True to Form

by Jb

This time. It would work this time.

Feeling his fingernails dig into his palm, Jack forced himself to relax his fist. There'd been quite enough blood and pain on this trip as it was. An unbidden, unwelcome image of his ill teammate, battered and suffering, filled his mind and he roughly pushed it away. That part was over. Done with. Can't change it. Ignore it.

The next chevron on the Stargate lit and he found himself holding his breath as the following one was input. Only to let it out in a huge puff of exasperation as the previous chevrons winked out of existence. Again.

There was no doubt they would find the correct address. It was simply a matter of elimination, after all. He just wished it would happen sooner rather than later. Hell, it already was later. While Jack himself was pretty much past caring, it was actually out of respect for Daniel that he was still standing here, doing this. Bitterness provoked a sharp twinge in his jaw. After all Daniel had done and struggled through, that he couldn't be here, couldn't be a part of finding the solution, was considerably worse than intolerable. The sudden frustration was like a gut-punch, painfully seizing his insides in its wake.

Three chevrons lit, then a fourth. Everything shut down yet again. This really sucked. It was every bit as bad as trying to figure out the correct dialing sequence for his long distance telephone company... which, now that he thought about it that way, meant they were doomed.

part one, of nine

Jack rapped softly on the door and upon hearing the gruff response from inside, entered General Hammond's office. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Yes, Colonel." Hammond waved Jack into the chair opposite his own. "It's been ten days. How's your team doing?"

Jack looked thoughtfully at his C.O. "Are you asking if SG-1 is ready to go back into the field, Sir?" He hoped that was not the real question, because he wasn't altogether sure of the answer just yet.

It was just ten days ago that the Stargate project had been fully reinstated after SG-1 had managed to destroy the Goa'uld attack ships of Apophis and Klorel as they orbited the Earth. SG-1 had been on stand down from field duties since that time. Dr. Fraiser had been adamant that they take a break, citing the possibility of latent post-traumatic stress.

At first, everyone had protested that they were just fine - everyone except Daniel; he had been uncharacteristically silent - but it had only taken a few days of disturbed sleep, waking nervousness, and difficulties with concentration for them to realize physical health was not the only focus here. As ironic as it seemed, while the rest of the SGC rejoiced and the people of Earth went innocently about their usual business, for SG-1 the aftermath of saving their planet was not as pleasant as one would have thought.

While they waited for the emotional repercussions of their experience to abate they concentrated on other duties. Jack and Teal'c were overseeing the establishment of a new physical fitness and survival training program. Carter had a brainstorm about increasing the efficiency of deciphering the Abydos cartouche and was busily rewriting the SGC's unofficial 'computerese handbook to the stars', and Daniel had buried himself in the fascination that was language.

Jack smiled to himself at the memory of this morning's visit with Daniel in the young archaeologist's office... at Daniel's futile effort to catch several weighty volumes of reference material as they inexorably slid off the huge pile on his desk. He was reviewing a variety of Earth and alien contemporary and archaic languages. "Use it or lose it," he had quipped to Jack.

General Hammond interrupted Jack's reverie. "Yes, I guess I am asking just that, Colonel. We may have a slight problem, and I think you should handle it."

"A problem, Sir?"

"A personnel problem. It's SG-7. I'd like SG-1 to accompany them on their next mission."

Jack was surprised. SG-7 - the new SG-7 which had been put together to replace those lost on Hanka to the Goa'uld plague which had brought Cassandra to them - had been together for a number of months now. They had functioned well under the previous initial tutelage of SG-1 and more recently SG-3, had successfully managed a number of routine missions to previously visited planets, and of late been granted the right to undertake short-duration recon missions to carefully selected unsurveyed planets.

Hammond continued. "They've been on two initial-recon missions so far. On return from both, the behavior of the team members during the debriefings was not what I expect. It was... abnormal."

"Sir? You mean you expect normal behavior?" Jack looked facetiously at his superior officer. "So that's why you always seem upset at SG-1's debriefings."

Hammond gave him a look that clearly indicated this was nothing to joke about. "There is considerable interest from above in the functioning of that team, Colonel. In particular, it's been made clear to me the team leader is thought of as someone of special merit. However, I find their interaction unsettling. I suspect there's a problem. I don't know exactly what it is, and I want you to find out. They are scheduled to go to P6V221 tomorrow morning. I'd like SG-1 to go with them, observe them. The MALP has been sent and the preliminary briefing is at 1600 hours today."

Someone of special merit? That jerk? "Have you seen the MALP tape yet, Sir? No sign of the planet being inhabited?" Jack shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Yes, of course I've seen it, or I wouldn't be sending them there, Colonel. The MALP tape indicates this is a good selection for a new team. The view of the area surrounding the Stargate is unimpeded, there are no visible signs of life and no evidence of radio transmissions, electro-magnetic traces, or industrial pollutants in the air." Hammond gave him an assessing look. "Exactly what is it concerns you about this assignment?"

Jack didn't know what to say. While on the whole the members of SG-1 seemed to be working their way back to normal, there was a slight undercurrent of strain in their interaction with one another. Daniel had put it very succinctly just the evening before, saying while it was fantastic they were all together safe and sound, if he had to look any one of them in they eye just one more time that day, his guilt was going to eat him alive.

SG-1 had shared many things over the last year - experiences, pain, friendship; now they had something else in common. Guilt. Carter felt guilty about not having questioned the decision to leave Daniel behind in the corridor on Klorel's ship, at having automatically assumed that he had been killed outright. While Teal'c had nothing to say on the subject, they had all caught him staring at Daniel from time to time over the last ten days. According to Carter, Daniel had remarked to her he was certain the Jaffa must be disappointed in him; that Teal'c must think Daniel less than capable as, after all, he had pretty much gotten himself killed out in that corridor. Jack was certain he saw just the opposite in Teal'c's eyes as the Jaffa watched Daniel. But Teal'c wasn't telling anyone what was on his mind.

Then there was Daniel himself. As ridiculous as it sounded to Jack, Daniel felt guilty about returning to the SGC alone through the Stargate, assuming they were all dead. Daniel was angry with himself that he'd not thought of using the gate as a means of escape for them all, before the others had set off on their suicide mission to Apophis' ship.

Self-confidence was a funny thing. It seemed to Jack some of those people who openly displayed it sometimes didn't deserve to have any, and some of those who thought they had lost it - like Daniel - often still had more right to it than most other people ever had in the first place. As subjective as it was, though, for the premier SGC field team the state of each member's self-confidence - plus their individual perceptions of their team member's confidence in self and one other - was an important issue.

"Sir, I think Teal'c and Carter should be fit to go back to field duty. I'm just not too sure about..."

"Dr. Jackson?" Hammond suggested. "Well, there's really no need for him to go with you if you don't feel he's ready."

Jack winced at the thought of telling Daniel his team would be going on their first mission back without him. He knew, though, that wasn't the only reason he felt uneasy. Jack had some reservations about his own confusing inability to put the recent unpleasant memories aside. He carried his own burden of guilt in relation to all that had happened over the previous couple of weeks - a result of both his open sarcasm at Daniel's desperate attempts to get them to believe in his alternate reality experience, and of the searing image of his friend as Daniel lay dying, burn marks and agony on his face, his chest and shoulder a ragged, bloody, still smoking mess...

"Colonel O'Neill?" Jack was jerked back to the present by General Hammond's sharp tone. "Are you with me here?"

Jack banished the errant image from his mind. He was all right; he was just fine. And maybe, if Daniel wasn't to go on this mission - Yes, that was the answer. He needed a first mission without Daniel, without having to worry about the kid, about his safety. "I'm fine, Sir. I think it would be wise for Daniel to stay behind on this one. It's a bit too soon for him." Jack paused. "I'm just not looking forward to telling him, that's all."

"That's all right, Colonel. I'll take that responsibility. Please go and inform the rest of your team. I'll expect the three of you here at 1600 hours for the briefing."

Heading up the ramp, Jack turned to look up at the control room. At Daniel. He knew Daniel had been upset to find out that while the rest of SG-1 had been reactivated, he himself was still on stand down. Jack had seen the hurt feelings, the embarrassment at being singled out, in Daniel's eyes as they had crossed paths the evening before. This morning, though, was a different story. This morning the only thing Jack saw in Daniel's eyes was evidence of a lack of sleep.

"Nightmare." The terse explanation and resigned shrug of Daniel's shoulders had been followed by a small smile, and an admonishment to not be too hard on SG-7. Jack knew then that Daniel was okay with this.

He saw Daniel watching from the room above. The placid expression on his friend's face was reassuring. That was more than he could say about the faces around him on the ramp. They were anything but reassuring. Hammond's instincts were on target; there was something not quite right with this team. Jack turned his gaze back to the ramp and gave the four marines of SG-7 the once over. Major Panter, the team-special-merit-total-jerk-leader, bristled with battle-ready efficiency while Rykert, who Daniel had trained to read the DHD, fidgeted and fussed with his equipment. Paulson and Tyrrell, the remaining two team members, stood stock still in unnatural poses which virtually screamed 'I am determined to be thoroughly and professionally Marine with a capital M'.

All four men waited silently, apparently impatient for O'Neill to give them the go ahead. Officially, Jack O'Neill was in charge on this trip. It was not lost on him that originally this was Panter's mission, and he didn't doubt for a moment that the control-conscious soldier might have some problems with the abrupt change in plans.

Jack's eyes met those of Panter, who returned his gaze coolly. "Whenever you say, Colonel."

Jack indicated to Teal'c and Carter to proceed, waved the SG-7 team ahead to follow them, and with himself tailing the crowd took one last look behind him at the control room window before entering the Stargate.

P6V221 was cold and damp. And rocky. The ground sloped sharply upward to form high cliffs on all sides of the small valley where the Stargate sat. The footing was solid; packed dirt, dotted with stones ranging from the size of one's fist all the way up to large boulders of three feet in diameter. Stunted, heavily leafed trees gathered in irregularly spaced groves on the low plain, and sparse low vegetation grew on the sides of the up-slopes.

Jack noted with satisfaction that both his and the SG-7 team had fanned out upon their arrival and were already surveying the area in an organized fashion. Teal'c and Carter paralleled Paulson and Tyrrell as they moved outward from the dais, Panter scouted the edge of the forested area behind the Stargate, and Rykert brushed shoulders with the thick clump of trees which hung a network of long, spindly, leafy branches over the DHD. Seeing all was under control, Jack sauntered toward Rykert.

"Uh, Sir?" Rykert looked up at O'Neill with a worried frown on his face.

Jack picked up his pace. He raised his eyebrows at the man. "Rykert."

Rykert glanced uncertainly at him and then his eyes shifted off to the left, looking well past him. Jack could feel Panter's gaze settle on them from behind him. Jack didn't like Panter very much, hadn't right from the get go, months before. The man was humorless and intense, very abrupt. Underneath the clearly disconcerted look on Rykert's face, Jack thought he saw something else - something more ominous - flicker in the young marine's eyes. Pleasantly, Jack spoke to the nervous soldier, diverting his attention away from Panter. "I'm in charge this time around, Rykert. What's up?"

"Sir. The DHD, Sir." Rykert indicated the device with a wave of one hand.

"Yeesss... glad to see Dr. Jackson taught you so well, Rykert."

The flippant response obviously startled Rykert; he looked at Jack in what could only be confusion. Jack raised an eyebrow and after a moment Rykert seemed to come to the realization that more was expected from him. He still hesitated, however. Jack wondered if perhaps Major Panter was the sort that didn't allow those under him to speak more than two words at a time without specific permission.

The young man stuttered slightly, his face reddening. "S-s..Sir. It's d-different, Sir." He indicated the carved glyphs on the face of the device. "The panels... I don't recognize any of these symbols."

Jack watched Rykert fidget in front of him. Fear. It was fear he'd seen in the man's eyes. Alarmed, he circled quickly around the waist-high boulder which stood between him and Rykert, and moved to the DHD. As he took in the its appearance, his heart missed more than just a few beats. Oh, shit. It was different; the glyphs bore no resemblance to the symbols he was used to seeing.

Oh shit, indeed. Jack stared in turn at the DHD and Rykert, amazement and concern fighting for precedence. "Jackson!" He automatically called Daniel's name aloud before catching himself. Of course, dummy, the young archaeologist-linguist was not with them on this mission. Oh, Double-Shit.

"Teal'c! Carter!" His two team members turned abruptly and started back toward himself and Rykert. Jack ran his hand over one of the symbols. The surface felt different. He tried to locate the glyphs for Earth, but they simply weren't there.

"Sir?" It was Carter, with Teal'c, both of them now beside him. Wordlessly, he indicated the DHD.

"Holy hannah! Teal'c, look... the glyphs are all new ones..."

Teal'c examined the bas relief panels of the device for an intense moment. "No, Captain Carter. I believe they may be the usual ones." He looked at Jack. "The symbols appear to have been altered, O'Neill. It will take some time to decipher them."

Rykert started as if he had never heard the Jaffa speak before. Jack suspected Teal'c didn't much like Panter either; the Jaffa hadn't especially been talkative on the few training runs they'd had with SG-7. It occurred to Jack if that were the case, Teal'c's thick low timbre and even inflection probably would make the words Teal'c had just spoken all the more threatening for the already spooked young man.

"Altered?" Clearly confused, Rykert deferred to SG-1 by taking a few steps backward, only to be hauled up front again by Jack's hand on his vest.

"No... no, no, no. Don't go wandering off. Don't tell me Jackson taught you that, too? You're the cable guy here, Rykert." Releasing his hold on the vest, Jack stabbed a finger at the ground at Rykert's feet. "Stay." He turned and headed back to the Stargate dais, calling over Panter and the other two members of SG-7.

It was a full twenty minutes before Carter made her way over to O'Neill and the others. She, Teal'c, and Rykert had carefully examined every glyph and she did not have good news. Rykert hadn't the knowledge to be very helpful. He understood only the usual rudiments of the system, such as how to locate the point of origin and how to reset in case of a misdial. Although she and Teal'c were capable of considerably more, Sam knew they were far out of their league with this particular problem.

"Colonel, I think Teal'c has to be right. The original glyphs must still be there somewhere, but they've been altered. The relief on both the DHD and the Stargate ring have been carefully, elaborately actually, added to. It's amazing really, Sir... it must have been done by a fairly advanced society; I mean, to have the naquada and the tools to form it and add to the existing symbols on the panels so seamlessly - We tried a few of them and the entire glyph lights up when it's pushed so that means they would have needed to..."

"Captain." O'Neill's tone held a gentle warning. Belatedly, she realized she was going off on what the Colonel sometimes referred to as a Carter-Tangent.

"Oh, right, sorry, Sir. Well, the changes are probably purposeful, probably to do with some cultural preference." Sam shrugged. "Probably."

"So, Captain? Probably, how long will it take to probably figure them out? Probably?"

Sam ignored the sarcasm. "Teal'c is trying, Sir, but the glyphs are so altered as to appear totally different and given the amazing job they did forming and joining the naquada, the only indication we have that they're altered and not actually completely different in the first place..." she had to stop for breath "...well, Teal'c noticed the edges and surface of some glyphs feel different in different areas. There's some roughness in some areas while other spots are much smoother. So, we think the smooth areas might be the original symbols, and the rough areas are some of the additions. But then again, given the age of the Stargates and DHD's, Sir, and the fact that the alterations are obviously newer, it's entirely possible it's actually the other way around. Comparatively speaking, it..."

"Carter." The warning was not quite so gentle this time.

"Oh. Yes, Sir. They've been redesigned... added to, Sir. All of them. And we really don't know how to discern the original symbols from in amongst the additions."

The sound of the DHD and the Stargate interrupted them. They turned to see Teal'c pushing on the glyphs, the inner wheel on the 'gate responding. The first chevron lit, then the second and a third, but as Teal'c pressed a fourth glyph there was a low whine and all three chevrons blanked out.

Teal'c and Rykert joined the others. "O'Neill. I tried Earth's address using the usual placement of the Tau'ri symbols on the DHD. The locations do not correspond to what we have seen on many other planets."

Sam interrupted him. "Well, Teal'c, they aren't always in exactly the same place."

"Yes, Captain Carter. Regardless, I wished to attempt it. O'Neill, the alterations are extensive. I do not believe we can decipher these symbols."

"Ah-Ah-Ah..." Jack raised one forefinger to in front of Teal'c's face, waggling his hand back and forth. "Wait... hang on a minute..."

Carter managed a half-hearted smile. "Sir. He's not Daniel."

Intended as a weak joke about the gesture used to selectively silence protests from Daniel, her comment bombed dismally. SG-7 had no reference for it, and for the rest of them all it served to do was to bring home the gravity of their situation. It looked to Sam as though O'Neill wasn't altogether sure if it was a good or a bad thing that the nose he was sticking his finger under wasn't that of the young linguist.

He tried again. "No, wait. Carter, didn't you just say you could tell where the glyphs were added to by the feel of the surface? Sooo, just do the touchy-feely thing and dial us out of here."

Sam glanced at Teal'c, hoping he'd deliver the bad news himself. Predictably, all she got was an impassive look. "Uh, no, that won't work. They did a really great job, Sir. The rough areas only form about, oh, not even ten percent, in total, of the markings... it's pretty much impossible to figure it out that way."

Rykert was ashen, and Panter was livid. Seeing the two of them standing side by side, one white with anxiety and the other black with anger, Sam started to get a very good feel for what was wrong with this team. She glanced at the other two members of SG-7. They stood alongside Teal'c, both of them looking as if they wanted to disappear. O'Neill's hard look caught her eye. It was clear his interpretation of their behavior was similar to her own. Fear. And not entirely due to the problem with the DHD. As he turned his back on them to face her and Teal'c, it was equally clear to her that he'd decided the interpersonal problems amongst SG-7 no longer had any sort of priority.

"Open for suggestions here, folks."

"Well, we're due to report in just under four hours, Sir. General Hammond will probably open the 'gate from the other end for communications or a look around with the MALP, when we're late."

Panter made a derisive noise and cast a withering look in Rykert's direction. Rykert winced, while Paulson and Tyrrell shifted imperceptibly.

Teal'c directed a stern glance at Panter. "Captain Carter is correct. General Hammond will try to establish contact. In the meantime, we should attend to the question of why the symbols may have been altered. That may provide information as to how to decipher them."

Carter agreed. "Yes. There has to be a reason for this. If Daniel were here..." Her voice slowed to a halt at the grim expression on O'Neill's face.

"Well, Captain, Daniel isn't here, and he's not going to be here either. So, we'll just have to use our own brains and solve this ourselves, right?"

Carter nodded. "Of course, Sir. I just meant, maybe he'd recognize some of the symbols. Maybe we should videotape the DHD to transmit through the tape uplink in the MALP, for when they open the Stargate from their end?"

Teal'c added to his earlier suggestion. "Perhaps the changes were made according to some local cultural or language laws? We should start a search for any indigenous peoples..."

An excited voice interrupted him. "Or, any samples of a local language which might provide a base for figuring out the symbols!" Rykert's face was intense, his eyes narrowed in consideration of the problem. Carter allowed herself a small smile; he sounded so much like Daniel.

"Rykert!" Paulson's voice was sharp and loud, drawing his man almost to full formal attention stance.

O'Neill held the Major off with an upraised hand. "No. It's a good idea. Okay. Panter, you take Teal'c and Paulson and start a search off that-a-way..." O'Neill indicated the area to his left, the valley floor in front of the Stargate. "Carter, Tyrrell, Rykert... you're with me, up there." O'Neill pointed to the rising hills to their right.

"Rendezvous back here in three hours. We'll tape the DHD when we get back. We're looking for signs of habitation or anything that might be a written language. But if you do run across something that even remotely might walk and talk, no contact at this point, understand? Recon only." Sam acknowledged the Colonel with a sharp nod, and collected up Rykert and Tyrrell with a small wave of her hand. Panter glowered, but was silent.

"Okay. Let's head out. Back in three, people. Don't be late."

This was taking forever. Jack grumbled and unfolded himself from his uncomfortable crouch on the ledge of the escarpment. He moved several steps toward the edge to survey the scenery - the valley floor far below and the opposite rock face which rose even higher and more sharply than the one they had explored. He paced back and forth along the edge of the drop. Behind him, Carter was painstakingly videotaping the profuse amount of hen scratching which she and Rykert earlier had proudly declared to be an indigenous written language. They had found the multitude of tiny interlocking lines carved into the face of a vast stone buttress which formed the outer perimeter of an ancient, crumbling village hewn out of the rock face of the cliff wall itself.

An indeterminable amount of time ago the cliff wall had been laboriously and extensively excavated, the vast network of dwellings thereby created extending deep into the mountain. The perimeter wall stretched for miles into the distance. It was an impressive sight, and as he, Carter, Rykert, and Tyrrell had cursorily explored it, Jack had thought of Daniel. He'd found himself actually missing the chatter of discovery typical of the young archaeologist.

Teal'c paused from his examination of the carvings. "O'Neill, there are many areas where the outer path is eroding. You must step very carefully." Teal'c was quite right to be concerned about this restless behavior. Feeling the shifting of loosened dirt under his feet, Jack stopped his pacing and moved back from the edge.

"How much more of that do you need to film, Carter?"

"I don't really know, Sir. I'm just going where Teal'c tells me. Teal'c?"

The Jaffa straightened up from his close inspection of a portion of the wall. He had been surveying the carvings, locating the best preserved sections for Carter who followed along with the camcorder. "There appear to be a great number of individual symbols. I do not know the process Daniel Jackson uses to decipher a language. I expect if there are symbols missing, that process is made more difficult."

"Yeah, yeah." Jack waved an arm at him. "A long-long-long time. Why didn't you just say so." He moved into the safety of one of several slight alcoves which indented the buttress at regular intervals, and sat down on the rocky ground. "Just wake me up when you're done."

Closing his eyes, Jack reviewed the events of the last few hours. After leaving the Stargate, he and his charges had hiked up a long, curving, and very steep incline which had soon turned into a narrow path skirting what was to become the face of a cliff wall. Having nowhere else to go, as the valley where the Stargate was located was surrounded on all sides by identically steep hills, they carried on.

Following the path as it rose and twisted ever more off to their right, they'd soon found themselves balanced on a narrow ledge which hovered over a precipitous drop of several hundred feet to the treed valley floor their left. Jack had tailed the group as they slowly maneuvered in single file along the ledge. He'd let his hand trail lightly along the wall to his right, in what he knew to be a completely ridiculous reliance that the light contact would ensure safety from a deadly fall. Then the ledge had widened somewhat, the steep climb abruptly leveling off. Around the next sharp bend was the amazing excavation, with writings both painted onto and carved into the outer perimeter wall alongside the ledge, and on the walls of the long cavern which led to the rest of the village.

He had ordered that they set out to return to the Stargate, so as not to be late and totally screw up what little authority he had over Panter. Of course, the reason he gave to the others for their quick departure was so they could all meet as a group and determine how to proceed.

The fact was he had already decided how to proceed. SG-7 was to be left safely camped out at the Stargate to report their find and transmit the DHD images when the SGC - hopefully - would dial them up to investigate why they had not reported in on time. He, Carter, and Teal'c would return to the cliff site and videotape the writings. The recording could later be loaded into the playback on the MALP and the images transmitted to the SGC for analysis.

Upon their rendezvous with the others back at the Stargate, it was pretty clear Panter wasn't pleased about that plan of action. Why the man had been so belligerent was another story... a mystery Jack wasn't willing to spend a lot of time on just then. With growing restlessness he recalled the argument he and Panter had over Jackson. They had been close to coming to blows over that issue, and it was a welcome relief to all when SG-1 had set out to return to the cliff village. But that was hours and hours ago, and now Jack felt an inexplicable need to be finished here, to once again get back to the Stargate.

Not that getting back to the Stargate would do them any good if Hammond hadn't dialed through, if they couldn't get any information to Daniel. Jack's interaction with Panter replayed in his mind. The combination of Panter's insistence on having direct access to Daniel and his paradoxically derogatory comments about the young man was completely nonsensical, not to mention infuriating. Panter was probably emotionally unstable. If through some unimaginable miracle they ever returned home, Jack resolved to himself that he would ensure the man was relieved of his position.

Tyrrell glanced nervously at his C.O. as Panter walked further out from the immediate area of the Stargate. Rykert hissed at him and Paulson, and the three men moved carefully toward one another.

"What do you think he's playing at? Is this a power thing, or what?" Rykert was beside himself, nerves stretched close to the breaking point.

"Look, take it easy. Don't go off the deep end here, okay? Maybe O'Neill told him to do it and we just don't know it..."

Paulson slashed a hand through the air angrily. "Shit, Ty. You know that didn't happen. Panter's just... Christ, he's gotta be nuts, doing that." His tone became aggressively defensive. "It doesn't matter anyway. Whatever, it's not our doing. It doesn't affect us."

Rykert stared at Paulson. "What? What do you mean, not our doing? Doesn't affect us? We answer to Panter. You think he's not gonna take us down with him, or, what... that maybe we can tell O'Neill the truth and Panter will let us get away with it? No way."

Paulson positively spat his next words at his team mates. "Shit. It doesn't matter! We'll never get back home anyway, no matter if Panter gets what he wants or not. So who cares?" Rykert saw intense fear underneath the anger in Paulson's eyes.

The sound of the Stargate startled them. They turned to watch as the chevrons lit one by one and the incoming wormhole was established. Panter, hearing the 'gate activate, headed their way. Watching his C.O. stride toward the Stargate, Rykert felt a strong sense of foreboding; Paulson was wrong, he was so wrong. Regardless of what the SGC decided to do, what Panter had done did affect them, it affected all of them.

Stepping back to stand slightly behind his teammates, he prayed that the opening of the Stargate would bring only voices. At least then they'd know for certain where they stood, and the risk from Panter would be no different than it had always been.

Jack's thoughts were interrupted by Carter. "Colonel, I think we're about done here." She sat down next to him, frowning at the camcorder she held. "I just don't know if the transmission quality will be good enough for Daniel to actually see anything worthwhile."

Jack didn't respond, didn't even open his eyes. What was there to say? Their situation was grim; his plan of action was a long shot, and they all knew it.

Carter sighed and slapped her hand against the ground. "Well at least Daniel is still safe at home. Darn! If only there was some way..."

Jack's eyes snapped open as the image of a quick flash of bright light illuminating burnt and bloody flesh exploded in his mind. "No!" He sat up with a jerk. Teal'c, his attention drawn by the outburst, moved over to their position. "No. Not a chance, you hear me, Carter?"

His harsh tone caught Carter off guard. Looking stung, she quickly blurted a denial of her own. "No, no... I meant, I didn't mean I wanted him here, Sir. I was just trying to say that I wished we could get clearer images to him..."

"Well, I do want him here, Carter. But it's not going to happen, you got that?" Jack climbed to his feet. He looked at Carter and Teal'c, at their silent acknowledgment it was out of the question - that they would not for one moment seriously wish to place Daniel in the same position they were in - and simply nodded, not trusting his voice right then. The memories were still fresh; the personal horror which came with the realization of what he had done, and of what Daniel had suffered because of it, still all too real. He should have realized the Jaffa would enter the corridor behind them in force - that in fact, in leaving Daniel to 'watch their backs', he was placing him in the most dangerous position of all.

To make matters worse he had left Daniel to die alone, had left him still conscious, laying out in the corridor in what had to be excruciating pain. Nevertheless, somehow his friend had managed to drag himself into the sarcophagus. To Jack's guilt-ridden mind the very fact that Daniel, alone and suffering, had the time to ensure his survival and escape was irrefutable evidence that Jack had made the wrong decision in not even trying to find some way to help him.

Well, that sort of misjudgment just wasn't going to happen again. Jack was determined. Their chances of getting off this godforsaken rock were pretty tenuous whether Daniel was with them or not. Jack was clear on that; there was no way he'd place Daniel, or any of them for that matter, unnecessarily at risk again.

He turned to his teammates. "Look, let's just do the best we can with what we have, okay? If that doesn't work, we'll figure out something else."

Go on to part two

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