Author's Note: I saw "The Other Side" last night on Stargate Monday, and this was just begging to come out. Don't worry, chapter 2 of Infinities is still coming. This one's going to be short.

Stargate SG-1: Back From the Other Side

By: TheGateNerd

"It could have all been yours!" Alar screamed, after O'Neill had driven the flight of attack craft he'd controlled into the ground above the buried base.

O'Neill turned and fired a glare at Alar. "I wouldn't follow us, if I were you." He growled menacingly. When we get back to the SGC, I'm going to make it damned obvious that I think Daniel was right. Least I could do, given how badly I fucked up early on. O'Neill thought darkly as the team ran to the 'gate. O'Neill ignored Alar's cry of "No!" as Major Carter dialed the 'gate. When the wormhole flashed into existence, he yelled for Daniel and Teal'c to go. After the two of them vanished into the wormhole, Carter and O'Neill were caught in a brief firefight with a few remaining Eurondan guards.

As O'Neill and Carter were about to enter the gate, Alar came running to the Stargate. "Wait! Wait!" O'Neill and Carter stop and turn, both glaring at Alar. "I could teach you everything I know!" Alar pleaded, "Just let me come with you!" O'Neill's face remained stone-hard. "Please!" Alar tried one final time. O'Neill and Carter just turned and walked into the wormhole. Alar quickly followed them.

At the SGC, Carter came through the 'gate first, followed by O'Neill. Quickly, O'Neill ordered the control room to close the iris while looking at Carter. General Hammond, who had been waiting in the control room, ordered Sargeant Harriman to follow O'Neill's instructions. The iris closed, and Harriman winced when the control screen indicated an impact against the iris. Hammond noticed, then walked down to the gateroom. Upon his arrival, he noticed that his two top officers were just standing there, looking at each other with unreadable expressions on their faces. Hammond looked at O'Neill. "I take it, Colonel, that you were unable to procure any of the Eurondan technology?" He questioned.

O'Neill swung his gaze over to look at his commanding officer. "That's correct, sir." He acknowledged baldly.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Hammond said.

O'Neill looks back at Carter. "Don't be." He murmurs. Carter looks back at him, and they continue to stare at each other.

Uncomfortably aware that this mission may have had an adverse effect on his prime team, Hammond stated that the usual post-mission debriefing would take place in one hour.

An hour later, the team reassembled in the conference room next to Hammond's office. Hammond could tell that tensions between O'Neill, Carter and Dr. Jackson were even stronger than they had been immediately after the team's return. "Colonel, perhaps you'd like to tell me what happened back there?" Hammond prompted.

O'Neill looked first at Daniel, then at Hammond. "First off, sir, I need to clear the air between Daniel and I. Daniel, you were right from the beginning, and I officially offer my apologies for saying some things I probably shouldn't have said." O'Neill fixed Daniel with a rueful half-smile that immediately made Daniel relax. Things were going to be all right. "You did good, Danny." O'Neill's use of one of his favorite nicknames for the linguist was calculated to inform the rest of the team and General Hammond that that problem was resolved.

Hammond relaxed slightly. Now to deal with whatever's bothering Major Carter, he thought. "Major, do you have something you'd like to contribute?" He asked gently. Ever since the team's return an hour ago, Major Carter had been looking at Colonel O'Neill with an expression that almost looked like... betrayal? The same look was on her face now as she took a breath.

"Just prior to our return through the gate," Carter began, "Alar begged us to allow him to come through the 'gate with us. We stepped through. You know what happened when we got to this side." Carter sounded like she was fighting to keep her tone even. "Sir, I believe that the impact against the iris when it closed was Alar. He came through after us, and Colonel O'Neill let him die." At this, the glare she aimed at Colonel O'Neill left no doubt that she felt betrayed.

Daniel stepped in. "Sam, under the circumstances, I'm not sure I wouldn't have done exactly the same thing. Alar tried - and very nearly succeeded, I might add - to manipulate us into giving him the supplies he needed to commit genocide on a mass scale." Daniel finished with a disgusted frown.

Hammond sat up. "Genocide?" He said, stunned.

"Indeed, GeneralHammond," Teal'c said, "The conflict that we encountered was between the Eurondans, who were all fair of skin and hair, and the other inhabitants of their world, which were different from the Eurondans. Prior to ColonelO'Neill requesting that DanielJackson continue to ask questions of Alar, the Eurondan requested that I remain here. Alar appeared... uncomfortable with my appearance, and it seemed to have nothing to do with the fact that I am Jaffa." Teal'c's voice and manner appeared normal, but General Hammond had known the man long enough to realize that the large warrior approved of Alar's final fate.

Something about this near-fiasco still bothered the general, though. "Are you telling me that we very nearly participated in giving another Hitler with the means to carry out his agenda?" Hammond asked incredulously.

At this, Major Carter's face paled. Oh, god, she thought, horrified, the General's right. We almost helped a monster do something so horrible that, if the SGC ever does go public, we'd be torn apart in the press. And I'm not so sure that they'd be wrong. She looked at O'Neill, who was now looking at her with an expression that told her that he knew what she was thinking. He probably does. "Sir, I -"

O'Neill held up a finger. "Ah! Don't apologize, Carter. I'm not too thrilled about how this went down either. If I'd just listened to Daniel in the first place, I wouldn't be responsible for someone getting splashed against a closed iris."

Carter remembered what he'd told her before they'd made contact with Alar. "Not your fault, sir. Move on," she said with a slight smile on her face. The rest of the team and Hammond, who had also been in the control when the Colonel had told her the same thing, smiled back. Yes, things would indeed be all right.

End.

Notes: Dialogue from the episode is courtesy of the SG-1 transcript site at