All in the Cards

 

 

By Travelling One

 

 

 

Email: travelling_one@yahoo.ca

website: http://www.travellingone.com/

Season: 7

Summary: The past comes back to haunt SG-1, as the team is forced to pay a heavy price for prior events.

 

December/06

 

---

 

A city appearing large and welcoming on their control room screens, filled with the promise of advanced technology and possible allies, could certainly change a lot in the span of sixteen minutes. It was all in one's perspective; hopeful researchers with hot mugs of freshly brewed coffee warm in their fingers, snug and secure in the comfort of familiar surroundings, were quite a bit more likely to see things from the optimistic point of view. Those faces and hands urging them to come forward - even in the absence of a mutual language - had been alluring and irresistible, and the scent of success, albeit several thousand light years distant, was only a step and seven seconds away. To Daniel, at least.

 

Jack had just liked the billboards in the background.

 

But now, having stepped through the gate, doubts were finding their way into at least five, if not six, of their senses. Different faces had replaced the ones staring into the MALP camera, yet not so different, really. It was just that the beckoners were now holding their palms out in hopeful desire instead of welcome. Hands, hats, shoes.

 

"I…I'm sorry," Daniel stuttered in English, to a weathered old face peering questioningly into his own, while observing more closely the man's torn clothing and unkempt appearance. "We don't have any money." Maybe an energy bar would have sufficed, but one glance around the neglected park surrounding the stargate told him they hadn't brought enough to go around.

 

Or rather, the park wasn't neglected at all; it was filled with downtrodden living beings making the most of its dried flower beds and pedestals.

 

The dishevelled man didn't go away, though. Hanging onto the newcomers' shadows, he trailed them to the MALP, where four other similarly attired locals were still smiling and waving into the camera. But the wormhole had shut down minutes ago.

 

Yeah, Hammond's thinking 'what a friendly bunch', Jack figured. "Why didn't we see all this via the MALP?" he asked in a huff.

 

"I think we did, Jack. We just misinterpreted their - "

 

"Glee?" Jack finished. "They just wanted us to bring them something."

 

"Daniel?" Sam had stopped beyond the stargate, situated as it was in the center of the park, embedded in concrete and tile. It looked out of place in the dilapidated square, all big and shiny. The MALP had come to rest nearby. "What do you make of all this?"

 

At first glance it looked as though trash had been strewed about the vicinity of the MALP and the gate; bits of leaves and flowers, clover, seeds and some plump green berries, all lying in small piles like refuse.

 

"This appears to be a dining area," Teal'c reasoned.

 

"N…nnno," Daniel said slowly. "Those might be offerings." With a bit of imagination.

 

"To the gate?" Jack queried skeptically.

 

"Or, um… gate gods? The way people leave offerings in temples on Earth."

 

"Great. Gate God Goa'ulds?" Jack mouthed the words a second time.

 

"I have no idea, Jack. But these people weren't afraid of us coming through."

 

"No, they were hoping we'd bring them money."

 

"They might be waiting for allies, Colonel. We have no idea of the history of this planet."

 

"Is it not possible that they are unaware of the purpose of the stargate, and believed the MALP itself to be a god as it emerged?"

 

Three odd looks were directed towards Teal'c.

 

"So, you're saying the offerings are for the MALP?" Daniel frowned.

 

"Well, that's just… weird." Jack squashed those visions down flat.

 

"I don't think so," Carter declared. "Some of it looks like it's been here too long."

 

"Yeah, well, anyway, we're about to send this god back home. Dial up, Daniel. We'll send the MALP through, and I'll report to Hammond." No real welcoming party, as they'd hoped, as Hammond had expected. No one who'd just take them to their leader - or be one - and offer up all sorts of automatic trade promises along with food, bed, and merriment. Right; the day anything became so easy would be the day Jack questioned his grip on reality. But still… there was much to see and discover here, potentially. This might either be a planet that could not feed all its people, or it might be one that just had pilgrimages to the gate every so often to await friends and allies. Appearances; never jump to conclusions, as they'd already learned in the past twenty minutes.

 

Jack looked from the ragged loungers on the sidewalks - a few children included - to the teammate who was standing in front of the DHD. Daniel was being shadowed, a few locals getting a little too curious for his liking. "Watch your backs, kids. And your packs." A few too many eyes were lingering on Daniel's belongings, his back turned, and a few too many mouths were potentially drooling, imagining the contents of such a stuffed backpack. Turkey… cranberry sauce…. Jack studiously observed to make sure no one got in the way of the opening wormhole, but there was no need for worry. These people did seem to know what the gate was for and what it could do, and kept just the right distance.

 

Still, multiple pairs of eyes observed in interest as the gate fired up, and as the MALP stumbled on past the onlookers and into the vortex Jack and his team were on high alert, watching that no one tried to run through. But no one seemed all that interested in where that machine was headed. Even the interaction between the colonel and the general didn't raise too many eyebrows. Then again, it could be no one was close enough to hear - or more likely, could not understand the language.

 

Duty taken care of, SG-1 stood in passive indecision. What to do now?

 

"This way."

 

"Do you have a plan, O'Neill?"

 

"Beyond getting out of this park? Nope."

 

With a dwindling trail of unkempt followers, SG-1 made their way past the drying bushes and flowers and out to the sidewalk, where more locals lingered and lounged, meager packs beside them, their palms out in hopeful quests. Across the street loomed rows of identical four-story buildings of what looked from this distance like carved marble or alabaster. The wide roadway itself was a chaos of wagons and other vehicles, little black boxes on wheels, small donkey-like animals, and cyclists - sixteen-wheeled contraptions with the same number of passengers, sitting side-by-side in rows of four, each helping with the pedalling.

 

"Well this is overwhelming. Which way now?" Jack focussed his attention on Daniel, although the question was posed to the whole team.

 

Daniel was at a loss. Questioning the populace would be in order, but he hadn't understood the few sentences he'd heard from the park's inhabitants. Back at the base, none of those three or four people smiling at the MALP had responded to his queries.

 

Standing on the street corner, hands reaching up to them from the beggars on the sidewalk, SG-1 realized how ill-prepared they were for a situation such as this.

 

A pair of arms grabbing and clinging to his knees, Daniel tried to shake himself free. "Uh - " his pleading eyes searched for help from his friends.

 

"That is enough!" Teal'c grabbed the hands that were enclosing Daniel's calves, pulling them apart and - more gently - shoving the vagrant to the sidewalk. The man gave Teal'c a disdainful look, but decided to keep his hands to himself. Other onlookers studied the team with suspicion in their eyes.

 

"Let's cross the street and see if we can find something… useful," Jack remarked gruffly, his face a stiff mask. He wasn't enjoying this, yet.

 

"Like a newspaper stand?" Daniel joked, trying to ease his friend's tension and lighten the mood. It didn't work.

 

"That would take coins, Daniel." Jack had no idea what to begin looking for, unless Daniel could suddenly start spouting a language that someone would understand. "And my pockets are empty."

 

The street was tight with buildings that had probably been aesthetically pleasing once; with carved stone decorating their exteriors, they all looked the same, save for weathering and grime. And graffiti.

 

"Anything ring a bell?" Jack had noticed Daniel scrutinizing the carvings as they passed.

 

"Just decorative, I think," Daniel shook his head.

 

Passersby stopped, holding out various items: jewellery made with beaded shells; something that looked like cigarettes; candies. But no one spoke in a language Daniel could understand. "It has traces of Latin, but not enough for me to decipher a complete sentence," he remarked with rueful frustration. A whole new world at their fingertips, and his skills were pretty well useless. What the hell was he doing here?

 

Beggars continued to grab at their feet.

 

"Keep trying," Jack began, the words intended to encourage and not to urge. His next thought was harshly interrupted.

 

"Oh!" The startled cry came from behind. Swinging around, the three men saw Carter flat on the ground, two street vendors kneeling at her side, shoving trading goods in front of her face.

 

"Leave her!" Teal'c bellowed, as both he and Jack rushed to help the major escape the overly-enthusiastic potential merchants.

 

The distraction worked well.

 

Daniel felt his pack being tugged from behind.

 

With a more forceful pull, Daniel's shoulders were yanked backwards and sideways; trying to swivel around, he was shoved into an open doorway. "Jack!" he managed to call out, before the door was shut behind him - or in front, whichever way one looked at it. He found himself struggling in a small passageway, a staircase being the only other way out - or up. Through the small window in the door he caught a glimpse of Jack surging forward, surprise and anger filling his eyes.

 

"You've just come from the homeworld?" The voice hissed in his ear.

 

"What?" Daniel heard the confusion in his own tone, as he watched Jack pulling at the door handle, banging and kicking to release its lock, the results futile. Mired in the sudden absurdity of his situation, Daniel was ill prepared to react. And the arm around his throat made movement somewhat less than possible.

 

"Give me twenty singles and I'll be letting you go."

 

"Twenty what?" Daniel grunted out.

 

"Singles! Money, my friend, money! You've arrived from the homeworld?"

 

The arm around his neck was too tight, and Daniel couldn't pull himself free. "I don't… don't know what you're talking about," he struggled with the words. Jack's face was momentarily replaced by Sam's, who then disappeared from view. Daniel heard scratching at the door handle.

 

"Pay me." The arm gripped more tightly.

 

"Let…" Go. Daniel couldn't break the grasp. Releasing one hand from the grip on his throat, he reached awkwardly around to his thigh, pulling his handgun free from the holster. Swinging it abruptly upwards, he aimed it behind him at the man's face. "Let me… go or I'll… have to shoot you," he gasped out, desperately hoping it wouldn't come to that, wondering if he was bluffing.

 

"That doesn't scare me." But the hold loosened, and Daniel felt a tug at his pack. "What's in here?"

 

Daniel grabbed for the door, a split second in time but not quick enough. As a foot laced around his ankle he lost his balance, falling against the wall by the staircase. Crashing heavily onto the floor, Daniel now found the gun pointed at him.

 

Staring blankly up at the weapon, he distractedly licked the blood off his lip.

 

"I said, what's in here?" With one free hand, the man unfastened the pack, the gun never wavering. Both men jumped, as a loud bang echoed through the small passageway and the wood around the door handle shattered into flying fragments. Two members of SG-1 burst in, Sam at the rear guarding the doorway, weapons aimed.

 

"Back away from him!" Jack's growl indicated an anger as palpable ad solid as the rifle pointed at the man's head. "Now!"

 

The man moved a pace to the stairs, calmly raising himself onto the third step and sitting down, still scavenging in the daypack, as Daniel was helped up by Teal'c.

 

"Are you injured, Daniel Jackson?"

 

"No, I'm fine, Teal'c. Thanks." Licking his pulsing lip and rubbing his neck, Daniel realized the only thing really hurt was his sense of security. He'd let his guard down, and that was unacceptable.

 

"Let's go." Jack spit out the order as Teal'c swiped the pack back from the man. He was seriously not liking this place, and they'd better find a reason for being here, soon. Jack gently pulled at Daniel's jacket, urging him out the door. Only Sam could see, from her vantage point, the curious onlookers gathering outside the building. Her grip on her weapon tightened.

 

"Jack? Wait." Daniel hesitated, ignoring - or not registering - the intensity of Jack's quizzical look. "He speaks English."

 

_____

 

"Stay there." Jack kept his P90 aimed at the man, who didn't seem especially bothered by it. And Jack didn't want to create an incident by having to shoot someone. "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

 

The man shrugged. "I need singles."

 

"I thought you said he speaks English?" Jack spat sarcastically.

 

"Money," Daniel explained. "Their currency, I'm presuming."

 

"You come from the Ring. I saw. We all saw. You must have trading currency," the man said nonchalantly. "I need some."

 

"And we'd give you some because…?" Jack raised his eyebrows, cocking his head. Curiosity wasn't really on his agenda, in light of current happenings, but information might be useful.

 

"Because it belongs to me. To all of us. You've stolen from your own people."

 

What the hell was he ranting about? Jack gave his head a shake, his face creasing. "Come again?"

 

"Who do you think we are?" Daniel asked more gently.

 

The man appeared confident of his assertion, speaking with no doubt in his tone. "You're from the home world. We take care of each other, no?" The look on his face combined sly with pitiful. "If you'd not been looting you'd have come a long time past, with the rest of us."

 

"What's this home world you're talking about?" Daniel asked, to the man's irritated click of the tongue. "We're not from your world at all."

 

"Satarka. Of course you are, you speak our third language, so you are not from this land. There is only one world after this." The man's patience seemed to be waning. "Or was." He glanced at the door, where heads were peeking in behind Sam's much taller frame, shoving at her shoulder to get a better look. "Though I can't be sure how you came to be here so late after us. Another terrak? Another of the islands? We thought they were all in flood." Peering around Daniel he called out, "Graishia!"

 

"BinnEd? You are alright?" A woman trying to see under Sam's arm queried anxiously - Daniel recognized her as one of those who had knocked Sam to the ground. Seems the ploy had almost worked.

 

"They refuse to help their own kind."

 

Murmurings sounded from beyond the doorway. Hands poked in, pushing, shoving, demanding singles, some in English and others not, and Jack's skin bristled. This was getting decidedly uncomfortable. No longer four against one, the tides had turned to a dozen against four. Fortunately SG-1 was still the group with the weapons.

 

"Hey! We've come from a planet called Earth. And if you'll all settle down, we'll listen to what you have to say." Much as Jack would have preferred just to go home, nothing would have been accomplished on this mission if his team just turned tail and ran. If and when he deemed it necessary, if his team seemed to be in danger, he'd give the word and they'd push on out of there, employing their weapons if it came to that. But not yet.

 

"What is this you're calling Earth?"

 

"The stargate - the Ring - goes to many planets. Thousands, although some aren't very safe," Daniel tried to explain, his calm voice masking the nerves grappling at him from deep within. The situation was uncomfortable. SG-1 was outnumbered, if these people decided to gang up on them. As SG-1 had not intended to stay longer than this one day, the team had very little in the way of supplies to offer. Appeasement, Daniel knew, would be about as likely as the women behind Sam breaking into song. "What home world are you talking about? Not this one?"

 

The man - BinnEd - was staring at Daniel, wearing an expression that changed from disgust to disbelief to suspicion, before coming to rest somewhere between puzzlement and interest. "You lie."

 

"N…no, no," Daniel frowned, shaking his head. "Why would I do that?"

 

"Explain about the Ring… and this Earth."

 

"Well - " Daniel looked at Jack for support. How much was he allowed to say?

 

"Not here," BinnEd stopped him. "Follow." Up the stairs he trotted, two at a time. With a moment to toss dubious glances at each other, Jack and Daniel hesitantly followed, weapons poised. Behind them, Graishia pushed her way past, her long ragged skirt brushing the steps, sandals flipping noisily on the concrete. More of the onlookers - beggars and street vendors - squeezed on in, the crowd forming behind Jack and Daniel literally blocking their way back down. Had they had a change of heart, there was nowhere to go but up.

 

Concerned for his teammates' safety, Teal'c waited until the lineup had thinned and the last of the locals had disappeared off the top step, before making his own way up, Carter on his tail.

 

_____

 

The room at the top of the second level was mostly empty. The staircase continued to rise, but BinnEd had stopped, opening the door into a wide area of space, blankets draped on the floor, bottles piled in the corners, and clothes stacked up against the wall. Other than that, the cracked concrete floor was bare, the walls half-painted with unfinished flowers.

 

"Be seated," BinnEd nodded at the floor, unfolding for himself a fraying blanket that once had been a patterned yellow.

 

The crowd made itself at home, flowing through the door, chatting as they grabbed spots to sit, seeming to all know each other. Most were speaking in the language of the park inhabitants, and Daniel thought again that the root was Latin. Some were speaking English now, with a strong accent. It seemed as though they'd all been here before; was this where they lived when they weren't out on the street? Too many, but maybe some.

 

Daniel parked himself close to Jack, Carter sitting next to him, and Teal'c remaining upright.

 

"You say you are not from Satarka." BinnEd's sharp gaze made Daniel even more uneasy. As far as hospitality went, this was questionable.

 

"Uh, no…we're from Earth."

 

"Earth. What is that? Another island?"

 

"Big planet," Jack cut in. "What's Satarka? Not this?"

 

"This is Erothius. Satarka was our true home," the soft voice was bitter, yet containing a sadness that caused even Jack to glance up, startled. SG-1 looked fixedly into the face of a woman who stared warily back at them, her eyes ablaze with burning memories.

 

"What happened to it?" Daniel asked quietly. "Or to you?" his blue eyes were earnest, eager to know more, interested in the woman's plight. She hesitated, feeling it; the others felt it too. There was something honest and sincere in that gaze.

 

"It was destroyed. We came here." BinnEd's description may have been abrupt, distrustful still, but his followers and company weren't satisfied to let it go at that. From everywhere in the room, one by one the voices piped up, chipping in with their own accounts, their own descriptions, forming a world from words that held SG-1 spellbound. A world that had been beautiful and alive, food and work plentiful, where life had gone on happily.

 

"My label was seamstress. My husband was a writer…I had four children…"

 

"… I owned a shop. My husband helped me run it…"

 

"Our house was lovely, three gardens…"

 

"I built dwelling places…"

 

"My son worked on the continent. He'd taken his wife and my grandchildren…"

 

"There was a school. I was one of six teachers…"

 

"… lovely beaches, where we would gather on the days of rest…"

 

"….the waters rose, covering everything on the little island. We grabbed what we could but there was nowhere to go…"

 

"… loss of life on the continent was unimaginable, everything was gone, destroyed."

 

"... it was there that the explosions hit…"

 

"…didn't know where they came from, so unexpected…"

 

"My wife was on the continent when it happened, visiting her relatives…"

 

As the stories rushed forth, weaving a world of peace and comfort, families and friends, SG-1 trapped inside it like insects in a web, Jack watched the looks of intense involvement and sorrow on the faces of his teammates, but couldn't help wondering… in all this bliss, what the hell had happened?

 

"So let me get this straight. There was an explosion on…what, part of the planet, that ripped it apart and caused massive flooding?"

 

Voices drifted into silence, some heads nodding, others shrugging in disagreement. For those who didn't seem to have English as a second, or third, language, others were translating quietly, their voices soft in the background.

 

"That's the simple explanation," Sigga frowned. "Our isolated island was the only one not directly mauled by the explosion, not sunk by the crashing of the seas and immediately destroyed, although we felt the shaking. We were too far from the mainland. But our little island was soon caught by its own floods; the waters did rise to destroy our homes, and the shaking ground cracked." Her voice almost faded, the memories too strong. "The mainland was completely demolished. Hundreds of thousands of lives lost. There was no more trade, no food, no water for us. There was nothing left, nothing at all left…"

 

"And you?" Daniel asked. "How did all of you manage to survive and escape?"

 

"We took our terraks with what little fuel they still had, and flew to the continent where the Ring was - "

 

"Excuse me; terraks?" Jack frowned.

 

"Airbound vehicles…?" Jerisha filled in. "It doesn't matter. All the island survivors grabbed what we could salvage, but there wasn't enough room in the terraks. We had to leave everything behind. When we reached the continent and saw the destruction - "

 

"My wife had gone to the continent before it happened, visiting relatives…" The voice interrupted, filled with regret and sorrow, a longing and a guilt Daniel recognized far too well.

 

"Many of us lost family and friends," BinnEd continued, "along with our home world."

 

"And you went through the stargate and came here." Daniel's voice trailed off, finishing the tale.

 

"Why here?" Sam asked softly. "This was the only planet you knew?"

 

"We were knowing there was a reference to it in our records. We were knowing also that our ancestors once used the Ring for transport and trade, but we had no use for it. It was settled in the desert by a race dominating the continent many, many ages ago. Stories have been told of them. We are not knowing why they left." Barriden explained.

 

"Some believed the engineers on the continent had caused the explosion in a terrible accident. Others thought the planet's core had become too hot. It had been so unexpected. We had no warning, none whatsoever."

 

"And then there were the hesitant ones who thought it had been this world, attacking us. They were afraid to come here, but there was nowhere else to go. No one had a choice."

 

"When we arrived and saw how we were ignored, how no one came to greet us, whether friend or foe, we knew this world would be safe enough."

 

All were telling the story, each with his own personal demons.

 

"Why are you living like this?" Daniel asked.

 

"This planet doesn't want us here. They have no place for us. They hardly have work or homes for their own kind."

 

"It's been too long since our own did trade with them. They too have forgotten. They have no use for us any more."

 

No use for us. Daniel's mind was spinning. "Jack?"

 

"Daniel?"

 

"P2R 909."

 

"Not familiar with that song, Daniel."

 

"The world we originally transported the Ankarans from when we found them. The sun wouldn't hurt these people; they'd have a better chance there. There are already abandoned homes on that planet."

 

"Or what about Edora, Sir? They could help rebuild. I'm sure the extra manpower would be appreciated."

 

"Of what are you speaking? Do you know a better place for us to go?" One called Desnede perked up.

 

Jack pursed his lips. "How many of you are there?"

 

Several voices piped up, conflicting with one another, until BinnEd shushed them. "There are more than this. About three hundred refugees came through altogether."

 

"Three hundred. Okay, here's the deal. My team and I are going to go discuss this for a bit. We'll find a good place to relocate you people, and then we'll get more teams from home - Earth - to help you get settled."

 

"I have a better idea." BinnEd cocked his head, an impish look building on his face. "Why do we not go to Earth with you?"

 

"Uh, no, that wouldn't work, because…" Jack looked at Daniel.

 

"Because our world, Earth, is just as crowded as this one. You'd be in the same situation as here. But we promise, we can find somewhere else for you to live. We've done this for others before."

 

"Others like us?"

 

"Others who needed a new place to start over."

 

In muted discussion, the refugees agreed that they could wait , just a little longer, that they trusted SG-1 to return for them.

 

"Others like them…. Jack! What about P3R 672?"

 

Jack scrunched his facial muscles, trying to remember. All those designations blended into one after a while.

 

"The planet where we settled the slave laborers from P3R 118, Sir, Administrator Calder's underground work force. I think that would be perfect, Daniel. Those people have already begun building a community, and they could use the extra help and population."

 

"And I believe they would understand the predicament of these people," Teal'c agreed. "They would indeed be welcomed."

 

"Great then; nice climate, that P3…R2…D2. Let's let these folks know."

 

_____

 

Daniel had given out what pencils and pens he had, along with some writing paper. SG-1 shared their few MREs, those meager supplies they'd brought in case of an emergency, which wouldn't be needed for the remainder of this mission. The people were now happily sharing the handouts amongst themselves, offering up their own paltry supply of jarred foods. SG-1 thanked them, declining.

 

"We're grateful for this new home world you offer us." They surrounded Jack, non-threateningly.

 

"We did not want to live like this," a woman who had been silently observing moved to Daniel's side, speaking quietly. She saw his concerned face taking notice of her filthy clothing, her bent hands and tired eyes. Eyes that had once held much love and wisdom, she hoped he realized. Hoped he understood, for she saw something in him that wanted to obliterate her past, open up a future. She wished he could see the way she once had been. He reminded Rema so much of her treasured lost son.

 

"I know," he said, gently touching her hand. "And we'll do our best to make things better for you. We'll just go back to our base first and confirm all the details with our… leader. It won't take long, I promise."

 

And Rema wanted more than anything to believe him.

 

Across the room Carter was sitting beside a young man, probably still a teenager, sharing some chocolate. She glanced down at the paper he was doodling on.

 

Noticing her gaze, he looked up and then back down at his page, hiding his eyes in embarrassment. "I was in school when it happened. This is the first parchment I've had to draw on."

 

"You were in school when the destruction began?" Sam repeated after a deep inhalation, her blue eyes huge and sincere. "Where are the other students you were with?" Somewhere within, Sam didn't know if she wanted to hear the answer. So far, SG-1 had seen only a handful of children and young people.

 

"Some are here. Not in this room, but in the streets. Some ran away to look for a better way to live."

 

But Carter had been taken aback not only by his words, and was looking at his drawings more closely than he'd imagined. "What's that?" She asked, something triggering inside her.

 

"A picture of my old home."

 

That hadn't been what she meant. Sam pointed to some scribbles on the sides of the page…that looked very much like gate symbols, grouped in sevens. The second grouping she recognized, even with the approximations and distortions - the coordinates to this planet. The first group… something about those provoked a curl in her gut. "How about these?"

 

"That's the location of this planet. And this is our old one."

 

For a moment she froze. "How do you know those symbols? Your people didn't use the Ring."

 

"I was sent to the Library to check the history of the Ring, to find the controls to this new world. We knew they were there."

 

"You were the one who found the address of this planet?" Sam verified.

 

The young man nodded, his gaze distant. "I would have been finished school this year."

 

Now Sam knew. She knew, and was suffocating with denial. Just one more question remained… "When did this happen to your planet? How long ago?"

 

"Four rotations past."

 

"Rotations. Years?" Years. Four? Or three? This planet - or the old one - would have a different cycle than that of Earth. This boy was just about the right age to confirm the time line. Sam's thoughts were wildly spinning. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. The boy didn't seem to notice her silence nor her sudden mood change, as he continued with his explanation. "And this, this one is where you have told us we can now go to live." His eyes were alight with hopeful expectation. "If it's acceptable to your leader," he amended for her benefit and the sake of politeness. It had to be; it would be, he had no doubts in his mind.

 

"May I borrow this for a moment?" Sam asked, regaining a minimum of composure and taking the paper at the boy's nod. In a dazed state of dissociation, she made her way across the room, mumbling, "Colonel. Daniel? We need to talk." Troubled eye contact with Teal'c, and he joined her immediately. One look at her face told them there was a problem.

 

The impromptu team meeting was about to be held in a not particularly private space, given that there were no private spaces. Excusing themselves for a moment, Sam led the team back into the hall, to the staircase. As heads poked out of the doorway, Jack smiled. "Back in a minute, folks. Not going anywhere."

 

When all was clear again, the team followed Carter as she made her way down to the first landing. She held out the paper. "This was their home planet."

 

Jack looked at the glyphs. "Okay. And?" But a single furtive glance at Daniel and Teal'c told him there was something more that he needed to know. Daniel's mouth was ready to catch a golf ball, his expression saturated with horror, and Teal'c almost appeared in shock. Well, his eyes were wide, staring at the page. "Carter?!" Explain.

 

"Sir…"

 

Her voice matched her face, which - in the fraction of a second that always seems like half a day when ice is curling up from one's toes in anticipation of some unknown dread - didn't get past Jack. And when she spoke again, that half a day stopped suspended in another dimension's time line, a century passing and leaving them all caught in some mysterious vacancy of warped time and space.

 

The pain in Sam's eyes was almost physical. "That was the planet General Bauer made me send that naquada-enhanced nuclear warhead to, when General Hammond was forced to retire three years ago."

 

During which time his team had been disbanded, and he'd been off flirting with the devil… the implications woke Jack from his frozen state and got time moving again, hitting him like a punch to the gut.

 

"We did this?" O'Neill's voice came out haunted, ghosts poking at his intestines with their prickly invisible fingers, prodding him with their mischievous laughter, whispering in his ear that he was doomed to rot in hell. "I thought that planet was uninhabited?"

 

"They only checked a fifty-kilometer radius, Sir. These people's ancestors had placed the stargate out in their desert. I warned Bauer that the planet supported plant and animal life…" Carter's voice trailed off, intense with guilt and shame. Her face was a study in grief.

 

"You didn't want to do it, Sam," Daniel softly tried to console her, reminding her, his own psyche trying to deal with the shock of the misery and horrors they had bestowed upon these people, the circumstances newly fresh in his memory, threatening to overwhelm if he didn't keep himself in check. It was their fault, not that of an unscrupulous local engineer or overheated planet core. It was the fault of Earth, of the SGC, and, more indirectly, of SG-1.

 

This was their fault.

 

"I thought that planet was destroyed."

 

"So did I, Sir. It should have turned into a radioactive ball of super heated plasma."

 

"It didn't."

 

"Naquada in the soil must not have been as bountiful as first anticipated," Teal'c deduced. "We were aware that the stargate had survived."

 

"Just plentiful enough to destroy the main landmass," Daniel added spitefully. The continent.

 

"God." Sam turned from the group, her eyes stinging. She'd known there could be life on that planet, and yet she'd gone along with the plan. Against all her best instincts, her own judgement, the one sense that she'd learned to truly rely on, she had followed orders, just because they were orders.

 

And look what had happened.

 

She'd destroyed thousands and thousands of lives, and an entire planet's future. Atrocities that couldn't be condoned…and possibly not even lived with.

 

Daniel's hands on her shoulders were not the comfort she needed. Painfully aware that Daniel was as horrified and affected by this as she was, there could be no comfort where there was such blame… and shame.

 

"I didn't do much to stop him either, Sam."

 

"Nor I."

 

Only the colonel had not had a part in what had gone on, and what had been done. He hadn't even been there.

 

That didn't help his mood, or his sense of guilt. Nor did it alleviate the ability to empathize and commiserate with his three team members. His people. His friends.

 

Jack watched his teammates' silent descent into the depths of self-condemnation and remorse. He knew what they had gone through during the few days of Bauer's reign, how they'd had their hearts stripped and realigned, misgivings guiding their moments of awakening, wondering if staying a part of the SGC was even worth it any more. He had had his own doubts about ever going back, if he couldn't get Hammond reinstated and his team back together.

 

"It's nobody's fault but Bauer's," Jack reaffirmed, an attempt to console them all. "And we'll do everything in our power to help these survivors." Jack laid his hands on Daniel and Sam's shoulders, trying to lead them back… to the present reality as well as the empty, crowded room. "Come on. Let's get our things and get back to base. We'll deal with this."

 

The fragile emotions etched onto Sam's face tore at his being. More than all of them, she was burdened with the knowledge that her own creation was the cause of this madness, even though the idea had not been hers in the first place, and the will had never been there at all. Being a puppet of the upper powers had left her with no choice, and the whole situation had been sprung on her too suddenly for contemplation. Too many things had happened at once; her own team had been swept away from her, her closest friend in Daniel had been usurped of the position he loved, her commanding officer had been replaced by a tyrant, leaving her with no power to voice her opinions. Her team leader was off on the hunt of his life, one that could end up getting him killed or court martialled. Jack felt for her now more than ever before.

 

And Daniel. The appalled, disturbed expression on Daniel's face testified to the inner nightmare raging inside the younger man, borne of guilt and shock from his part in the abominable tragedy. Daniel's involvement in the fiasco had been minimal, yet that was exactly what was eating at him. It had not been Daniel's call, and he had said nothing. Done nothing, nothing that could get Bauer's attention, and Daniel Jackson was not used to being ignored. The man who didn't listen to a Jackson opinion was a fool, and Daniel had been saddled with the king of fools that week.

 

Even Teal'c seemed to be shell-shocked. Leaving Apophis had instilled in him the infinite hope, ultimate trust, that he would never have to destroy another population. He, as Daniel, had taken no part in the destruction of that planet, but he, like Daniel, was mortally wounding himself at that moment for not having spoken louder and longer. But Jack knew that it wouldn't have done any good, for any of them. They would just have been fired… all but Carter, who was desperately needed by Bauer and his superiors. Severe reprimand, even court-martial, might have been in her future, but not until after the bomb had been completed. Jack knew that; Carter knew it deep inside in a somewhere place she wouldn't admit to or acknowledge having.

 

Jack knew his team wouldn't look at themselves in the same way for a good long while, and he would do his damnedest to right at least one wrong with these refugees, his own contempt of what Bauer had put these people through - now extending to his own team - eating at his lack of action during the Bauer Days, as they'd been referred to for months afterwards. What had happened to these people was tragic and despicable, but it had happened and it was over. He would not allow his team to be destroyed by it as well. Not after fighting so hard - fighting Kinsey, fighting the NID - to get them back. His soul was already at risk; he'd set Maybourne free, and he was not going to lose the souls of Daniel, Carter, or Teal'c along with his own. His team didn't deserve this emotional self-torture.

 

Jack kept his eyes on his teammates as they headed back into the room. He didn't like the beaten look of their dejected deneanor. Didn't want them bearing the weight of this world too.

 

Was it his imagination or did the room seem hushed? As the team made their way back into the crowd of survivors, their circumstances hit home again more forcefully than before, knowing now what they knew, seeing what they were now seeing. Refugees, with nothing, living on the streets of a city… continent…planet, that did not want them.

 

"We'll be leaving now," Jack announced, hardly able to stare back at the faces that stared at him. Was his guilt showing? Spilling over the edges onto the concrete floor, making a puddle deep enough to drown in? "You can expect us back within about two days. Be ready to move." He reached over to pick up his pack, when a hand grabbed his wrist. Jack's eyes met those of the young former student, who shoved the pack behind him, out of reach between more pairs of feet. "What are you doing?" Jack hissed. The eyes that bore into his were not friendly.

 

Former smiles and scattered acknowledgements and thanks were not filtering through the room the way SG-1 had expected, the way it had been ten minutes before. This wasn't his imagination, was it. A glance at Daniel confirmed his suspicions; the other man's face was tight.

 

Jack's unspoken questions were interrupted by the scolding voice, quiet in its intensity, of the young man who now let go of Jack and stood tall. His eyes blazed. Words barely able to be heard rushed out in controlled accusation, growing louder with emotion. "It was you. You sent the device that destroyed the home world."

 

The harsh words halted SG-1 in their movements, locals posed in total-hush, all heads turned to stare, disbelief mingling with newly formed shock turning to hatred in their faces. All ears had stopped to listen. All eyes had stopped to accuse.

 

"You." A lone voice in the crowd spoke out.

 

"I heard you talking. You tried to destroy us. The enemy is you."

 

The change in atmosphere had been palpable. The boy had heard; the boy had told them all. Come back into the room and told them, from a single point of view.

 

Tension enveloped all who were in that room, and Jack realized the doorway was suddenly blocked by the biggest few of the lot. Funny how much larger they seemed here than lounging along the sidewalks. Jack knew he had to defuse this situation ASAP.

 

"It didn't happen like that."

 

"No?" BinnEd stepped forward, his full height imposing even more so than when he had grabbed Daniel. The tone of his voice left little doubt that it would take more than Jack's word to get him to believe. "Donnendo would not be lying."

 

"No. He isn't lying, and neither am I. My team didn't want to create that bomb. They tried to stop it from happening, but the new leader at the time wouldn't listen."

 

"She built it," the boy blurted. "She sent it. I heard her say so."

 

"She didn't want to," Daniel cut in, speaking out in support of Sam, his own empathy with these people getting in the way of self-defense. "None of us did."

 

"If you didn't want to, why did you?" Another accusing voice rose out from the center of the room, blazing eyes of fury to match the tone.

 

"It wasn't that simple," Daniel reflexively chewed at his swollen lip, flinching at the sharp stab of pain, avoiding anyone's eyes. If we didn't want to, why did we do it? And why wasn't it that simple? To be honest with himself, right now he wasn't sure he knew.

 

Daniel heard a gasp at the next words, words that made his own skin prickle with icicles, and he realized the sound had come from Sam. But it had reverberated inside himself, felt it as his own.

 

"Hang them." The matter-of-fact order left the lips of Snairmo.

 

"What?" Three, four voices chimed, those of the accused and guilty.

 

"Yes. Let's be hanging them," BinnEd agreed coldly. His eyes glared straight into those of Jack, then Daniel, when Daniel finally refocused his gaze from his abstract internal state of shock back to his outer, more tangible, reality.

 

Throughout the room, voices were agreeing, with only a scattered assortment of objections.

 

"These are war criminals," BinnEd snarled into the crowd, to any dissenters, his fists high over his head, waving around. He was urging the others on, and it was working.

 

"Wait a minute right there!" Jack intervened in a mixture of anger and fear, wanting nothing more than to bring his rifle up and start firing. He would have, but knew it would be a foolish move that could get his team killed. Tempers were flaring all around, but so far they were still under control. "You need us! You want to get away from here, get to a place where you can have homes, jobs, live decent lives? We'll get you supplies, help you get started."

 

"No."

 

"No?"

 

"We can get there ourselves. You've said there are already others there to help. All you're trying to do is escape justice."

 

Yes, that's what he'd been doing alright…

 

Mutterings of approval and increasing shouts of "Hang them!" warned SG-1 that the ballots were in, the vote already decided.

 

"Jack had nothing to do with it. He wasn't even there," Daniel rushed in, words spewing forth; he was panicking. "He was in another place trying to bring the former leader back. The one who would have known better."

 

BinnEd turned his face close to Jack's. "You weren't there?"

 

Jack wasn't about to betray his team, leave them to the wolves. "I stay with my team."

 

"You weren't there?" BinnEd repeated, and Jack was reminded of the fox and the gingerbread man. There was more to what this man was asking than… what he was asking.

 

"He was not." Teal'c reaffirmed matter-of-factly.

 

"I stay with my team," Jack emphasized once more, his eyes flashing.

 

"Jack!"

 

"Leave it, Daniel."

 

"No, I won't." Daniel turned back to the angry mob. "Jack wasn't there. He had nothing to do with the bomb." Not that any of them were there in the full sense of the word, and not that he wanted Sam to take the heat. But Jack… he could legitimately get free of all this, without any of them having to lie.

 

"Daniel!" Give it a rest. You can't be so disillusioned as to think I'll let you take the blame.

 

BinnEd stepped back, reconsidering the options. While he watched them, Jack watched him, certain the man had more motives up his sleeve than anyone could foretell. He seemed a smart one, always one step ahead. Jack would have to make sure to stay one step ahead of him. "You designed the explosive?" BinnEd directed his question at Sam.

 

"Yes." The single word was barely audible, Sam's head bowed towards the concrete floor.

 

"It wasn't her fault," Daniel insisted. "She was forced to."

 

"And you?" BinnEd now directed his controlled hatred at Daniel.

 

"Daniel didn't help me," Sam spoke before Daniel could reply. "He was on base, but he wasn't consulted. He didn't know anything."

 

"And you?" BinnEd stepped in front of Teal'c, undaunted by the Jaffa's size against his own.

 

"Same for him," Carter responded abruptly.

 

"I had no control," Teal'c confirmed, eyes staring past the man before him. "Nor did Major Carter." She was no more at fault than he for the deeds he had committed in the name of Apophis. Was this how his teammates had felt on Cartago, when he had accepted the responsibility for killing Hanno's father?

 

BinnEd finally released that penetrating gaze. "Alright. You," he pointed at Jack, "will be free to leave once we've relocated. You two, I'll think about. She," now facing Major Carter, "will hang now."

 

"No!" Daniel blurted, as Jack shouted "Like hell!"

 

Sam's eyes just closed, her lips tight and grim. Teal'c tensed, knowing there was more to come.

 

And Jack knew his team was caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

"Hang her from where?" Cashio's voice was questioning as he looked up at the bare ceiling.

 

"The rail by the stairs," the response was precise.

 

"I have another solution." All heads turned to Desnede.

 

"What?" BinnEd looked for clarification.

 

"Blow them up, the way they blew up our people."

 

"With what?"

 

"With what's in their packs. Explosives, if they have come with some." Desnede glared at the team. "Their kind seems to be fond of such toys."

 

Jack hoped his face didn't show what had just happened to his heart. Don't look in our packs. Not that they would know how to use C4. Hopefully.

 

"We'll blow up this home along with them, Desnede." BinnEd scowled. "And then we will have to clean up the mess."

 

"No, not here. We'll take them to the new planet, where they can sit and watch us while they think. They can sit and watch us plow our land. Then they can watch us build our homes. Then they can watch us build a school. Then they can watch as we blow them up, one at a time."

 

Daniel risked a sideways glance at Jack, inadvertently catching his eye. He turned his face away, not wanting to see that look. Some might think it a neutral expression, giving away nothing. Daniel knew better. Jack was internally on fire.

 

So was he.

 

"That will take too long. There are others there who may stop us." The debate continued, debate on the fate of SG-1.

 

After a pause, Cashio shrugged. "We needn't disagree. Let's just hang them all from the rail."

 

"What about those weapons?" Sigga nodded towards the rifles, and before SG-1 could react, their weapons were wrested from their grasps by a few too many hands. "Those long sticks must release something sharp. Arrows?" As he held out the hand with Daniel's handgun, BinnEd snatched it away.

 

Pointing the muzzle directly at Sam's face, he snarled. "You would blow us up?"

 

"No!" the shouts echoed from three team members simultaneously.

 

"She wouldn't!" Daniel barked out, reflexes and emotion overtaking reasoning. The logic tactic had already been tried.

 

But from their reactions, BinnEd had his answer. These weapons were dangerous, enough to induce fear. He backed off, waving it at the rest of the team. "Against the wall. All of you."

 

"Look," Jack began, no idea of what he was about to say. But he had to say something. Wincing, he shot a glance at Daniel. Step in any time. Three more guns were aiming at his team, now. His team, backs against the wall like a firing squad line.

 

"Killing us won't bring back your people." Daniel's voice was deceptively calm.

 

"Nor will it fulfil your revenge," Teal'c interjected, "as it was neither my teammates nor I who were directly responsible for your ordeal."

 

And once again time seemed to mean nothing, slow motion suspending rational thought and experience, as the guns - two rifles and three handguns, staff weapon ignored - remained poised, Jack hoping to hell they wouldn't figure out how to use them.

 

BinnEd swung his handgun towards the hall and fired.

 

The loud, sudden shot caused everyone to jump, a few startled gasps and utterances panning around the room. Those closest to the doorway stared out at the hole in the wall.

 

Slowly BinnEd turned the weapon back on SG-1. Seeing Snairmo's longer weapon aimed at Sam, and the others at Jack and Teal'c, he pointed his own towards Daniel. "So. It projects rocks."

 

Daniel's breathing was shallow, his heart bellowing for attention. His eyes locked with those of BinnEd; he would not look away. Eternity was passing but no one seemed to grow older.

 

The hush in the room was nauseating.

 

"BinnEd." There was no response. "BinnEd." The voice was solemn, insistent.

 

"What?" BinnEd refused to alter his scrutiny of SG-1.

 

"The rocks do much damage. They will make as much of a mess as an explosive device."

 

"And the bodies," added another voice from somewhere in the room. "Where would we dispose of them? Not here in our home, and not in the street."

 

Slowly, slowly, BinnEd lowered his weapon. Slowly, the others followed.

 

Talk continued around them, Daniel fading in and out of the moment; this was them they were talking about, his team. It was too surreal, his mind frantically trying to find a way out of this mess and failing miserably.

 

"But we can use those weapons against them on Satarka. Leave the bodies there." Anneb seemed pleased with himself; the solution was obvious, and easy.

 

The crowd hushed once again, contemplating this solution. This time, it seemed like a good one.

 

"No." Rema stepped out from the center of the crowd, her eyes meeting Daniel's.

 

Jack singled out the lone woman who seemed to be in disagreement. Please, say something intelligent, he pleaded. Stealing a quick look at his teammates, Jack knew they were desperately trying to find some reasonable argument, some indisputable benefit, to not being slaughtered, revenge or justice temporarily gained. Daniel seemed to be in a staring contest with this woman; for some reason, his eyes had that look. The one whose pleading no one could refuse.

 

"No." Rema knew she couldn't prevent justice or retaliation itself, but she did have a way to save these strangers from death. She knew there was something good in them, some truth to their words. The face of her son superimposed itself on the fair one, the one who'd held her hand, and she craved both revenge and mercy. "Do we want true justice? Do we truly want them to know what we've gone through?" Looking around at her people, at every face, she made them wait to hear her advice, and every set of ears was tuned in. "Yes, let's take them to Satarka. To the island of Cassius."

 

"To dispose of them?"

 

"No. To leave them. Let them see what we saw. Let them experience our pain."

 

_____

 

SG-1 wasn't completely certain of what was about to transpire, though they had enough misgivings. And while their lives had been spared by an admirer of Daniel's, Jack wasn't absolutely sure this was any better than hanging.

 

But every moment alive gave them another chance.

 

There had been no more discussion - at least none they could understand. Expressions had gone thoughtful, words were exchanged in some language other than English, and then SG-1 found themselves being herded back to the park, courtesy of their own weapons. Life seemed to go on in the streets, ignoring them. Donkeys and cyclists scurried on their way, oblivious to the trespassers and their captors.

 

There were a few unfamiliar faces among the street vagrants now, but most of the crowd was trailing along with them. A few others had remained in the park, confused and oblivious as to what was conspiring. Jack was willing to bet not all of them had been inhabitants of Satarka.

 

Three handguns, two P90s, a staff weapon, and forty-odd townsfolk… what to do now eluded Jack. Plan A would have been making a run for it and hoping to catch everyone off guard, but that would definitely have had a cartoon ending. Splat. No getting back up, in this reality.

 

What the hell would they find on Satarka? Anything?

 

And Daniel wasn't even asking about the piles of offerings near the MALP. The guy was obviously in some dismal state of non-caring.

 

One thing Jack did know for certain, was that leaving his team on some godforsaken ruin of a planet was not an option. Plan A would come to him, at the right time. "Be prepared, kids," he whispered, as the gate powered up.

 

_____

 

But the possibility of Plan A didn't have a spark of development, for out in the middle of a devastated desert landscape, one pitted with gaping craters and solidified black lava mounds, rested six huge cylindrical objects, looking brand new and far out of place in this mutilated desert. They looked too foreign to be identified. Almost.

 

"Terraks," Daniel muttered under his breath, to the rest of SG-1.

 

With twenty people prodding them on - the rest had declined returning - SG-1 was hustled into one of the patiently waiting aircrafts. Within moments it rose, silently hovering at a height of 200 feet in the air. Then it began to move forward, increasing in speed.

 

"Blimp," Jack stated briefly. "Works like a damn blimp."

 

"It rescued these people."

 

"So, what," Jack lowered his voice, "what now? Ideas?"

 

For a moment, three pairs of eyes turned away from his own, and then Carter found something to say. "At the moment, Sir, nothing. We'll have to see when we get there." Wherever there was. She may as well have kept silent.

 

Daniel rose, moving to peek out one of the small round windows. Below, the destruction was blatantly evident. A town, nothing but rubble, craters in the center of what once may have been a market, or the town square. Most of it was covered in black sand.

 

"We couldn't get them to listen." Without turning his face from the destruction, Daniel's words were aimed at Cashio and Mitrio in front of him. "They would have sent the bomb whether we were there or not." Still hoping to break through the wall that had gone up around them, Daniel knew his team had little chance of any plan at all, other than words, and they were desperately in need of more time. But if anyone was listening, no one acknowledged him. "It wasn't a strike against you. They believed this planet was uninhabited." And was that supposed to be a consolation? They'd thought wrong, without even checking. Daniel flinched at his own thoughts. Who's side are you on? "I know that's no consolation. I'm sorry for what happened."

 

Finally Cashio spoke. "Bit of a big mistake to make, don't you think?"

 

"Yes. I do."

 

And then there was just more silence.

 

_____

 

"Get out."

 

The trip had taken an unbearable two hours, hours in which Jack still couldn't figure any way out of this mess, and now the aircraft was hovering just three feet in the air. Seventeen people - the three pilots remained in place - were surrounding them, six with weapons Jack didn't want to tempt them into using. Teal'c was the first one to jump down.

 

With a helpless look at her CO, and a slight shrug and nod from him, Carter jumped to the ground next, followed by Daniel. Jack turned to the deceptively passive crowd. "I've decided to take you up on your offer. I'll go home." Plan A minus?

 

BinnEd's eyes went wide, taken aback, his lip turning up in a scowl. "Deal was up long ago, Jack."

 

"Hey, you heard my team; I wasn't even there."

 

"And we heard you; you stay with your team. Now be moving out."

 

Jack could see the resistance; he was no longer welcome on board. Sitting purposely on the brim of the exit he took his sweet time, dangling his legs over the edge. End of Plan A. He'd known they hadn't intended to let him leave anyway, but it was worth the try.

 

"Some day, we may return to check on you," BinnEd spoke to the back of Jack's head. "If you are still alive, we will use these." Jack didn't have to look, to know the man was waggling a P90.

 

Disembarking with a short hop and deflated optimism, Jack turned away from the tormented looks on the faces of his teammates. BinnEd's voice called out to them from the craft, already starting to lift. "Water," he shouted to be heard, "may be found in the central shed. It was all we had left." With that, the aircraft rose higher, the flap closing. Within minutes it was nearly out of sight.

 

"What was that about, Jack?" Daniel was at his side, his voice hushed.

 

Jack shook his head slowly. It was all he'd had, and it hadn't worked. Chances were he'd never have been able to get back here with a rescue team anyway, without air transport, and then he'd be kicking himself for abandoning his team. Probably better off this way. "Nothing."

 

Daniel paused, his face tight in a frown, pretty sure he knew. In deference to Jack, he kept silent. The only plan anyone could have come up with, and it didn't work. They were stuck here. No use pursuing the matter.

 

Teal'c and Carter were as still as sentinels, staring dumbfounded, absorbed in their own internal grief, for the former inhabitants of this place and now for themselves.

 

"You are not to blame, Major Carter. You were unaware that there was human life on this planet." Teal'c would not remind her about his submission to Apophis; it was unlikely Major Carter would approve of her role being compared to that of Jaffa and Goa'uld. Was it so different, when the victims were not in one's direct sight?

 

Her response was barely audible. "I wasn't sure that there wasn't."

 

SG-1 stood there, taking in their surroundings. The stench was terrible, even after three years.

 

Most of the buildings were rubble, even though this island had not been in the direct hit of the blast. Turbulent waters had shrunk the island, they could see that from the air; too many submerged roads and ruined structures lay around the perimeter. Too many trees and things littered the submerged beaches and floated in the water. Things that turned into decayed carcasses, they could tell as the aircraft drew in closer. Skeletal things, once alive. They had been let off in the center of town, only a few main streets remaining more or less intact. Stagnant water surrounded them, covering lawns and roads and creeping into doorways.

 

Objects blocked every potential path. Broken bits of furniture lay out in the open, along with mounds of stone and marble bricks. Columns lay in fractured chunks. They closed their eyes to the bones. Most of these people had escaped, hadn't they?

 

Jack stood perfectly still, taking in the scene. How could he have let this happen to his team? How could he have left with Bauer in charge, and let this happen to a planet? In a state of shock, he couldn't think, couldn't move. Moving wasn't a priority now, anyway. There were no priorities.

 

"O'Neill."

 

Jack's mind was having too much trouble comprehending, assessing, pondering, to acknowledge. He didn't move, didn't speak.

 

Teal'c remained silent for a moment, then quietly continued,"I will explore." Stepping past Jack and the broken obstacles surrounding them, he set off towards a still partially intact structure.

 

_____

 

"Sam." Daniel softly approached Carter, her back to him as she stared out at the pools of water covering someone's front lawn. He'd left Jack and Teal'c cleaning out the room that might end up being home, for a little while. Carter had been gone for too long, and Jack had silently nodded at Daniel's departure. "Sam?" From behind, Daniel placed his hands gently on her shoulders.

 

She shrugged him away.

 

Looking down at his palms, he stuck them in his pockets, then pulled them out and crossed his arms. "You can't blame yourself."

 

"I didn't do enough to stop it." Still, she did not turn around, could not look her teammate in the eye. It was her actions that put them here. They should have been exploring a busy city, taking home possible technology or information about the Goa'uld. They should have been home right this minute, briefing with General Hammond.

 

Daniel took a moment in contemplation. "No, you didn't."

 

Sam inhaled loudly.

 

"Neither did I. I should have spoken out, kicked up a fuss, sat down in Bauer's office and made him listen to me."

 

"You'd have been escorted to a holding cell, or sent home."

 

"Right. But then you could have taken up the fight, sitting there and forcing him to listen."

 

"I would have been dismissed."

 

"Right. And then someone else would have been called in to send the bomb. It was already completed, Sam. Anyone could have sent it."

 

"But I did."

 

"And why was that? Tell me, Sam. You tell me."

 

It took a few moments before Carter finally capitulated, finally gave in, her back still to Daniel. Her voice was haunted. "Because it was an order. Because if I hadn't, I'd have been court-martialled and the bomb would have been sent anyway."

 

"Right."

 

Sam didn't speak. She stood there, staring into the destruction.

 

Then finally, she turned around and buried her face in Daniel's shirt.

 

_____

 

Water, their number one priority. The private homes seemed to have had small indoor wells, now filled in or collapsed. Whatever water that remained, would be unfit for consumption. Much to everyone's relief, they had, however, managed to locate the central shed, formerly a large green building where barrels had been stored, most broken and empty or filled with debris and mud. Open to the elements, the building's exterior had long since broken apart, leaving a ruin even Daniel had wanted to escape. They'd carried the five salvagable barrels to the dwelling now under their occupation. One for each of them, and a spare.

 

"Got some jars here." No labels, but they'd been on some shelves in this semi-intact house, so it might be food. Only one way to find out. They'd already discovered the thin tall ones held some sort of wine.

 

Jack set the two ceramic canisters on the floor space that Daniel and Carter had cleared of debris, Teal'c loaded down with four more.

 

"Here, let me take those," Daniel offered, quickly relieving Teal'c of the two lodged under his elbows. Teal'c nodded an acknowledgement.

 

Jack investigated one of the glazed jars, searching for a way to unplug the lid. It seemed stuck fast.

 

"Well, if it really is food," Daniel said, squinting with one eye, "that plug's a good thing. They'd probably want to keep it sealed for as long as possible." Anyway, those jars looked pretty much the same as the ones the islanders had had stashed in their headquarters.

 

"Get it open," Jack demanded. He had no pocket knife… no knife… no nothing. Their packs hadn't been returned to them.

 

"Here, Sir." Sam scrounged a sharp stick from the debris, and helped pry it open. The smell was daunting.

 

"Oohph." Jack turned his head away. "This could be dog food for all we know."

 

Daniel shrugged. "Food is food, right Jack?" At Jack's withering look, he nearly smiled. "I doubt these people would store dog food in these canisters."

 

"Why not?"

 

"Too fancy. Anyway, they probably just fed them leftovers."

  

"Okay. As long as it's not marinated dog." Jack stuck his finger in, grabbed a lump, and put it in his mouth.

 

"Sir! That might not even be -"

 

"It's not bad."

 

"- edible."

 

"It's edible."

 

_____

 

Night was even more despicable than day, and though their arrival had been terrifying, it did not seem to come close to the emotions penetrating them in these desolate hours of darkness. Evil seemed to be lurking, cloyingly reminding them it had been their evil to begin with. Though they knew they were personally not to blame, this destruction had commenced on their world, on Earth, and what business did their superiors have not taking their own actions seriously? Out of sight, out of mind. Do our deeds, then close our eyes to the results.

 

Jack walked over to Teal'c, who was staring into space. Again. The sky was lit by stars, but they couldn't see much. They just knew what was out there.

 

"Teal'c?"

 

"O'Neill. You do not sleep."

 

"I could say the same to you."

 

"I will rest soon."

 

"You okay?"

 

"I am not."

 

Jack stood there at Teal'c's side, until he couldn't take the silence any longer.

 

_____

 

He knew Daniel wasn't sleeping either. Saw his eyes for a moment, when he'd come back into this room.

 

"Not much comfort in lying on a pile of twigs, huh?" Jack cleared space beside his friend and sat down, speaking in a whisper in case Sam was asleep, which he doubted.

 

"It's not the bed that's keeping me awake, Jack," Daniel whispered back, shifting over to make more room. They'd thrown most of the larger broken items out onto the lawn, in this their new home, but bits of shards and other once cherished belongings remained littered around the floor.

 

Jack pursed his lips, knowing not what to say. He knew what Daniel was feeling; he'd be a liar and a fool if he tried to deny his own such thoughts and worries. If they were expected to live the rest of their lives here… well, much as he'd love to say Not Gonna Happen, Hammond had no idea where they were. And the stargate was two hours away across a very large body of water.

 

Sometimes, things don't go as planned.

 

Jack also could not be a hypocrite by trying to make Daniel feel better. The man was intelligent enough to know when Jack was patronizing him. He placed his hand on Daniel's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. He had nothing to say.

 

_____

 

Spicy pepper or bean paste wasn't ideal for breakfast, the only other food being dried strands of some sort of meat, and his team had decided to unanimously, albeit nonverbally, skip the morning meal. Daniel was outside kicking around debris for anything worthwhile…muttering to himself the word 'looting' over and over, and Teal'c was somewhere checking out the leftover neighbourhood. Carter, on the other hand, seemed to be deep in thought, sitting on their dining room floor turned bedroom.

 

"How're ya doing?" Jack had barely spoken with her the previous night, and he was worried. Dumb question, but it was all that came to mind.

 

Sam shrugged, then smiled wistfully. "Peachy, Sir."

 

"Look, Carter… Sam…" How would 'it wasn't your fault' make anything better? "Come with me to Ikea?"

 

That was a near smile, if one lived in a dimension where high speed was the norm. "We have to get out of here."

 

O'Neill eased himself down beside her. Ikea wasn't such a bad idea; maybe he could make some chairs from driftwood. "Got any ideas?"

 

"None." What they needed was a boat. They'd searched; no boats, just a once wide open field likely for parking terraks, now marsh and swamp. Sam shook her head, a little too long, eyebrows knitting. She turned her head away, unable to look him in the eye.

 

Jack watched her drifting into depression. He couldn't let that happen. "We have to work together."

 

Carter nodded, biting her lip.

 

Grimacing, Jack looked away, trying to choose the proper words. They weren't coming. "You going to keep feeling sorry for yourself?" Ah, crap. Those couldn't be the right ones.

 

"Sir?"

 

"We can all flog ourselves, Major. It won't do a damn bit of good."

 

"No Sir, it won't. But I keep thinking how my actions put us all here. Daniel, Teal'c; they don't deserve to be here. And you, Sir. You were the only one who dared to do anything about the situation back then. And here you are too, now."

 

"These people would have lost their planet regardless, whether you had anything to do with it or not. You know that."

 

Carter nodded again. "I do. But they wouldn't have blamed us."

 

"No, Carter, that's where you're wrong. They would have blamed anyone associated with Earth."

 

For a moment, Sam paused, considering. "I doubt that, Colonel. They were willing to let you go."

 

"Like hell, Carter. I tried that. They were afraid I'd go home and tell everyone where you guys are. And then come back here with a ship," he added. "or go to 672 and kick their butts." He looked away. "And they were right. I would have."

 

_____

 

"Here."

 

"What's this for?" Jack looked at the shell-shaped piece of pseudo plastic Daniel had just placed in his hand.

 

"Water. Can't exactly stick our heads in the barrels and slurp."

 

"Ah. I see you've been shopping."

 

The puff of breath would probably have come out as a full blown chuckle, under other circumstances.

 

"Thanks." Jack turned the makeshift cup over, planning the best way to drink from this thing.

 

"Sure. Just wash it first." With no soap, and without using too much water.

 

"That hurt?" Jack nodded slightly, the direction of his eyes indicating Daniel's still slightly swollen lip.

 

Daniel shrugged. "Just a bit hard to sing. Or bite into apples. Neither of which I have to worry about yet."

 

As Daniel turned back towards the debris heaps, looking for anything else they could use, Jack stopped him with a hand on his neck. "Hey. You holding up okay?"

 

Daniel turned, standing up straighter, a poor demonstration fooling no one, then locked eyes with his CO. With a rueful smile he replied, "Better than being hanged."

 

Jack felt his gut pull, the image sharp and putrid. "Yes. Better than that."

 

"We've got shelter. Wine; a little bit of water. Bean paste curry… or something. What more could we want?" Daniel smiled blandly and turned back to the pile of waste.

 

"I like your attitude."

 

"Picked that up this morning. Somewhere… in here," Daniel kicked at the pile.

 

Yeah. Jack sighed. What would I do without you.

 

_____

 

Routines, however dreary, had formed by the third day. They'd found a stronger shelter, and while three of the rooms had either collapsed or were in danger of doing so, one room had a complete roof over it, where the wind and rain wouldn't get in too badly. The fourth wall had fallen, leaving them open to the elements, but they could minimize that with the few well-placed solid boards Teal'c had collected. The colonel had sent Major Carter out on the food hunt, knowing she would perk up for having contributed to the team's needs. So, by the third morning, Teal'c had found the home, Daniel the supplies, and Carter the food - five more unbroken ceramic jars from various residences. What was in them, they weren't yet sure, for all remained tightly sealed, a good sign. The residents had probably taken the rest with them, as much as they could carry. SG-1 had found the leftovers.

 

"I'm sorry, Sir. That's the rest of it. It's all there is." Carter's pained, apologetic eyes spoke a million regrets. However long those contents would last - a week, two maybe - she was internally witnessing the dismal end that awaited both herself and her team.

 

Jack met her gaze, eyes interlocking in a forlorn nonverbal understanding of sympathy. As much as he wanted to say, you did your best, he did not want to patronize or offend, for it would not change the final outcome, nor ease her misery. "Yeah. I know," was all he could muster, and the grief showed in his face.

 

But along with the meager jobs undertaken by his teammates, Jack had assigned one to himself as well - keeping a close eye on morale, his now number one self-appointed priority. And he'd done his share of work.

 

Another night having fallen, bringing with it shadows and firelight - thank goodness for lighters kept in pockets, and wooden debris - they dined on food rations and other minimal signs of dinner... namely, wine.

 

Clearing his mind of pessimistic visions of an unsavory, merciless future, Jack announced as cheerfully as he could, sitting down on the floor and patting a spot beside him as an invitation for any of the others, "Clear the table, kids, it's time for some quality entertainment."

 

Daniel threw him a wary look. "You've found the Simpsons on satellite?"

 

Internally, Jack smiled. "That's tomorrow's surprise. Tonight we play."

 

Teal'c's eyebrow rose. "O'Neill. Are you feeling well?"

 

"Just fine, Teal'c. Come. Sit." Jack looked around at their confused faces while no one moved. "Poker, anyone?" From his pockets he pulled a couple of large lumpy packages, and tossed them on the ground at the base of his crossed legs. It was good to hear the sound of light laughter.

 

"You made a deck of cards, Jack?" Daniel grinned, plopping himself down on the hard floor, now free of debris, more or less. The cards lay in a scattered pile, made of ripped …something. Not quite cardboard or plastic, but this world's facsimile. Coasters? Placemats? The suits were penned with …

 

"What did you use, Jack?" Leaning forward Daniel squinted, aiming to see more clearly.

 

"Mud and pepper paste." Just a finger full; couldn't afford to waste the stuff.

 

"Huh?"

 

"You'd be surprised what one can do with bright spicy food. Just wait 'til I get to the Christmas decorations." Jack rubbed his hands together, still waiting for Carter and Teal'c to join them. "Ready, kids?"

 

_____

 

It had been a good night, again, second in a row of two. They'd laughed.

 

Sam had strayed a little way in the dark, when the others had declared lights out - lack of lights notwithstanding - in the pretense of relieving herself. It had felt good to laugh. But laughter was another pretense, for she knew the guys were watching her, noticing her distance, her lack of involvement, her self-absorption. She knew they noticed and she despised herself for giving them more to worry about. But the fact was, she was certain at least some of that radiation had to have drifted over from the continent, and she had no idea how bad it might be. Without her equipment, she was at a loss to know…but she needed to know. Not that they could do anything but prepare for the worst, but at least if there was nothing to worry about… she wanted to know.

 

When Daniel had started pinching the bridge of his nose tonight during the card game…

 

"Sam?"

 

She spun around, heart pumping hard. "God, Daniel, you scared me."

 

"I didn't mean to."

 

"I know." Here in the dark in a graveyard full of ghosts, there was little that didn't make her jumpy. She shivered; the nights here were breezy - and smelly - and they had no extra clothing or blankets. She was grateful for Daniel's warm comforting arm around her, now.

 

"You okay?" Even in his nonchalance, his voice carried concern. "You were gone a while. Jack's asleep." And Teal'c keeps to himself at night. "I was worried."

 

"I'm fine, Daniel." No way was she going to tell any of them about her fears. They didn't need more of their own. "How about you? You looked like you had a headache tonight." Pretend that was nothing more than an offhand remark. Simple small talk.

 

"Just a little one. I think playing in that dim light hurts my eyes."

 

Sam nodded, grasping the hand that was hanging over her right shoulder, putting her other around his waist. She stood with Daniel for a few moments longer. Or maybe it was minutes.

 

"I know you're not here for the fresh air, Sam."

 

"Just thinking."

 

"You can do that inside."

 

She nodded. Turning, they walked back to the partial house, still entwined.

 

_____

 

"Sir…"

 

"Carter?" Jack waited, rising from where he sat, for Sam looked tense. There was something she had to get off her chest, something difficult.

 

The brightness of the day shone through the holes in the wall, illuminating her tired eyes. The lethargic look seemed to be in this year. Didn't suit her, yet she wore it well.

 

"Sir, I don't want Daniel picking through the garbage any more." She should have told Daniel herself last night, but thought he'd shrug off her concerns. Between that, and the possibility of radiation poisoning for them all… but Daniel had been the one with the headache, and this was one thing she could do something about.

 

"Because…?" Jack's eyes narrowed as he squinted, not because of the light. That wouldn't go over so well with Daniel. And Carter giving orders was unusual, to say the least.

 

"Because there's a good chance some of it's contaminated."

 

Jack straightened up, his gaze penetrating and sharp. "And we've been using what he's found."

 

"After washing it," Sam agreed, "but we're all taking a chance. And Daniel had a headache last night."

 

"I thought that. He told you?"

 

She nodded. "I'm worried about him."

 

"I'll talk to him."

 

_____

 

This time it took longer for Jack to locate his archeologist, and he'd been starting to get worried. Daniel had been wandering farther and farther into the ruins, and there was still the danger of collapsing buildings. The scary thing was, Daniel knew that.

 

He'd had to use his radio, once. Daniel had been less than thrilled to have been checked up on. Jack had been even less enthusiastic about potentially finding him some day buried under rubble. The radios stayed.

 

For a moment Jack paused, observing.

 

The sun shone against Daniel's back, highlighting the shadows where his bent form creased his clothes. Daniel picked at some object that had caught his eye, then dropped it back onto the rubble heap. In his crouched position, Daniel looked like a little boy, lost and alone.

 

Jack knew he had to do something about that.

 

_____

 

"Why not?" Daniel was getting defensive.

 

"Carter thinks it could be contaminated. And I happen to agree. I don't want you out here any more."

 

"Jack, we need things. We have nothing."

 

Jack held his ground, and his gaze. "No, Daniel, we don't have nothing. We have each other, and I'd like to keep it that way." With that utterance, he knew he'd made an impact.

 

Daniel hadn't been expecting that, not from Jack. But in his heart he'd felt the same thing, knowing that if - when - something happened out here to one of his teammates, and it would, eventually, there would be nothing to compare to the desolation and despair. And that was probably what BinnEd and company had hoped for. But the emotions already roiling within were taking their toll, and it had only been five days. He'd kept his mind off things by digging through the piles of rubble and debris, knowing that he was contributing, knowing he was doing something important for his friends. Every once in a while he'd even find something that gave him insight into these people's lives, told him who they were, and suddenly - just for a minute - he was an archeologist again. Now, that was being stripped from him, for a reason that was probably inevitable no matter what. One day, some day, this place was going to make them sick. Daniel was as aware of that massive gamma radiation filling the gate room that day as Sam was, but he was not going to share his concerns on this nightmare of a planet. A nightmare that they had caused.

 

"So what, Jack?" He demanded a little too roughly. "I'm just supposed to sit around all day, waiting for… what? Waiting for what, Jack? A rescue? Right. Waiting for supper? You tell me, what the hell is there to do here?" And God, he was sorry for the outburst the moment it spurted out. Jack didn't deserve to be vented on, and he could see he'd had taken that too personally. No Jack, it's not you. And just as he was about to apologize, Jack retaliated, in his own way.

 

"No, there's nothing to do. We can't be rescued, we can't go home. All I want is for you to stay healthy by not rummaging through potentially contaminated debris. I wish, I wish, Daniel, that I could get you all back home, that you could be happily researching your books right now in your office, having had a good steak and an even better night's sleep. But I've been finding my wishes a little too hard to cope with these days." Jack paused for a breath, trying to calm his blood pressure. His voice had sounded far louder than he'd intended, and he was immediately sorry. Why had he just taken out his frustrations on Daniel? The last thing he wanted here was to bring Daniel down, the one person here who he'd always be able to confide in. The one person he could still count on for a bit of light-hearted conversation. He knew Daniel just wanted something to keep him busy, something to keep him feeling useful. This, he didn't need.

 

Jack sighed, resignation in his voice. All he wanted was to keep Daniel safe. All he wanted was not to lose him. "What do you want from me, Daniel?"

 

For a brief moment, surprise flitted across Daniel's face, turning quickly again to sorrow and regret. His voice now quiet, he seemed almost calm, in comparison to his counterpart's outburst.

 

"Nothing." Daniel paused, then shook his head dolefully. "I don't expect anything from you, Jack." But that wasn't what he meant, the way it sounded; the hurt in Jack's face wasn't worth this, was worth an explanation. He needed Jack, nothing from him, needed him to stick around as well. Maybe it was because of their connection, the one he always took for granted, always presumed would be there, that he'd been so quick to vent. Jack would easily understand, wouldn't he? "I know you're…I know you've done everything you possibly could, Jack."

 

"I've tried, Daniel." Jack's voice was tight. "And so have you."

 

"But if I can't find things for us any more," Daniel's melancholy hung in the air, "What am I going to do?"

 

The answer fell out of the blue, surprising even Jack. "You're going to help me make a chess set."

 

Daniel found himself grinning, the release of tension as good as a coffee high. "I can do that."

 

_____

 

They'd made two checker boards, so that they could all play at once. And then chess, the pieces made from different sized stones; those, Jack had allowed Daniel to collect. Days were otherwise idle; Carter had gathered about as much food as she was going to find, Teal'c lifted boards for the exercise, in the pretense of cleaning up their yard, then their street. Jack and Daniel played chess.

 

But they all knew that this was a temporary lull in the tension; hiding just below the surface of emotions was the lingering, lurking fear that their time was almost up.

 

Daniel stood at the end of the road, gazing out over the stagnant waters that carried the debris of two hundred families, the one-time beach now a smelly sludge.

 

"Water water everywhere, but not a drop to wash with."

 

Their water was running low, and reaching deep into the barrels would soon have to give way to tipping the barrels over. They had only their one spare left.

 

Daniel turned around. "Didn't hear you coming."

 

"I know."

 

Jack joined his friend. "Penny for your thoughts."

 

"Don't waste your money."

 

"Why not? It's no good to me here. And hey, I'd put my money on you any day." Not seeing a smirk, or even a glint of surprise, Jack grieved for the old easy-going Daniel. And for himself, while he was at it. No sense wasting a good grieve. "C'mon, give. Apart from the local chess champion, I'm also the local shrink."

 

As Daniel scoffed, Jack shrugged. "Promoted myself. You want to be mayor?"

 

The sigh was loud and not unexpected. "What's going to happen to us, Jack? When we have nothing left."

 

Forget the penny, Daniel hit the thousand dollar question mark, and Jack's heart lurched. Don't go there, Daniel. "First of all, we'll never have nothing left. We…" Nope, wasn't going to say it a second time, it sounded corny even to his own ears.

 

"Have each other?" Daniel's lip turned slightly upward, releasing a degree of tension.

 

"Wasn't going to say it."

 

"I know."

 

"Anyway, what we're going to do, Daniel, is not think about it. And then when we can no longer not think about it, what we're going to do…" Jack hesitated, an arm easing around Daniel's shoulders, "Is play checkers."

 

"Play checkers."

 

"Checkers. And cards, Daniel." Because there won't be anything else.

 

_____

 

Jack lay in the darkness, trying to keep his eyes closed so as not to witness the shadows creeping in through that large gaping expanse of hole in the far wall. The boards only made matters worse, at night. Tonight, the wind was whipping in as well, and Jack tried not to imagine the groaning as ghosts scolding him for leaving Bauer in charge. It wasn't my fault, he insisted on reminding them.

 

Tonight, there was no sleep. The winds, the cold air, the sounds and the lighting made for the creepiest slide show he could ever dream up. Judging by the more human sounds in the room, those of his teammates who had managed to fall asleep were having their own persistent dreams.

 

Daniel had had another headache, or maybe it was just the same one, long and continuous. He'd stopped rubbing his eyes when Jack was caught looking, however. The colonel had reason to suspect he was not alone with the issue, as his own head had an unpleasant sensation of dull throbbing, and Carter's eyes always looked tired and heavy. Stomach pains were already a constant in each of them, not that anyone complained or discussed it. Basic to the fact was that health matters would never improve with a steady diet of monotonous food paste and dried something. They all suspected that the paste was meant to be used in cooking, and not as a substantial meal in and of itself.

 

But none of that was the problem. The thing that was keeping him awake was something even more haunting; his conversation with Daniel. Not thinking about it didn't stop it from happening. What would they do when there was nothing left? That time was coming due sooner than the library books sitting on top of his TV.

 

____

 

Jack had never believed in "in the nick of time". That amounted to nothing more than luck, and luck was too hard a thing to rely on. Wasn't really a thing at all, but a concept, and concepts he left up to people like Daniel and Carter.

 

Which meant this was the threat, not a supply run. Bastards.

 

"Jack!" One of Daniel's hands had grabbed Jack's sleeve, tightly; the other was pointing into the sky. The look on Daniel's face was almost one of…. joy, his eyes brightly glossed and lips parted. Gray as it was today, showing up a little darker was the form of too uniform a cloud, unnaturally cylindrical in shape.

 

The relief in Daniel's chest was such a tangible sensation he could have been standing under the only spot of sunshine during a thunderstorm. Was this a rescue? Or had they had a moment of weakness, deciding to bring water, food? The team was down to two unopened jars. The menu had been less than comforting the past nine days, and they'd all been avoiding the issue. No sense in dwelling on the inevitable. There was nothing they could do…but play games and pretend they were all fine.

 

What Daniel didn't realize was that Jack had already seen it, had dreaded this moment for days, was already trying to settle the disgust in the recesses of his mind, madly scavenging for a plan, in preparation for a rendezvous he wasn't sure they could deal with.

 

On the other hand… if there was any way off this island, any deal to be made, even for his teammates if not himself, Jack knew he'd sell his soul to BinnEd or whoever was manning that vessel. "Some day, we may return to check on you. If you are still alive, we will use these." He hadn't expected that some day to be so soon, or even at all. An idle threat, when hearts had still been so heavy.

  

Sam and Teal'c had wandered over, hopeful looks on their faces, too. How to make someone happy, Jack thought. Bring him water. He had been more than worried lately about their situation, his fears getting the better of him at the worst of times, and he knew his crankiness was unfair to the others. Carter had continued to be moody, Teal'c even more distracted and silent than usual. Daniel would joke with him, and then go off, unobtrusively or so he'd thought, to pout and daydream, and tend to his hurting head. Jack had watched them all, watched them watching each other, and had not made enough of an attempt to curb his own dour temper. And he was sorry for it every time, just not out loud. Worry for the life of his friends tended to do that to him.

 

Yes, he had caught them in their moments, when they'd thought no one was looking. Teal'c in his silent stance, staring at nothing. Carter, with her head in her hands, thinking no one was around. Daniel, sneaking out to the ever-present debris fields, sliding his feet under and around the shallower messes, hoping to find something that could make their existence easier. Jack watched, seeing a little bit of the archeologist still loitering in Daniel's soul. Let him search, if it made him happy. There was little other source of enjoyment left these days, despite the games, when sometimes they would laugh. If Daniel was getting sick from contaminated refuse, he was probably still going to die of starvation or dehydration first.

 

He despised having to shatter their hopes.

  

"Go," Jack hissed. "Get out of here. Scatter and hide, all of you."

 

His friends looked at him in confusion.

 

"What?"

 

"Sir?"

 

"Go! Run, just go; no matter what happens, keep out of view." Or play dead? BinnEd would probably just shoot them full of holes, just to make sure.

 

The strange order given, Carter and Teal'c did as told. They would think it was a precaution; he hadn't mentioned anything about BinnEd's final words. There were certainly enough places to disappear, if one didn't want to be found. What worried Jack more was that they'd come out, if any threat were to be made against him. He knew they'd be watching.

 

"Jack?" Daniel hung back, concern and suspicion filling his eyes. "What's going on?"

 

The aircraft was making its approach, the vehicle growing so large in its proximity that it was almost scary.

 

"Daniel, get out of here!" Panic was emerging now; there was no way Jack would let any of his team be killed by an outraged, vengeful mob, no matter what their prospects were here on this desolate island. The supplication in his eyes told Daniel all he needed to know.

 

"I'm standing with you, Jack."

 

Their eyes met in solid understanding, and Jack's voice was pleading, soft. "Please, Daniel. Just do this. For me." It might be the last thing I ask.

 

Daniel stood his ground for several moments, then took off at a jog. The gratitude Jack felt nearly made him smile.

 

The aircraft came in low, hovering but not landing. Still a good three feet off the ground, BinnEd and Shakarpia jumped down, joined by another man he did not recognize, lingering in the background. BinnEd held a P90, loosely.

 

"So, you're still alive." BinnEd almost looked pleased, or was that a figment of Jack's imagination. Gloating over the enforced incarceration and living conditions? "The others?"

 

"Gone. Come all this way to bury us, did you?" Jack's contempt for the guy was churning his gut.

 

"No. Actually, we've come to get you." He looked around. "Where are the others?"

 

For the briefest of moments, hope and relief mingled with the fear. Was this a trick to lure them out?

 

"If you've decided to hang us, I think we'll decline the invitation." Even without water, he'd rather die here playing chess with Daniel.

 

BinnEd looked thoughtful, his head cocked. For a moment he didn't speak. "No. You're going home." As he raised his hand holding the weapon, Jack took a step back.

 

BinnEd handed it to him.

 

Disbelief flitted across Jack's face so briefly, before he'd checked it under suspicion, that he doubted the men had noticed. "Our home, you mean? Alive?" Had to be a catch in there somewhere. "Why?"

  

BinnEd remained impassive, his eyes roaming across the landscape, observing the remains of the place where he'd spent so many happy years. "Those you sent us to spoke well of you, especially one named Kegan. They said you helped them escape a life of underground slavery."

 

"Put in a good word, did they? That's us, helping everyone we meet." He'd have to remember to thank Daniel for making friends with Kegan. A girl on every planet worked for him, sometimes. Or for Daniel. And what worked for Daniel worked for him. He pressed a button on his radio. "It's okay, kids."

 

From various directions, movement behind broken walls indicated the approach of the rest of SG-1.

 

BinnEd showed no surprise, waiting for the others. He observed their haggard appearance, eyeing them fully. "We then contacted your Earth with the address and communication device you'd left them. We asked for the one who'd given the order to send the bomb. We planned to hang him."

 

Jack didn't bother stifling a chuckle. Damn, he'd missed that request being made. "Yeah, join the club. I'm sure that went over well."

 

"I would enjoy witnessing this as well, if you have not yet carried out the procedure." Teal'c had arrived, Daniel and Sam only a step behind.

 

Jack shot him a startled look.

 

Now all seven stood there, each looking from one to the other. Jack still wasn't sure BinnEd spoke the truth. Could he trust these people with his friends' lives? Did he have a choice?

 

"SO." Jack broke the awkward silence. "Bringing us an invitation to a hanging?" Why are you here? Not that he was going to complain, the sooner they got into that aircraft the better, as long as he had a guarantee there were no nooses being sold at the welcome site.

 

"They didn't acquiesce to that." Daniel's statement was only half curiosity; no way would the SGC have handed over General Bauer. The other half of his question though, the one that remained hanging in the air, unasked, was, So why are you taking us back? In his mind, as in Jack's, something was up, something he was afraid of for his team. What was going on?

 

"No, they didn't send him. But your leaders opened the Ring again to talk, and the one called General Bauer spoke with us through your device."

 

Jack's eyes narrowed, his forehead creasing; Bauer had given them the time of day? The general's feelings towards SG-1 had been so much less than…respectful.

 

"He did?" The utterance issued from Daniel. The president himself could have jumped down from that terrak right this minute and Daniel would not have looked more stunned.

 

"He explained that none of you were at fault. You tried to stop him and he wouldn't listen, threatening to have you removed from the facility. He accepted the blame and is presently incarcerated in a cell on your own world, awaiting trial."

 

Through Daniel's own flurry of emotions, he noticed Jack pulsing through the same incredulity and bewilderment. Neither one of them had an easy time keeping their faces from expressing their innermost thoughts, even though Jack usually managed to contain his more quickly. While he was not in a position to witness Sam's reaction, Daniel knew she had to be going through the same shock as the rest of them. "That's, that's… wow." Doctor Jackson, speechless.

 

By now Jack was fully grinning. He didn't know how it happened, but Thank you George! Hammond had wanted to do something to repay him, seems like he'd found the perfect way. But Bauer hadn't been court-martialled when they'd left; how had this happened in only nine days? Was it because everyone now knew there had been life on that planet, human life, and Bauer had killed hundreds of thousands of people? War criminals didn't go over well, especially in the U.S military.

 

"My people have discussed this at great length. We've agreed you should be returned to your home world."

 

Now Jack's smile was real. His hands on Carter's and Daniel's backs, guiding them toward the terrak, expressed the warmth of hope and relief, instead of the solace and powerlessly fake reassurance of the past week and a half. His consolation now was thankfully genuine.

 

_____

 

The gray dinginess of an underground complex had never looked so inviting or beautiful. The faces greeting them as they walked through the gate were the most welcome and pleasant sight SG-1 could have asked for, at that moment.

 

"General." Jack's huge grin went unchecked, as he walked ahead of his teammates down the ramp. "So good to be back. You have no idea. No idea."

 

"Oh, I think I do, Colonel. Welcome back, SG-1." Hammond was smiling widely as well.

 

"Thank you, General." There had never been a moment of more gratitude filling Daniel's eyes.

 

"General, how did you get Bauer to clear us and admit he was wrong?" Jack walked at Hammond's side as they approached the exit of the gate room, his team only steps behind, eavesdropping. "And get him court-martialled?"

 

"I didn't."

 

Jack stopped in his tracks, uncomprehending. "Sir?"

 

Hammond shook his head, his expression turning - to anyone who knew him well - sheepish, and to anyone who didn't, reflective and somewhat less than thrilled. "He didn't come, Jack. But there were numerous personnel on base who were willing to impersonate him." Hammond resumed his pace, speaking over his shoulder to a stupefied SG-1. "You can thank Sergeant Siler later. And SG-1? Keep this within the mountain."

 

SG-1 watched Hammond round the corner, out of sight, faces bathed in humorous shock.

 

"Oh." Daniel's mouth was still partly open.

 

"Yeah."

 

"Well… it worked."

 

"Good thing we didn't put those people on an uninhabited planet. Thanks for thinking up P3R…2… 672, Daniel." Or SG-1 would still be abandoned on Satarka. Jack shuddered involuntarily. "Shower, infirmary, steak and beer?" He asked eagerly, observing his teammates with euphoric triumph.

 

"Then perhaps a game of cards." Teal'c withdrew a stack of dilapidated pseudo-cardboard rectangles from his pocket, to the welcome sound of three teammates chuckling.

 

"Souvenirs, Teal'c?"

 

"Indeed." Teal'c marched past them through the gate room exit. And something to be analyzed by the labs, to make certain that there was little to worry about with regards to contamination in the debris. O'Neill and Major Carter would no longer have to worry about Daniel Jackson, nor would he.

 

Daniel, Jack, and Sam stared at his departing form, then turned to each other. For a moment, no one said a word. This time, it seemed, no words really were needed.

 

Yet, there was one thing still on their CO's mind. Maybe he could say it now without sounding patronizing. "No guilt, Carter?"

 

Daniel held his breath, and focussed on his female teammate.

 

It was a moment before Sam could respond. "Hundreds of thousands of people, Colonel."

 

"Yes, Carter. There's blame, but not on your part any more than on mine or Daniel's or General Hammond's." Who'd be eating himself up over this, no doubt. Worse, had he lost his first contact team.

 

Slowly, slowly Carter shook her head. "No, Sir. No more than that."

 

With a slightly crooked grin Jack clapped her on the shoulder. "Good." She'd be okay. "Should we invite the general for a game of souvenir cards tonight?"

 

"Not a fair game, Jack. He doesn't know about the spice marks on the back of the ace of spades, the torn corner of the queen of diamonds, the uneven tears in th - "

 

Jack was staring at Daniel, and interrupted. "You were memorizing them?"

 

Daniel blushed. "Couldn't help it. Weren't you?"

 

"No."

 

"No?"

 

"No."

 

"Really?"

 

"Maybe just the King of Hearts, but I swear that was it."

 

"What about you, Sam?"

 

Sam's eyes went wide, and she slipped past them into the corridor.

 

After watching her disappear around the corner, a maybe not-so-much bemused Jack turned to Daniel. "You're right, not fair for Hammond." He started through the exit. "Let's invite Siler."

 

And let him win? Daniel wondered, jogging after Jack, realizing they still didn't know anything about that planet they'd gated to, Erothius.

 

---

 

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Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of MGM Global Holdings Inc, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Film Corp. I have written this story for entertainment purposes and no copyright infringement is intended. Any original characters, situations, and storylines are the property of the author.