size of your stargate or larger— you would have quite a large explosion, yes," Kesh said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Hanka Orbit - Hermiod's ship - Multipurpose lab - October 17th 1997

"We have been continually monitoring the area and testing samples of the soil and water in a grid. At this time I am tentatively declaring the area clean of the plague bacteria," Heimdall reported.

"Good work," Doctor Fraiser said.

"I believe we are ready to start returning the population to the surface," Heimdall said.

"Just in time for the eclipse," Fraiser commented.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8-987 - Hanka - Triage Center and Observatory

"We've got everything dialed in on our equipment," O'neill replied.

"Eclipse is happening in eight minutes," Carter called out.

"How's the group up there in orbit doing," O'Neill asked.

"I am enjoying hosting them. Are you sure you do not wish to observe from up here?" Hermiod asked.

"I really want to see how well our equipment does with this. I don't often get to play with larger telescopes like this one," O'Neill replied.

"I can understand your position. Learning on your own can often provide more insight than having answers handed to you," Hermiod agreed.

"Hey, thanks for hosting us, I was not looking forward to camping down here with the isolation restrictions," O'Neill said.

"It was our pleasure, O'Neill. Your race is still young, but you're learning," Hermiod replied.

"Thanks, and I'm not sure why you were so interested in our P-90's but I hope they help whatever it is," O'Neill said.

"Just a thought, I may let you know at some point. It is time, I believe you should look to your telescope now, O'Neill," Hermiod said.

"Shoot," O'Neill checked the filter was still in place on the telescope and pressed the record button. Behind him the communications hologram disappeared.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8-987 - Hanka - Village hall

Doctor Fraiser and her team were meeting with the village leaders as part of their final discharge paperwork for the event. The young girl Cassie hadn't left Fraiser's side since completing treatment in the medical pod on Hermiod's ship.

"Thank you again, Doctor Fraiser," Ryan said.

"About Cassie," Doctor Fraiser started.

"Her guardians were not among those that survived, and her mother disappeared into the woods during the mindfire several years ago," Ryan said.

"So—" Fraiser started.

"Yes, she will need a new home. Though it appears she may have found one with you," Ryan said looking down at the girl hiding behind the doctor.

"Just like that?" Fraiser asked.

"That was what you were about to ask, wasn't it? Or did we misjudge your intentions," Ryan said.

"No, but I am a stranger," Fraiser said.

"No, you are a friend, one that has sacrificed their time in healing us and helping clean up," Ryan said. "I can think of none better to look after one of ours."

-| A new line has appeared |-​

PX8-987 - Hanka - Stargate

"So that's it?" O'Neill asked.

"That is as you say, it Colonel Jack O'Neill," Hermiod said.

"What about Nirrti?" Daniel asked.

"Thor has initiated the appropriate procedure to call a tribunal for a violation of the treaty. Nirrti will be placed within Thor's custody when he arrives," Heimdall replied.

"We will leave shortly to remedy the issues with the equipment on Cimmeria. But, before we go, a gift," Hermiod said, his hologram shifting to show he'd done something with his console and a data storage drive appeared in a flash of light. "The data storage device has been configured to be compatible with the equipment Captain Samantha Carter carried. It should contain the visual recordings and other sensor data of the eclipse and the black hole as seen from my vessel."

Carter was very quick to secure the drive within her pack.

"Thank you, that will be most appreciated," Captain Carter said.

"Before you leave, I checked my list and was reminded that this was actually one of those projects on my schedule to clean up," Kesh said, sounding very amused.

"Oh?"

"Yes," Kesh replied. They lifted a hand to the sky and pointed, a moment later a point of light appeared that rapidly grew brighter until it was too bright to look at. "Ah good, I got the timing right on that."

"What?" Carter asked.

"I triggered the shutdown of the system keeping the star compressed into a singularity. It finished converting the singularity back into a healthy yellow star about about nine minutes ago. Since I managed the timing, the light of that process is just now reaching us. It's not instantaneous you know," Kesh's smirk was audible.

"Now see, there you go ruining the mystique," O'Neill said.

Kesh scoffed, "Why would I care for mystique? This particular exhibit was designed to cycle between blackhole and white hole every hundred years, but the designers forgot to take into account the time dilation effects, it's been stuck in blackhole mode since it was installed and it was easier to just dismantle the project than try and fix it." Carter was trying to run though the mental calculations for what would be required for that sort of thing.

"I think you broke her chief," O'Neill said.

"Nah, she'll be fine. Anyway, I think we've accomplished all we needed here. I have more projects to work on. Hope I see you again," Kesh said and waved at the stargate, connecting it to the Furling's next destination without the dialing process.

"See you around?" O'Neill asked.

"See you around, O'Neill," Kesh replied and disappeared through the gate.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Gateroom

"Welcome back," General Hammond said once the disinfectant sprays finished.

"It's good to be back, sir," O'Neill replied.

"Get your gear put away and report to the briefing room for mission debriefing in twenty minutes," Hammond ordered.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

SGC - Briefing room

"Welcome to Earth, Cassandra," General Hammond said, presenting the girl with a teddy bear with a red bow around its neck.

"Cassie, please," Cassie accepted the stuffed animal tentatively.

"Of course, Cassie," the general corrected himself.

"Thanks, sir," Doctor Fraiser said.

Carter and Daniel both looked to O'Neill.

"What?" O'Neill said.

"It's just, we expected a little more of a reaction. We got more of a reaction from bringing back the Jaffa last mission," Daniel said.

"Okay, first off, Fraiser took command of the mission because of the medical emergency, so this is all on her. Second, we were in regular contact with the base, sending updates on the situation as it progressed, meaning she got permission ahead of time, and third, did you guys turn off your radios or something?" O'Neill asked.

"I think I caught the tail end of that discussion actually," Carter said.

"I was actually on Hermiod's ship for most of that, I think," Daniel said.

"Excuses..." O'Neill shook his head.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

Minnesota - O'Neill's cabin

Jack O'Neill leaned back in the lawn chair on the dock, and slowly reeled in the fishing line.

"Sir?" Carter started.

O'Neill held up a hand, "Ah, off duty."

"Sorry, just not comfortable with that," Carter said.

O'Neill shrugged and cast the line into the lake again.

"There are no fish in this lake are there?" Teal'c asked.

"Nope," O'Neill said, getting a laugh out of Kahue.

"I am curious, though. How did Hathor know where to send the sarcophagus?" O'Neill asked.

"Well, for one. We talked with the surviving members of the dig team that uncovered her tomb, and they had my old book on the Egyptian pyramids and knew I lived around here," Daniel said.

"And for the second part, a rare bit of logic that the stargate being active but not being public knowledge, would mean it was likely in the hands of a military group. And Soto Cano base was right there, all she had to do was subvert the base long enough to triangulate the approximate location of the stargate and then ask them what military base was at that location if there was one, then arrange to have herself shipped here," Carter said.

"Where's your grill?" Sean Maxwell arrived carrying a stack of food packed in butcher paper ready for the grill.

"On the deck," O'Neill called back.

"What base was that again?" Kahue asked.

"Soto Cano," Carter supplied.

"Son of a..." Kahue said.

"What?" O'Neill asked.

"So, you all know there's been some shuffling back at my base going on," Kahue said.

"Right? And?" O'Neill asked.

"Seems someone objected to the heavy handed approach the NID has been taking with a certain project. Anyway, the day before we got our orders to take a visit to your dungeon planet, one of the techs, an airman in the IT department, got caught having accessed a bunch of classified documents he had no need to know," Kahue said.

"I think I see where this is going," Daniel said.

"He was given clearance to several things as part of some IT classification and was caught reading a bunch of stuff he was moving between servers. Anyway, that airman, they shipped him down to Soto Cano rather than drum him out, something about wanting to keep an eye on him but not wanting to admit why to justify dumping him in Leavenworth," Kahue said.

"And let me guess, one of the documents he accessed happened to be project bluebook?" O'Neill asked.

"I didn't get the list, no need-to-know, you know. But I suspect so," Kahue replied, casting his own line into the lake.

"You talking about that little piss-ant that always had an attitude? If it wasn't in his computers it didn't exist," Sean said, taking a break from the grill.

"So if you told him something was dangerous he'd ignore you?" O'Neill asked.

Sean paused and looked at the lack of fish, "...no, actually, at least if he was going to be interacting with it. He'd generally go check the data sheets for himself, but I attributed that to having a sense of self-preservation. He just wouldn't listen to anything an expert told him unless it was documented in several places, even during nonstandard incidents."

"Speaking of, did he call you too?" Kahue asked.

"He called you?" Sean asked.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"So what did Kahue say?" Major Freeman asked.

"He shut me down entirely and said he'd be reporting me to General Hammond for possible punishment on misuse of insecure communication lines," Airman Luke Ashwood replied.

"...which is a good indication that the base really isn't compromised by that Hathor person," the Major said.

"Couldn't you have just checked with their female personnel?" Captain Johnson asked.

"More data points leads to better confidence," Freeman said.

-| A new line has appeared |-​

"How do you want your steaks?" Sean asked.

"Medium rare," Matthew Bennett replied.

"Same," Marshall Perry said.

"Well-done," Jason Byron adjusted his sunglasses.

"Oh, what else you got up there," Carter asked.

"The usual, chicken breasts, hamburgers, steak, potatoes, bacon wrapped asparagus, bacon and cheese stuffed jalapenos," Sean rattled off.

"You ready for the dungeon, Monday?" O'Neill asked.

"Maybe?" Kahue replied.

There was noise from the front of the cabin, some barking and a young voice that brought the discussion to a halt.

"Janet and Cassie are here" O'Neill grinned.

"You didn't," Carter said.

"Did you?" Daniel started.

"Hey Samantha! Daniel! See my new dog?" Cassie said, spotting the team on the dock.

"Didn't you know, Carter? We have a rule here on Earth. Every kid has got to have a dog," O'Neill said.

AN: There will be a brief hiatus, while I work on the plot and content of the next set of chapters.