Notes:

Although this is based after "Full Circle" and would therefore make it Season 7, it's AU because I hadn't seen Season 7 when I came up with this story and started writing it. I also tend to avoid spoilers, so I don't know what's going to be happening in the canonical Stargate universe. I do know that Daniel Descends with memory loss. That's all I know so if you haven't seen Season 7, this story should still be readable. However, I do reference Season 1-6 episodes heavily during the course of this story.

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"Oh yeah. We're in Kansas alright" O'Neill muttered as he slid to a stop at the top of the dusty embankment and stared down at the plateau below him. So far, nothing about this mission had gone to plan and he had only been here for 15 minutes.

You were expecting something different this time? It's Tok'ra organised for crying out loud. He shook his head and looked over his shoulder. He held Selmak to a higher standard than other Tok'ra. His current host had been a General in the US Air Force, after all. "You'd think it would count for something" he muttered, exasperated.

Jacob gave him a steady, challenging stare as he caught up, recognising the look on the Colonel's face even if he hadn't heard the words. Whatever quip the Tok'ra was about to unleash, however, froze on his lips as he stared past O'Neill at the scene before him. He glanced at the Colonel, wordlessly.

"Kansas" O'Neill offered, dryly.

The responding sigh was double-toned and distorted. Selmak. O'Neill gave him a challenging stare of his own but it was Jacob who glared right back. Apparently symbiote and host were united against the Colonel this time so he silently turned his attention to the rest of SG-1 as they finally reached the top and paused to catch their breath.

"Oh my" Carter commented as she took in the sight below her.

"Are we sure this isn't some kind of battle zone?" Quinn asked, staring.

"There do not appear to be signs of weapons discharge, Jonas Quinn" Teal'c observed, eyes narrowed against the dull cloudy sky as he scanned the landscape quickly.

The Kelownan's eyes narrowed as he took in the scene before him again but it was Carter who spoke up. "Possibly a natural disaster. The ship's scans indicated tectonic instabilities in the region. There's a high concentration of pyroclast in the atmosphere consistent with recent geothermal activity"

O'Neill grunted a mild protest at her scientific rambling and she paused expectantly. Surprisingly, he didn't ask her to stop or clarify anything she had just said. Instead he was scanning back the way they had come, towards their small scout ship that had skidded to an untidy stop in the dusty, eroded soil a quarter of a mile away. Between that ship and this hill, they had see no animal life and no people. The soil was so dry it could have been sand. A monotonous, dirty, grey-brown sand.

Ahead of them, however, were signs of life - skeletal ghosts of trees, bushes that managed to cling to a few brown, rotting husks that had once been leaves; wispy strands of yellow-brown reeds that had probably originally been succulent green grass. It might have been scenic once - the plateau set against a backdrop of rugged mountains, wrapped in a light purple haze that must have been beautiful in their starkness and majesty but which were now hulking brown monsters leering in the distant ashy fog.

O'Neill dropped his gaze back to the rubble. There had been buildings here once, stone buildings. Temples, the Tok'ra archaeologists had told the SGC, perhaps similar to the ones found in the Himalayas Jacob had added for O'Neill's benefit. This had been the first statement of the mission that had irritated the Colonel and unfortunately, not the last. O'Neill didn't have the chance to compare, however. The buildings were shattered ruins. It was hard for his untrained eye to see exactly what the architecture had looked like when intact.

He turned to Jacob. "Okay, take us to 'em" he said shortly. Jacob nodded silently and led the way carefully down the hill, following a flattened path that had seen heavy, recent activity. Despite Teal'c's observation, he shifted his gun into a more accessible position, and heard Carter do the same. In front of him, he noticed that Jacob had already pulled free his zat gun. The Tok'ra wasn't taking any chances either.

As they reached the ruins, O'Neill slowed down and quickly gestured to the group behind him. On his signal, Carter split off, taking Teal'c and Quinn with her while the Colonel, accompanied by Jacob, moved off to a jagged pillar that had been part of a much longer wall, scanning the area warily.

He frowned. Still nothing. Not even Carter's team was detectable now, as if the ground itself had swallowed them up. Shaking off his unease at the unnatural stillness, he cautiously began to move into the first building. He didn't need to check on Jacob's progress. The Tok'ra host's military experience exceeded O'Neill's. He knew the drill too well to create unpredictable difficulties. Not like some others that O'Neill could have named.

As he silently reached for his flashlight and altered his grip to better control both gun and light, he found himself thinking of Kheb. There was something familiar about this layout, a ghost of sensation that made him uncomfortable.

The sense of impending doom as the Jaffa march out of the night to attack the sanctuary. Outnumbered, he fortifies the temple and prepares to batten down the hatches. There's no way in hell the Jaffa will take him down quietly.

He stepped abruptly around the bend in the wall, gun cocked, light scanning. Broken tiles on the floor, a shattered stool and the remains of a pillar. Assured the room was clear, he nodded curtly to Jacob and moved on, discovering the pattern repeated as he explored.

The breeze ruffled his hair as it brought with it the stale scent of burned-out embers. He froze briefly; senses peeled for danger or activity and felt, rather than heard, Jacob do the same.

Behind him, Daniel Jackson's urgent voice carries across the tense stillness that has descended, beseeching him to lower his weapons, that everything will be alright as long as he complies.

Finding none, O'Neill looked out across the dirt road to the buildings on the other side and noticed Carter signalling that all was clear at her end.

Trusting Daniel, he signals his team to obey and as he looks up, darkness crosses the moon, electricity builds and clouds roll.

Signalling an all clear himself, he stepped out into the road and the two groups met in the middle of the complex.

"Nothing, sir" Carter announced. "Abandoned ruins"

There's a sudden explosion of white light and the stench of burned flesh on the wind. The tension breaks with the weather, and suddenly... it's over.

"Oma 1, Jaffa 0"

"Sir?"

O'Neill blinked as he found himself the centre of attention and realised he had spoken those last thoughts out loud. He looked into Carter's expressive blue eyes, noticing the sudden mix of concern and puzzlement that was there.

Daniel... shoes.

O'Neill flashed her an irritated smile.

"It does indeed have many similarities to Kheb" Teal'c's voice was soft. They all glanced his way and found him staring at O'Neill. The Colonel's retort died on his lips at the oddly sombre expression in the dark eyes, startled that the Jaffa seemed so able to understand his current bleak mood.

Dropping Teal'c's gaze quickly, he changed the subject. "So, no Tok'ra then?"

"No sign of them, sir" Carter moved past the odd moment with her usual efficiency and frowned. "No sign of habitation, research or violence. They may as well have not been here, sir."

"What were the Tok'ra doing here again?" Quinn asked. He was frowning. Carter's eyebrows rose quizzically. She knew that expression. It always appeared on the Kelownan's face when he was trying to see the big picture but had realised that there were important pieces of the jigsaw missing.

"When the Tau'ri finally decided to share intelligence on the location of Kheb, the High Council realised it bore a similar description of some other places that our people had encountered over the years" Selmak replied. "With Kheb abandoned there was nothing for us to learn from the Ancients directly, although as Doctor Jackson reported, the writings were indeed an interesting, if not puzzling, approach to Ascension"

"Did they mean anything to you?" Carter asked.

"Unfortunately not, although we are working on it. Anise hopes they will give us insight into how a Goa'uld could have Ascended. Our archaeologists believe this is Shambhala, a sanctuary with a similar purpose to Kheb. So far, all that has been found is pottery that the Tok'ra have been unable to make sense of and evidence of primitive musical instruments"

Quinn was nodding. "I wondered about that. There aren't any writings here" he gestured back to buildings he had been exploring. "At least not over there" he glanced at O'Neill who frowned impatiently at him and continued quickly. "Well, if Kheb and this place were built for a similar purpose, wouldn't it stand to reason there were writings? Pottery is useful to archaeologists but it won't help if that's all that's been found" he shrugged. "So far I've seen no writing, no art, just broken bowls, sticks and furniture. If this is a place of learning.... where's the learning?"

O'Neill raised an eyebrow and looked expectantly at Carter. She looked taken aback. "I'm not an archaeologist, sir" she glanced at her father who bowed his head.

"It's the problem the Tok'ra have been running into" Jacob commented thoughtfully. "They were pretty much ready to abandon this place when we lost contact with them."

"What have they found so far?" Quinn asked. "I haven't even seen anywhere their finds were stored yet"

Jacob pointed up the dirt track. "A building near the Stargate. Just up there" he started to move off but was halted by O'Neill's indignant voice.

"Woah! Stargate? What Stargate?!"

"The one that's just up there, Jack" Jacob replied innocently and picked up the pace again.

Scowling, O'Neill fell into step with him. "You told us there was no Stargate" he snapped.

"Selmak told you the planet was unreachable by Stargate" Jacob corrected, dryly.

"And...?"

"And that's because the Stargate here doesn't seem to work. We don't know why. It doesn't have a DHD"

"What about manual dial or alternate energy sources, Dad? The SGC doesn't use a DHD either" Carter reminded him.

Jacob rounded the bend in the road and stopped. "See for yourself, Sam"

The bend in the road corresponded to a bend in the plateau itself, and as the rest of the plateau came into view, they could see the road came to an abrupt end at the foot of the local Stargate. Some distance away from the Stargate was a stone cottage although it was in ruins just like the rest of the buildings they had seen. The Stargate itself was set in a peculiar dais that appeared to be made out of the same material as the Stargate itself and from this distance appeared to be pitted and scarred by some kind of impact damage. Carter studied the area thoughtfully. There was no sign of any DHD and from where she was standing, she couldn't see any sign of there ever having been one.

Teal'c was the first to move forward, approaching the Stargate with a slight frown on his face. "Major Carter" he said suddenly and picked up his pace.

The Major hurried to catch up and the pair were already examining the Stargate closely by the time the others arrived. O'Neill paused, watching them all for several moments as Jacob and Quinn joined them, then made a decision. Leaving the others to do their work, he began to move towards the cottage, his ever-suspicious mind shifting into overdrive as he debated the ease at which this area could be defended should they still be walking into a trap.