O'Neill was sitting by his desk in the Pentagon. Before him were spread many classified cases which he had stopped being occupied with a while ago. Now his eyes were focused on a certain spot on the wall ahead of him. He'd been reflecting on a matter that seemed to be very amusing to him for a smile had appeared on his lips.
"General O'Neill, sir?" said a voice next to him that brought him back to reality from his thoughts.
"General," the voice repeated. "You have a phone call waiting for you from General Landry." It was his assistant. "
"Thanks Mike," O'Neill said.
"Sir!" The young soldier saluted and left the office.
O'Neill picked up the phone. "Hank! How are you, you old coot?"
"I'm okay, umm...Jack?"
Suddenly there was a silence on the other side of the line. It seemed as though Landry was picking his words very carefully, to say the least. It was enough to send a stream of shivers up and down Jack's spine and he understood that something was definitely wrong. As the General started speaking, he had Jack's full attention.
"Jack, I thought you would like to know that SG1 has fallen to one of Ba'al traps while on a normal recon mission. I sent SGs 3 and 5 after them. There is still no news of their situation but they are scheduled to return very soon…"
"I'm on my way to the base," Jack interrupted with a concerned look on his face. "Thanks Hank," he added and quickly left his office.
"Incoming traveler, incoming traveler!" announced Sergeant Harriman as the Stargate began its movement.
"Is it SGs 3 and 5?" asked Gen. Landry as he entered the control room.
"Still no signal sir...wait! It's SG3's signal sir, they are under heavy fire!"
"Defense teams stand by! They're coming in under fire, watch our men!" called the General to the defense teams inside the gate room.
"We're coming in!" SG3's leader shouted into the radio.
"Copy that... we're ready. Medical teams to the gate room, stat!" yelled Landry to the loudspeaker system as gunfire came from the Stargate. Suddenly, all members of teams 3 and 5 entered with Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, both injured. When the last man came through the gate Landry gave the order to close the iris soon followed by the sergeant's announcement of "closing the iris". Gen. Landry immediately went down to the gate room.
"Sir, we rescued Dr. Jackson and Teal'c, they both require medical attention, and some of my men are also suffering from minor injuries," reported Colonel Reynolds.
"Take them to the infirmary. What about Col. Carter?"
"We assume she's been captured by Ba'al. When we arrived we saw Dr. Jackson and Teal'c lying on the ground. We started to treat them when a group of Jaffa came at us in a frontal attack. Apparently both men were left there as bait."
"Do you have an idea when or how she's been captured?"
"From what we figured from the locals," he continued "Col. Carter was taken aboard Ba'al's ship, which landed on the planet. We had neither the access to the place nor the time to get to the ship. Sir, the whole place is heavily fortified".
There was a long silence then somebody said, "Then we find a way in!!" It was Gen. Jack O'Neill.
"Jack, you arrived sooner than I had expected you to."
"How are Daniel and Teal'c?" he said, while turning his head from Gen. Landry to Dr. Lam, who had just entered with her medical team. "Teal'c is suffering from internal injuries and Dr. Jackson has a broken wrist and some flesh wounds," said Dr. Lam. "What does Ba'al want from Col. Carter?" He asked.
"We couldn't figure it out, sir," said Reynolds.
"Okay colonel, go to the infirmary and get yourselves checked, debriefing in one hour. Jack, may I have a word with you please?" Jack nodded with the same expression of worry on his face.
"Jack," started Landry "I know you are worried and we will do our very best to save Col. Carter".
"I know, that's why I'm joining this mission."
"Jack, you know I can't allow that with everything that has happened… the only reason I told you is because you've asked me to give updates on what is going on here, and I knew that news of your former teammates would be very important to you, that's it…""Hank!" "I…" started Landry, but as soon as he saw the look Jack gave him, he stopped.
"Hank, I have to go out there, no one in this base knows Ba'al's facility better than me!"
"I didn't say…" Gen. Landry looked at Jack amazed. "I didn't expect anything else Hank, he is using her to get to me."
Landry bent his head for a moment and said, "That's another reason why you shouldn't go over there. It only proves the fact that this is a trap…"
"Right, and that's exactly why we'll be able to prevent it..."
"Jack, I…" But before Landry could say another word he already got from Jack's eyes that there was nothing he, or anybody else for that matter, could do to change his mind. "Fine Jack, the moment SGs 3 and 5 return from the infirmary you will join them at the debriefing."
"Thanks Hank," O'Neill looked at him with a grateful smile on his face.
"Col. Reynolds, please describe for us the situation on that planet" Col. Reynolds got up from his seat and started speaking. "After we had picked up Daniel and Teal'c we had a significant number of Jaffa on our tails. I suppose that if we go there again they will be waiting for us at the gate."
"How many will be waiting for us at the fortress?" asked O'Neill.
"About fifteen were patrolling the territory but I'm sure there are many more."
Gen. Landry passed his gaze between Col. Reynolds and Gen. O'Neill with an obvious look of concern on his face. "Jack, I'm not sure about all this, this is hostile territory you're getting into with lots of Jaffa hanging around… it's not that I don't want to rescue Col. Carter but…"
Before he could finish O'Neill said, "It'll work!! We've been through this kind of stuff before, we have Intel on the outside of the fortress and no one knows its inside better than me!"
"Okay, okay… fine Jack, you won but I still need to do something about the Jaffa waiting for you at the gate, or this rescue mission will become a slaughter!"
"Why don't we use missiles?" suggested Daniel Jackson who was standing at the door of the debriefing room. "Dr. Jackson, you should be in the infirmary recovering."
"Yea, I get that a lot," he said and gave Jack a very meaningful look.
Jack, at his side, grinned slightly and said "I didn't expect it to come from you, space monkey, but it can work, it's been done before."
Landry passed his look from Jack to Daniel and nodded in agreement. "Sergeant! I need two missiles with a GPS capability brought to the gateroom ASAP! Jack, get your team ready, you're leaving at 1800 hours."
