The inner ring of the ancient alien artifact began to spin deep inside Cheyenne Mountain surprising those on duty both in the embarkation room and in the control room above. No teams were scheduled to return for at least another eight days.
"Unexpected off-world activation! Security to the gate room! Medical teams to the gate room!" Simmons shouted into the PA microphone. "Duty officer report to the gate room!"
"I'm here, Simmons," Hammond said as he entered the room. "Do we have a signal yet?"
"No, sir" he replied. "No signal."
"Close the iris," the general commanded.
Something on his screen drew Simmon's attention before he could comply with General Hammond's order. "IDC signal coming in. It's the throw away, sir!" The throw away GDO had been installed on Cimmeria fourteen months ago. It was an idea Major Carter had presented to Colonel O'Neill after yet another close call for SG-1.
A lock box had been hidden near the Stargate on Cimmeria. Inside the lockbox was a single GDO unit. This was a special unit though. It had no key pad as the normal GDO's had. This GDO had only one button that would send a pre-programmed code back only once before frying every circuit inside. It was also on a timer. Removing it from the box would start the countdown. Whoever removed it would then have five minutes to dial up Earth and press the button before it would change to a second code, one that wouldn't open the iris. The theory being that an attack would take time to stage after the lock box were opened. If the second code came through they would know not to open the iris and also that one of their people was probably in trouble.
Every member of the SG teams had been required to learn the code to open the lockbox. The lockbox itself wasn't ordinary either. It had been rigged to emit a high energy pulse if it were tampered with in any way, effectively destroying the programming in the GDO inside. O'Neill and his team had argued and Hammond had agreed that Thor's Hammer made the possibility of a system lord getting their hands on the GDO remote. Once the GDO had been used the code would be immediately purged from the computer. It was a risk to base security, but one Hammond had agreed was necessary as a last resort when a mission went bad. Ironically, the installation of the lockbox was one of the last assignments SG-1 had undertaken before their final mission to P93-2K3 just over fifteen ago.
"Open the iris and get extra security to the gate room," Hammond ordered as he noticed out of the corner of his eye Dr. Jackson and Teal'c enter the control room. "Don't get your hopes up," he warned the two men.
"Who else could it be?" Daniel asked quietly.
They watched as the metal shield retracted revealing the wall of liquid energy beneath. In the stillness the sound of a machine gun safety being flipped off ricocheted around the large vaulted room. Those in the gate room and above in the control room waited in absolute silence for something to appear through the Stargate. In the minds of some it could only be another attempt by the Goa'uld to destroy Earth, but in the hearts of many they hoped it was the return of missing comrades. Finally something did appear through the veil. If it weren't for the noise, they probably would have missed it as everyone watched the middle of the Stargate where a human face would normally appear. The noise of something hitting the ramp made everyone's gaze shift and more than a few people jump. Gasps and more than a few curses filled the room, but no one moved as the bloody hand grasped the grating on the ramp and pulled. Those waiting at the bottom of the ramp still didn't move. Some were too shocked, others obeyed their training and waited with weapons cocked and aimed.
Jackson and Teal'c did move though. They were out of the control room instantly taking the stairs as quickly as they could. On this side of the wormhole there was now an equally bloody arm attached to the hand. The arm stretched out to grab the grating and pull it's owner forward once again as Daniel and Teal'c ran into the room only to be stopped by the SF's at the base of the ramp. The guard's grip relaxed suddenly though as a face appeared through the liquid blue energy. Daniel shouted "Sam!" as he pushed past the stunned guard with Teal'c on his heels. They were up the ramp in the blink of an eye. Daniel took her arm and began to pull. As soon as he did, he knew that he was pulling more than Sam's weight through the wormhole. She hadn't braced herself for the unexpected movement though and screamed in agony as Daniel pulled, but she forced herself to not let go.
"Daniel!" she gasped trying to convey with his name alone her urgent need.
"Hold on to him, Sam" Daniel ordered her making a leap of faith about the extra weight he felt but could not see. "Just hang on to him. Let us do the rest. Help me, Teal'c" he said as he once again pulled. He and Teal'c pulled more carefully this time fearing that if they pulled too hard Sam would lose her grip on her burden. "Get the God damn medics in here," Daniel screamed as he looked down at the gray color of his friend's face.
With the next pull another head emerged from the event horizon. The salt and pepper hair alone hinting to them who it was they were pulling through the Stargate. The face was bruised and bloodied well beyond recognition. "O'Neill," Teal'c whispered as he grabbed the tattered shirt that emerged with their next careful tug and pulled trying to relieve Carter of her burden.
Daniel grabbed Sam beneath her arms and attempted to drag her the rest of the way through, but she would not release the still form of Jack O'Neill. "It's okay, Sam" Daniel told her as he pried her hand away from it's death grip on Jack O'Neill's still form. "Let Teal'c take him while I get you," he coaxed as he suited words to action and pulled her through. He misjudged the force he would need without the added weight of O'Neill and pulled harder than he'd intended causing Sam to cry out once more.
Daniel heard the sound of several people running up the ramp to his location, but his focus was centered on Sam and the changes in her appearance. "Jack...not breathing," she gasped forcing the words out past the agony coursing through her. "Daniel," she moaned placing something into his hand. Daniel looked numbly down at his hand and realized Sam had given him the notebook she'd been carrying the day she and Jack had fallen into the hands of the Goa'uld.
"Ok, Sam" Janet said as she knelt on the ramp beside her friend as Dr. Williams tended to O'Neill a few feet away. Her gloved hands were quickly assessing Sam's condition. "Daniel, hold this in place," she ordered him as she placed a gauze dressing over the worst of Sam's bleeding wounds. Even had her hand not been on Sam's belly, Janet would have been able to see the band of muscles clenching as Sam cried out. "Looks like this baby is coming huh, sweetie?" Janet asked comfortingly before turning to one of the orderlies. "Where's the other stretcher?" she demanded. "We need to get them to surgery NOW or we're going to lose them."
"Janet," Sam whispered weakly.
"Hang in there, Sam. Just hold on," Janet urged her friend and patient.
"Babies..." she whimpered. Her eyes refused to focus, but she turned her head in the general direction of Dr. Frasier. "Save the babies...please, Janet....take care of my babies," she begged.
"I will, Sam. You just keep fighting. Okay?" Janet assured her friend as she helped the orderly and Daniel lift Sam onto the gurney.
Daniel and Teal'c followed the mad rush of the medical personnel as they transported the still forms of their friends to the infirmary. Daniel was vaguely aware that as they moved through the corridors more and more people joined the procession. Finally as they reached the corridor outside the infirmary, Janet turned and ordered, "Wait out here." With that she left the entire group there in the corridor staring at each other in shocked helplessness.