STARGATE COMMAND - July, 1999

"Receiving SG-1's transponder code."

"Open the iris."

And so it was done. The reflective circular metal contraption retracted to its original state so that the incoming travelers, the SG-1 team, would be able to pass through safely. They emerged from the shimmering, aqua-like, wormhole only seconds later, looking like they had just gotten through the fight of their lives.

Jack and Samantha had come through first and both instinctually reached out to grab the side rails connected to the ramp. In what seemed like a fit of comedic timing, they both exhaled sighs of weariness and let their heads drop. Daniel and Teal'c reacted similarly, the former allowing himself to set down on the ramp itself and the latter gazing back to the gate, thankful that he had made it through in one piece.

In the upper room chamber overlooking the gate room, General Hammond couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow at the scene. He reached over to the to the PA system just as the gate's wormhole disengaged.

"SG-1", the General called out, "What's the situation?"

Jack lifted up his head first. "Nothing, sir, the mission went off spectacularly", he replied with a groan, "Just...there's no place like home."

The General exchanged skeptical glances with the other technicians around him.

"Quite", Hammond acknowledged, "Report for a debriefing in one hour."

The contingent of soldiers, as well as other technicians and analysts, then began to filter out of the room in their normal routine fashion. Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c, however, felt anything but normal or routine.

"Sir," Samantha asked of Jack as the activities quieted down, "Did we really just do all of that?"

"Don't know," Jack quipped, "Maybe Daniel knows?"

Daniel lifted his head, surprised at the comments. "Why are you guys asking me? You're the ones that did it."

"Indeed," Teal'c said, "Daniel Jackson and I were on the sidelines, watching with keen interest."

"Eh, keen? No. Interest? Definitely," Daniel corrected.

"Look", Jack said while throwing his arms up, "I think we can all agree, that that was a little on the embarrassing side. Now we have to find a way to tell the General that..."

"Sir!" Samantha quickly cut in, "Maybe we should talk about this away from everyone else?"

"That the Major and I had to participate in a potato sack race, in the dripping rain and mud, just to keep two very hostile peoples from killing each other!"

The SG-1 team had gathered away from prying eyes in Jack's quarters. Save for Teal'c, the rest of the team had been having a bit of a hard time trying to wrap their heads around the earlier events. How could something so serious have turned into something so...absurd?

Daniel snapped his fingers. "Oh, not to mention while stripped down to your..."

The expressions on Jack and Sam's faces were enough to shut Daniel up.

"Well, Daniel, since you seem to remember everything so clearly, I elect that you deliver the report to General Hammond," Jack said with a smirk.

"And how I am suppose to do that when I wasn't there to do any of the negotiating?" Daniel asked matter of fact. "One way or another, you guys are going to have to talk."

Jack and Sam knew they were beat, at least on that point. But Jack wasn't one to give up on a fight, even if it seemed hopeless.

"Oh sure, we'll have to say a word here and there," Jack explained, "But I'm sure you and Teal'c can get most of the particulars down. Right, Teal'c?"

The proud Jaffa warrior had not been paying attention to the current bickering. His sharp eyes gazed elsewhere, searching.

"Teal'c?" Samantha asked.

"Something's not right," Teal'c announced, and then looked at his friends as he added, "Can you not feel it?"

It was true. There was something wrong about...something. No one could put their exact finger on it, but as soon as Teal'c had mentioned it, it seemed like everyone else immediately became in tune with this increasing feeling of dread. No, it was worse than that. And the feeling itself magnified with each passing moment.

Daniel had never felt anything like this before. To him, it was almost painful. He doubled over and sank to his knees.

"Guys, uh, what's going on?" Daniel asked with an obvious fearful pitch to his voice.

Samantha reached out to support Daniel, but she too suffered the ill effects of...whatever this was. It reminded her of era in her life when she first faced live combat. No amount of training in the world had prepared her for that first day as a pilot, and the same proved true here.

Jack and Teal'c were no less affected, but managed to keep most of their composure. It took a lot for them just to keep standing, not to mention think of what to do next.

"Carter, Jackson, you stay here," Jack commanded, and then gestured to Teal'c, "Teal'c, with me!"

As the two soldiers ran down the halls of Stargate Command, they saw chaos breaking out in every corner. Battle hardened veterans, as well as those who had never seen real combat, cowered in the corners and generally reacted from some unseen terror. This combined with the base's klaxon system blaring over the loud speakers all mixed together for an environment of unparalleled pandemonium.

Jack and Teal'c found General Hammond in the armory, which was their first stop.

"Colonel!" Hammond cried out, "What the hell is going on around here? One minute everyone's fine, the next they're just..."

The General's words trailed off as he failed to find the appropriate explanation to summarize everything. Jack was just as easily stumped, and did the only thing he knew how to do in a hostile situation.

He reached for a P-90 Assault Rifle and jammed a full round into its unloaded chamber.

"General, we obviously have an intruder!" Jack finally replied, "We're gonna head to the Gate Room. Can you stand?"

Hammond nodded an affirmation. He too grabbed for a weapon, a Zat Gun. Teal'c followed suit by brandishing his weapon of choice, the Staff Weapon. All three men signaled that they were ready and cautiously made their way to the gate room.

The halls were still filled with terrified people, military and otherwise. It was a great exercise in self control not to simply shoot at anything that moved. This dreadful feeling, whatever it was, fed into the instinctual human perception of fight or flight. All three men knew that they would fight...it was just damn hard to keep going at this point.

Teal'c motioned for the trio to halt, and they did so unquestioningly. They each searched frantically for the presence that caused all of this chaos to begin with. It was then that Hammond caught sight of something moving on the ceiling. It was camouflaged, whatever it was, for it easily blended in with the surrounding area. But the quick snapping of some appendage, a tail of some sort, immediately alerted the General to its visual presence.

"Above at 12'o'clock!" General Hammond commanded.

Teal'c, Jack, and Hammond aimed and fired. Projectiles and energy alike struck at and around their target. The creature scurried away, only letting out an annoyed, beastly, grunt. The trio dashed after it as fast as their legs would carry them.

Their legs carried them into the gate room, where it seemed that they lost track of their target. Jack motioned for Teal'c and Hammond to take up strategic points at two other sides of the room. They followed the order and took up cover where they could. Even so, not one of them could spot even the tiniest hint of where the creature had gone.

The danger, though, had not passed. All three of them easily knew and felt that.

Teal'c's ears were the first to pick up on the rhythmic flapping that emanated from above the Stargate. Flapping...that meant the thing could...

Teal'c trained his staff weapon above the gate and let loose a barrage of shots. Each blast slammed into an invisible target, for not one bolt of energy hit into the wall behind the gate. Teal'c's marksmanship proved true, for in the next instant, the creature de-cloaked itself, and it looked far from being hurt.

All three men could not help but to widen their eyes. Surprise, shock, and disbelief colored their expressions as they faced down an enormous blue...dragon.Jack lowered his weapon for but a moment, long enough to realize that the sheer implausibility of the situation had become very plausible.

"Oh shi..."

The blue dragon seemed to smirk at Jack's expletive. And to add insult to injury, it ignored the three tiny men cowering before it and concentrated on the Stargate. It grasped the gate with one of its scaly claws and hefted the gate into the air with little effort, tearing the metallic ring from its riggings.

"Hey! Bad dragon!" Jack called out, "Put that back!"

The dragon turned an annoyed glare on Jack and bellowed a monstrous huff. Jack took several steps back in return. When his back collided against the gate room wall, he pointed a commanding finger at and gestured for the beast to set the gate down.

"Hey," Jack said in a warning tone, "I'm only gonna say this one last time. Put the..."

"Please," the dragon chuckled. "Don't make me laugh. Now, out of my way before I serve your tasty hide as a blue plate special with steak sauce."

As in fear as Jack was of the giant creature, even he had to pause for a moment and consider how he was just threatened.

"What?" Jack asked in a whisper.

The dragon paid him no more of its attention. It took both of its large hands and placed the 10 ton ring around its neck as if it were a hoola-hoop. And in an even more impressive display of its power, it soared into the air, crashing into the concrete roof above it as if it were air itself.Teal'c and General Hammond came out of their defensive positions afterward. Together, the three men stood staring, bewildered, at the now gaping hole in the ceiling that once enclosed the gate room.

"Teal'c..." Jack asked in disbelief, "Did we just get...gate-robbed?"

Teal'c blinked before replying. "Indeed."

0

Outside Cheyenne Mountain was as much pandemonium as there was inside. Reinforcements of armored vehicles, military personnel, and heavy artillery weapons placements stood outside ready and waiting for the opportunity to take down the invader.The wait, was not a long one.The blue dragon, with the Stargate around its necked, burst forth from the top of the mountain complex, several hundred feet above the military emplacements. All weapons were immediately trained on the beast and shot forth with all of the advanced power that human creation could muster.It turned out that human creation wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Bullets and exploding shells served to further annoy the dragon, who did little more than roar above the terrible sound of the weapons fire. There was a small pause in the barrage. The blue dragon smirked again and knew that this was his chance to show the puny mortals before him a mere sample of the power he commanded.A bolt of electric energy shot down from the dragon's maw. It easily turned the asphalt that the soldiers stood on into evaporated dust. Bits of super heated tar flew everywhere, stinging the poor soldiers that were close enough to be standing nearest to the energy bolt, and shattering windows on the armored vehicles.The dragon determined that he had frightened his victims enough for one day. With but a few flaps of his giant wings, he soared high above to Cheyenne Mountain's summit. He removed the Stargate from around his neck and tossed it away, effortlessly, to the mountain's peak. The 10 ton ring spun in a Frisbee-like fashion before slamming onto the mountain's surface. The impact of which created small tremors that were easily felt by the scrambling humans below.With but a magical wave of the hand, the blue dragon activated all 9 chevrons on the gate's structure. A wormhole formed, which was visibly seen by all, including Samantha, who had just now reached the outside surface alongside of Daniel.They both watched as the dragon spun around, gracefully through the air, before landing inside the event horizon.Daniel scoffed at what he saw.

"That was..."

And then another impossible feat happened. The dragon reached its clawed hand back through the wormhole and somehow pulled the Stargate through the very portal that it opened. And with a flash of light, both the gate and the dragon were gone.

"...odd..." Daniel said, finishing his blatantly obvious sentence.

"Impossible is more like it," Sam yelled in frustration, "Come on, we've got to get back below."