by Stargate
"Graham? How could he possibly know we're here?" Daniel asked, feeling more than a little out of step.
"Find it! Damn it, where's it coming from?" As Jack reached a pile of wooden chests that had fallen onto a bench from an overhead shelf, the voice-it was Simmons, of all the unexpected people-cut off, leaving only a faint hiss of an open, very long-distance channel.
"Oh, come on! Don't give up now."
The four of them stared at each other, nerves jangling at the phantom contact with home.
"Simmons!" Jack's frustrated bellow echoed mockingly in the desolate silence around them.
"Good morning, Galaxy!"
The words blasted out behind Jack, sending them all diving through the clutter on the bench.
"That's Lou!" Daniel said, not believing his own words as he pawed over panels of flickering lights.
"Damn right it is, he loved that movie."
"...respond if you are receiving. SGC calling SG-one niner please respond. "
"Ferretti, where the hell are you?"
"Here!" Teal'c stood a couple of feet down the bench from Jack, wiping layers of dust off a cover that bore the symbols denoting a long-range telecommunications device, the floating ball used by the Goa'uld. He triggered the release. The hatch slid back and the already active sphere rose into the air to hover a few feet above their heads.
"Aaaannnd... Radio SGC welcomes you to hour 47 of `Where's SG-P. To start things off we have a special message from the gang in the canteen.... "
Major Ferretti's voice reached out to them all, loud and clear now it was free of the compartment. Slightly distorted but still the sweetest thing any of them could have hoped to see that day, Lou's face filled the ball, looking from immeasurably far away to a point somewhere over their heads.
"How on earth did they get that working?" Sam croaked in wonder.
"C'mon Colonel, give us a sign here. Or I'll sing. I swear, I'll sing! "
"Oh, no, don't let him sing," Jack laughed. "T, where're the controls to this thing?"
"Here, O'Neill." Teal'c located the transmission controls and opened up a two-way channel.
`She'll be comin'round the mountain.... ..
"SG-one niner calling SGC. Do you read? Over," Jack yelled out over Ferretti's off-key tenor.
"...when she... Colonel!"
"SG-one niner calling SGC. Acknowledge."
"Colonel? "
"Ferretti!"
"Colonel O'Neill? "
"Hey Lou, how're you doing?"
"Son of a...! This is Stargate Command, we read you loud and clear SG-one niner over. Simmons, go get the general. Now!"
In the tele-ball, Lou's face turned and stared at the four dirty, lost members of SG1, seeing them now for the first time. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. It worked! Are you all okay, sir? We've been calling on this thing for days, ever since General Carter brought it in. It's good to see you all Daniel, Teal'c, Sam. "
Ferretti looked at each of them, a huge grin on his face. In the background they could hear a buzz of excited voices. Realizing they could all speak at once, the team let loose a torrent of delighted shouts.
"It's good to see you, Lou."
"A pleasure indeed to make contact with you, Major Ferretti."
"Lou, I never thought you'd find us, but it's great to see you."
"Yeah, what's with the singing, Ferretti?"
"Bit of a time filler sir. It's 0400 here. We've been broadcasting non-stop in the hopes you'd hear us when you gated to that planet. " Ferretti looked away, then back and started to rise out of his chair. "The generals are here. I'll see you guys soon. "
A grin and one of those achingly familiar winks, and he slid out of view to be replaced by General Hammond, looking unruffled by the early wake-up call and wearing the biggest of smiles.
"Well, well. SG-1. It's good to see you. All of you. Is everyone alright?"
The team clustered a little closer together-Jack, Sam and Teal'c unconsciously straightening up. Daniel reached out and wrapped a hand around Sam's elbow, needing a little contact to ground him in reality. Two minutes ago they had been lost and far from home and now they were talking to the general as if he were in the next room.
"We're fine, sir. A little dirty and banged up here and there but we're just fine. How the hell did you find us?" Jack looked up at the general's face inside the ball, a grin resurfacing. "Sir."
"When you failed to check in on P3R-779 and our attempts to establish a wormhole also failed we contacted the Tok'ra. " Hammond leaned back and another welcome face joined him.
"Sam, Jack, boys. Nice to see you all safe. "
"Dad." Sam grinned at her father. Daniel gave her arm a squeeze as Jacob took up the story.
"We found the team that was supposed to join up with you. They'd all been drugged and disabled, except Miseanu. We caught her attempting to flee Vorash. Questioning revealed her symbiote, Remeda, had been forcibly removed and replaced with one called Tel'es-a Goa'uld mercenary. All he gave us was that he was aiming to collect the bounty on your heads, and that you were to be delivered to P3R-779. Seems it was the intent of whoever set the bounty to lure you into this Trial of Ra 's. "
"Did you discover the identity of the one behind this bounty, Jacob Carter?" asked Teal'c.
"We never did find out which System Lord was behind it. The best we got out of him was that whoever hired him wanted each of you to suffer greatly. He then chewed his way out of Miseanu, attacked two of my people and was killed. "
Jack grimaced at the image. "How did you know the TV would be on here?"
Jacob yielded the speaker to Hammond.
"There we got lucky. Turns out a Tok'ra operative actually undertook the Trial two hundred and seventy years ago in order to infiltrate Ra's inner circle. She succeeded. Her reports provided a lot of information about the Trial, including a planet that served as one of Ra's hidden store houses, and that there was an active telecommunication device on it. We've been broadcasting non-stop in the hope you would hear us. " Hammond paused to smile at them again.
"Half the base and all the on-world teams have taken a turn. We've been plotting your progress with each attempt you made to dial home, but in case we miscalculated we've kept the communicator live the whole time. "
"You mean you could tell every time we dialed home, sir?" Sam asked.
"The chevrons lit up but no wormhole formed, Major Once we knew what had happened, we backtracked all the misdials. There were a lot during the first day of your mission, so we were never completely sure which planet you were on. The Tok'ra kindly sent a ship to P3R-779 to see if you were still there. "
Jack suddenly flinched as realization hit him. He turned to stare at his team. "We didn't dial out here and we didn't check the time limit."
Corresponding shock and surprise settled on all three faces.
"Carter, Daniel. Go!"
His two fastest runners turned and sprinted out of the pavilion.
"Keep your ears on," Jack yelled after them.
"Colonel? "
"Sir, we have a limited amount of time on each planet. Basically we have to gate out before moonset or we don't get to leave at all."
"Yes, Colonel, the Tok'ra intelligence suggested as much. "
"It's still daylight here, sir. We should be okay, but still. I slipped up. Didn't check the time or the DHD when we arrived. This place, it's... Tinker Base a thousand times over. You wouldn't believe the ordnance that's lying around here."
`Really? What kinds of ordnance, Colonel? "
"Oh, you know, refined naquada, zats, staff weapons, and a fleet of those Al-kesh bombers."
A fleet... ? "
Jack grinned as Hammond blinked, not quite concealing the surge of lust on his face. "All ours for the picking, sir."
"Colonel!" Carter's voice blasted through the earpieces, making him and Teal'c both jump.
"Ow. I read you really clearly, Major."
"Sir, we've only got thirteen minutes until moonset."
; "What?" Jack twisted around, half expecting night to have fallen in the last few minutes. It hadn't; daylight still burned brightly outside the pavilion.
"How is this possible, Major Carter?" Teal'c strode outside to glare upward. Searching the blue sky, they finally saw a thin quarter moon sliding toward the horizon, previously hidden from them by the row of parked Al-kesh ships.
"Damn. I knew this place would be too good to be true." Jack was at his side, glaring at the certain sealing of their fate. Of all the planets they had passed through, only one had offered up the hidden addresses with ease. "How the hell are we going to find the next address in all of this?"
"Jack, I've got it." Daniel's disbelief sounded in their ears. "The-the address and the password, they're carved into the side of the DHD."
"Say again?" This day was just full of surprises.
"I have the address and password for the next planet," Daniel said, slowly and patiently.
Jack stared in bewilderment at Teal'c, noting the slight sheen of sweat on his brow. "Why would they leave it out in the open like that?"
"Perhaps the test of this planet is whether or not to let the temptation of all that is here sway us into staying and thus fail to complete the Trial."
"Colonel O'Neill!" Hammond's voice brought them back into the pavilion.
"Sir. Sorry, sir. We've only got, oh, twelve minutes left before we have to bug out, sir."
"You won't have to, Jack," Jacob spoke up. "The coordinates of the planet you're now on were the only ones the Tok'ra operative included in her briefing notes. We dispatched Martouf and a team in a Tel'tak three days ago. They should be with you soon and we'll have you all home in no time. "
"Marty's on the way? Sweet."
Teal'c stepped closer behind Jack and addressed the hovering ball. "We are unable to leave any of the Trial planets by ship, General Carter. We have all been implanted with nanocytes that will result in certain death should we stray too far from the Stargate."
"Yeah. Certain, painful, very messy, very melty death," Jack shuddered at the memory.
"We've got that covered, Colonel, " Hammond said. "Our labs have been working on a counter-agent to the nanocytes, based in fact, on your experiences on Argos. "
"Oy. I mean, that's good news sir."
"You'll be able to ship out with Martouf and be home in time for Groundhog Day. "
"Not that I would ever doubt a scientist's word but are they sure, sir? We've seen what these things can do, kinda like what happened when they opened the Ark in Raiders."
Hammond grimaced but shook his head determinedly. "We'll get those things out of you. You don't need to complete the Trial, Colonel. "
Daniel and Carter skidded into the pavilion in time to hear the general's last sentence. Jack flashed his team a big smile.
"Looks like we're going home, kids."
He turned back to Hammond's beaming face. "And you can get these Books of the Grateful Dead out of Teal'c, right? It's put a real damper on Junior and I'm starting to miss the little guy.,,
"I'm sorry, Colonel. The Books of what?" Hammond frowned at them and Jacob leaned in close to the viewer.
"The Books of Djehuti," Jack said very clearly. "They're implanted in Teal'c, neutralized most of the good stuff from Junior." He really didn't like the way Jacob and the general exchanged glances.
"I'm on it, Jack. Give me two. " Jacob disappeared from their view. In the background of the communications center a chatter of voices and commands could be heard.
"Don't worry, son, " Hammond said to Teal' c. "We'll get you fixed up. "
"I would be most appreciative, General Hammond. I believe the side-effects may become quite disturbing."
Behind Hammond, Ferretti leaned into view and handed the general a note. He sent the missing team a wink and a grin before stepping out of view.
"Good news, Colonel. Martouf and his crew have your planet in sight. They'll be with you shortly. "
"Always happy to see the Tok'ra, sir." Jack sighed inwardly, feeling some of the burden of the last few days begin to slide away. He glanced at his team. Teal'c was still managing to look invincible despite the dirt and lines of strain around his eyes. Carter had her head down, hiding a smile that had appeared at the mention of Martouf. She stood at parade rest, easy yet ready to go. Daniel, a step behind Carter, seemed a little out of breath from the run to the Stargate, but his eyes were bright and he was busily searching the equipment banks around them on his never-ending quest for more information.
Jack often felt proud of his oddball team, but sometimes, like this very moment, they gave him a real warm fuzzy feeling. Not that he'd ever tell them that....
"Uh, George? We may have a problem here. " Jacob returned, face now grim with bad news. "We're reviewing Linbal's debriefing records but she does clearly state that the Books of Djehuti can only be removed when the bearer has reached the Barque of Heaven. The bearer gets to choose one element of the Books that will become his own, then all others are removed and he is restored to health. Any attempt to prematurely remove them will, well, you wouldn't survive it, Teal'c. I'm sorry. "
Jack lowered his head so his glare didn't melt the viewer. That burden slid right on back to its old place once more.
"Then I shall continue the Trial alone, General Carter, General Hammond."
"Like hell!" Jack snapped.
"What? No!" Carter joined in, anguish in her voice where there had been happiness only moments ago.
"Teal'c, you can't go on without us," Daniel moved over to the Jaffa's side; his voice soft, persuasive. "What if you get too ill to dial out in time? You'll be stranded somewhere we'll never be able to find you."
"Perhaps, but I will find great comfort in knowing my teammates shall be safe."
Jack exchanged a look with Hammond, who gave him a faint nod. This was a field decision and he had the right to sort it out. "Okay. Carter, Daniel-"
"Jack, don't. Don't say what you're about to say," Daniel cut him off. He moved around Teal'c to stand directly in front of Jack. "Just, hear me out. What if Teal'c gets too ill to move on his own? You can't carry him yourself. You need us."
"Daniel ....
"Sir, with due respect, Daniel is right. What if you get hurt too?"
"Or you need to translate a dialect that Teal'c doesn't know?"
"Or solve some kind of scientific puzzle that's out of your field of expertise?"
"Safety in numbers, Jack."
"We've come this far together, sir."
"Don't break up the team, Jack." Daniel stared intently at Jack.
Jack glanced at Teal'c, saw his feelings mirrored in the big guy's face. He opened his mouth only to have Daniel cut him off once more.
"Besides, I'm not staying behind." Daniel planted his legs and folded his arms across his chest, stubbornness radiating from every pore.
There was a moment of strained silence as Jack scowled at Daniel's defiant face. Jack turned to Carter, standing there as straight and still as a cadet. His eyes raked her from top to toe, her reluctance to stay behind clear. Time to rein this in. Daniel he would take argument from; hell, half the time he expected Daniel to take exception to his orders, but he knew Carter would follow an order and at least they would be safe. On the other hand, a team at half-strength was vulnerable-and secretly he'd always believed that the four of them together could handle anything the universe could throw at them. He didn't want to leave them behind any more than they wanted to stay.
He opened his mouth, but got no further as Daniel, naturally, interrupted, his voice soft yet steely with intent.
"Jack, Teal'c. We know you want us out of this, as much as Sam and I want you both safe. But how would we feel if you don't come back and we find out that something we could have done might have saved you? Even an extra pair of hands could make all the difference." Daniel gazed at Jack, a force of will behind those eyes. "Don't do that to us. Please."
"Damn it, Daniel. This is not a democracy."
"N
o, it's not Jack. It's a team. Don't break it up."
Daniel's watch beeped in the tense silence. "Five minutes until lock out."
"Alright! If you'd let a guy get a word in edgewise. We go on and we stay together." He spun away from their relieved faces and looked up at the tele-ball.
"Generals, it looks like we're going on. Pass on our thanks to the personnel. We'll meet you on the other side."
"Understood, Colonel. We'll keep tracking your dial-ins and try to find the location of this Barque of Heaven. "
"Yes, sir. We'll do four dial-ins each planet-one for each of us."
"Take care, SG-1. We'll see you all soon. " Hammond's face clearly showed his regret that the anticipated rescue was now a lost cause.
Jack stepped back, snapped off a salute and ushered his team toward the door. Teal'c bowed his head to both generals and headed out of the pavilion. Daniel gave them a nod and half a wave then turned away. Carter took a step toward the viewer.
"I'm sorry sir, we'd stay if we could. Dad, I...."
It's okay, Sam. Go. Be safe." Jacob's wavering image smiled down from the ball.
She tore herself away and ran out of the pavilion, Jack hard on her heels. Without another word they turned and sprinted for the Stargate.
The run back to the Stargate seemed to take forever. Jack pounded along behind Daniel, anger churning over the missed chance of rescue. Damn the Goa'uld-even when they weren't in sight they were still messing with his team.
"Two minutes," Daniel gasped out, focusing on his watch with difficulty.
Teal'c, in the lead, dodged through the stacks of crates, the others following at breakneck speed. They skidded around sharp corners and pelted down the wider aisles, until, with surprising suddenness the Stargate stood before them.
Daniel aimed for the DHD and slid to an abrupt halt that left him half bent over the console. Notebook open in his left hand, his right hand began to slap down the glyphs before he had even straightened. He mashed down the red crystal and shouted, "Ankh em Fentu. "
"Go, Teal'c, go!" Jack grabbed Daniel's arm and tugged him into the wormhole, bellowing over their shoulders for Carter to get through.
Sam was a scant two feet behind Daniel and the colonel. As their boots were swallowed in the rippling blue, she heard a thunderous sound from the sky overhead. A supersonic boom-the kind made by a ship entering planetary atmosphere. A brief glance up showed an artificial orange light sweep over the sky.