The 'Gate shuddered, it's metallic anchors shrieking under the stress. Dirt and stones flew through the wormhole, pelting the crowds of refugees inside as they ran down the gangway to the receiving arms of the soldiers below. Daniel and Grayson stood, bathed in the flickering blue light, as they aided more Edorans through the 'Gate and to the safety of the SGC.
'C'mon, c'mon!' Daniel muttered, wondering where the hell the rest of his team was. Another meteorite must have slammed into the 'Gate from the other side, because the whole structure shivered under the impact and the event horizon stuttered, threatening the lives of those still in transit. Daniel crouched, shielding his head automatically, ready to run. Across the other side of the gangway, he saw Grayson do the same, and as two more refugees tottered through, one collapsing directly into Daniel's ready arms, they exchanged a momentary glance that said it all - the fear, the worry, the desperate hope that their comrades would still make it through.
Another shriek from the moorings, another shower of rocks and earth. A voice rang out, ordering them to clear the 'Gate. Daniel and Grayson backed up, Jackson's eyes fixed firmly on the place they would emerge, if they came through. He mentally struck off the word, when, when!
On the other side of the 'Gate, T'ealc shoved through the last of the refugees, turning back to catch her gaze, frowning as she yelled into her radio, calling for the Colonel, the last of the SGC personnel, trapped back in the village, evacuating the last of the refugees.
'Colonel! Please respond!'
A ripping roar reached her ears, louder and harsher than the any that had come before. A blast wave travelled across the landscape, fading into a strong wind that tore at her hair. Blue eyes widened, shock coursing through her system, she barely noticed as T'ealc grabbed her jacket, spinning her round as they ran for the 'Gate, diving through the shimmering, stuttering horizon in the vain hope that it would hold just long enough for them to make it through.
In the Gateroom, the noise was awful, the refugees crouched in fear as the whine built. They almost lost the connection - once, twice. And then, a figure, two, a blur of black and green as T'ealc and Sam emerged, thrown through the wormhole like ragdolls and crashed into the bottom of the ramp in the midst of debris, flying through the Gateroom and pelting the crowd below. Daniel and Grayson ran forward, dragging T'ealc and Sam to safety as the 'Gate, empty at last, towered silently above them.
It would be twenty-four hours before they realised the full extent of the meteor storm.
'Try again!' her voice, loud and forceful, hit the control room like a blast of cold air. Carter was far less mild-mannered than most people believed her, and she proved it now, shunting aside the lieutenant at the controls and altering the parameters of the algorithm that dialled up other worlds. Bandaged, bruised and so tired, her irritability was beginning to show through the thin veneer of courtesy she was trying to maintain, Sam typed furiously, ignoring the dialling protocols manual that was offered to her. She wrote the damn thing, it wasn't on paper, it was in her head. The entire 'Gate, it's dialling computer and it's systems were all inside her head.
So many possibilities, so many potential rewrites she could do, so many parameters that needed testing - it could drive you crazy at times.
Chevron six engaged, and the 'Gate spun on, seeking the last co-ordinate, locking into it and establishing a wormhole. She breathed a sigh of internal relief, the meteor strike at the other end had obviously caused a lot of damage, she could see at least a fortnight of work looming ahead of her, and Siler.
The MALP activated, trundling up the gangway and through the event horizon. 'Receiving telemetry in...' Nothing. Static. The MALP refused to respond, nothing could be seen, or heard through it's sensors and although they activated the radio signal for SG-1 radio wavelength, they received nothing but static in reply.
Sam closed her eyes, dropping her head for a moment. She's already spent a whole day getting this far, and it was more than a little disheartening to see and hear nothing but static. She only had one explanation.
'The MALP must have been destroyed, Sir. The most likely scenario is that the 'Gate is buried on Edora. I'm guessing the MALP never even reconstituted on the other side.'
'Very well. Until you can give me a way to re-establish contact and determine that the area on the other side of the wormhole is safe to send through a team, the rescue mission is scrubbed.'
'Yessir,' a hand, Daniel, she knew without looking, landed on her shoulder, squeezing gently.
'Doctor Fraiser, please inform the Edorans they will be with us a while longer and make arrangements for their medium-term stay here.'
'Yes, sir,' she glanced over at Sam, 'Dr Carter, please report to the infirmary when you are finished here.' Her tone left no room for arguments, nodding to the General before leaving the control room.
Arms crossed, features drawn into a frown, Carter was staring stubbornly at the empty 'Gate, which just as stubbornly refused to hand back the Colonel. In this particular battle of wills, Sam decided she wasn't going to be the loser.
Behind her Jackson squeezed her shoulder again, 'c'mon Sam, I'll walk you to the infirmary.' She still had a pronounced limp. Leaving Siler to start analysing the telemetry for the slightest hint of a clue as to what had gone wrong with the M.A.L.P, Daniel followed her from the room, little realising her head was already spinning with potential ideas and scenarios, winnowing out the most likely from the far-fetched and the absurdly simple.
Never leave a man behind.
Damn straight.