Colonel Samantha Carter had only a couple days off before she was supposed to head back out on a short mission to who knew where. She planned to enjoy the days she had, but it seemed someone was determined to keep her from even having a full day off. The loud ringing from beside her woke her in the night on what was supposed to be her day off. She groaned and rolled over before realizing it wasn't her phone, but her partner's that was ringing.

He'd already picked it up, looking blearily at the phone before he answered, "O'Neill."

The person on the other side of the phone started talking rather quickly about Tok'ra, and time travel, and something he'd be hard-pressed to understand when he was fully awake let alone in the middle of the night. He muttered that they'd be there and hung up before they could go on.

Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill liked his vacations, especially his vacations when his wife was in town. He hadn't had much more time off than she had, and they were both due for it, but it seemed to universe had other plans. He turned over to her, seeing that she was awake too, although she looked as exhausted as he felt. He winced sympathetically, "We've got to go."

She furrowed her brow and sat up on her elbows, "We? As in both of us?"

He shrugged, "Apparently this warrants all of the original SG-1 to be there. Who knows why. They're recalling the current SG-1 from off-world so it's not just us."

"Well, they're not losing out on their vacation time." She sighed then pushed the blanket aside. "We best get dressed, then I can have us beamed to wherever we need to go."

"The SGC, it seems." She nodded and grabbed her clothes, quickly getting dressed while he did the same.

As Sam was putting her hair up she felt arms wrap around her from behind and a kiss pressed to her shoulder. She leaned back into them and sighed, "Jack…"

"Really, you'd think they could handle something like this without us. Someday we'll get a proper vacation… or we could just run away." He smiled against her cheek.

She shook her head slightly, "We can't. You know we can't." Oh how she wished they could though. "We have a duty to our planet, and we can't give that up just yet. Maybe someday the universe will be kind enough to give us more than one day off before a crisis emerges."

He scoffed, "Our luck so far suggests otherwise. I think someday we'll just have to tell them they have to deal with it themselves. If only you weren't so smart. It always seems that you're the only one capable of figuring it all out."

She giggled, turning to give him a look, "There are others capable of doing what I do. I'm away from Earth often enough now that if that were true, the Earth would be gone by now."

He shrugged, stepping back to allow her to finish getting ready, "Perhaps."

Once they were both ready, him in his dress blues and her in BDUs, and had what they thought they'd need, she grabbed her communicator and commanded, "Major Franklin. This is Colonol Carter. We're requesting you beam me and General O'Neill to the SGC." There was no response on the other end, simply a flash of light that soon found them in the briefing room of the SGC.

General Landry walked out of his office, addressing the two officers, "Colonol, Jack, Good to see you. Malek here, is the one who brought us the news. I suppose you want to hear it from him."

They glanced at the familiar Tok'ra who came out of the general's office where they must have been talking. Jack glanced around the room, "Not waiting for SG-1 then?"

"No, we thought it best to inform you as soon as possible, then they were be informed when they return. Please, sit." General Landry gestured to the table and they each took their seats.

Malek hesitated before sitting across from and beginning, "One of our operatives has been following a minor goa'uld, Sopdu, to assess the danger. As you know, few Goa'uld are alive, and all are minor ones with no Jaffa at their disposal. We've been attempting to capture each, and remove the symbiote, but this one has proven difficult."

"So, what? You want our help in capturing him or even killing him?" General O'Neill gestured, exasperated around the table. "I still don't see why that requires me. Any SG team is capable of taking care of a minor Goa'uld. Or did you not get the memo that we're no longer on SG-1?"

Malek made a face, "I assure you, there is a reason you are required. If you'd simply allow me to explain why we are concerned. Our operative has found that this goa'uld has found some of Ba'al's technology and wishes to use it for his own devices. We didn't want him killed until we learned of his plans and what the technology was capable of since we've never seen it before." He paused, "We believe it is a time machine that Sopdu wishes to use for the purposes of gaining more power, perhaps bringing more power to all the Goa'uld before they lost any of it."

Colonol Carter held up her hand with a confused look, "What do you mean Ba'al had a time machine? I think if he had one he would have used it before he was killed."

Malek shifted uncomfortably, but also seemed to not know the answer. It was General O'Neill who provided it, "Maybe he did, but something went wrong or someone stopped him. He did mention it at the extraction ceremony, remember? We all brushed it off at the time because nothing happened, but… it's entirely possible something did."

Sam was about to respond then turned to him with an even more confused expression, "That's… very observant of you, sir. How did you figure that?"

He shrugged, smiling at the confused look, "Well it makes sense, and maybe I've just been listening to you too much."

She chuckled and turned back to Malek, "Alright, but that still doesn't explain what we're doing here. This is bad, very bad, but why don't you just kill him now?"

"We are trying, and should we succeed then this discussion won't matter, but should he escape and return to the past, we thought it imperative that you know of his plans. Sopdu plans to go back in time to before you'd made a large impact in the galaxy, and kill the original SG-1."

A look of surprise crossed both of the ex-SG-1 members, "Say again?" Jack asked incredulously. He waved his hand when Malek went to repeat himself, "You mean to tell me that your operative found out he has plans to change the past and kill us, but hasn't killed him yet?"

Malek's reply was indignant, "They have tried, and risked their lives many times simply to get this information. Sopdu may not have any Jaffa under his command, but he has found some of Anubis's super soldiers for his own use, and much of the technology from many former system lords. There have been few chances to kill him, and even those would get the operative killed."

"Yes, well now we kind of need him dead, so you know he doesn't go back in time and have us all killed. I seem to remember we have saved your asses a fair number of times, so any of you could die. Who's to say he'll stop at us, could kill plenty of Tok'ra while he's at it." General O'Neill was rather done with the idea that they were a hindrance until they were necessary.

General Landry butted in gently, trying to calm to irate General, "Jack, they're doing their best. They brought it to us because they know we are capable of travelling back in time, and if necessary saving everyone if this Goa'uld does in fact go back in time."

Carter sat up, and shook her head, "Sir, we can't. As much as we'll probably have to if he does go back in time, we can't do that. We have just as much of a chance of changing time, and if you're suggesting the original SG-1 go back then there's a high chance we'll run into ourselves which will change our past, and we can't do that. We could mess things up beyond recognition. Even if we go back, we have no way of guaranteeing that we'll stop him either. There's far too many possibilities."

General Landry nodded, "Which is why the Tok'ra have promised to try their best to kill Sopdu before any of this is necessary, but we need you, Doctor Jackson, and Teal'c to do this. We can't risk sending Colonel Mitchell or Vala since it's doubtful anyone would trust or believe them in the past, and they would be incapable of sneaking around without drawing attention. While you four will likely run into yourself, your past selves would be more likely to trust you than someone they've never met."

Sam made a frustrated noise, looking between Malek and General Landry then turned to General O'Neill in resignation, "He's right. If this Goa'uld does manage to go back in time then we're likely the best answer. I have been working on something in my spare time that could reduce many of our problems but we'd still have to be careful…"

General Landry looked up at this new information, "What have you been working on?"

"Well, it is a device that can cause someone to forget certain events or memories. It uses technology from the memory recall devices we've seen before, and some of my own ideas. It's not done though so I would have to finish that, and gather whatever else we would need. This could take some time." Sam admitted.

"Well, you have until the Tok'ra inform us that he has in fact travelled back in time, and they have failed in killing Sopdu." General Landry stood from the table then and nodded to her and Malek. "Get to work, Colonel. You can use whatever you need. Just remember we don't have a lot of time."

Carter nodded and stood, taking the dismissal to leave and head down to the labs, stopping to ask that her projects be transported from the Hammond to her lab.

The rest of them walked down to the gate so Malek could return to the Tok'ra home world with a promise to get them information as soon as possible. Once Malek had gone through the gate, Jack turned to Landry and gestured up the stairs, "Since we seem to have a moment, a word?"

Landry nodded and walked up to his office, taking a seat while Jack closed the door, "I know it's risky, but you have to see that this is our best option."

Jack waved his hand and shook his head, "I know that, and I also know Carter will do everything she can to make sure this goes as well as it possibly can, but I have to say, you're pushing her a little hard. I've tried to get her some time to relax, but it seems someone always needs her. She's going to crash and burn eventually."

"We know, but the truth is that we need her, and no one else can do this. You know it or you would have already made sure someone replaced her on at least half of those duties."

General O'Neill sighed tiredly, "You're right, but that doesn't mean I can't wish there was a way to lighten some of the load so… try not to put the weight of the world on her shoulders this time. She doesn't need it."

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything." General Landry shrugged. "We'll try to get all of you a break after this. Now did you really just come in here to tell me what I already know or was there something else?"

Jack made a bit of a face, finally sitting down across from the other man, "Officially, we need to discuss the Hammond. Someone needs to be put in charge while she's away. While Major Franklin is temporarily in charge, that is only while they stay in orbit. If they need to leave then there'll be a problem."

"Well, I believe a young Lieutenant Colonel is going to be missing half of his team while you're away. I'm sure he can manage." O'Neill nodded in agreement when the claxons went off, indicating an off world activation. Both Generals jumped up and hurried down to the gate room where soon SG-1 returned, looking rather surprised to see General O'Neill there.

Daniel slowly walked down the ramp to stand in front of his friend, "I thought you were on vacation."

"We were, but it turns out the universe has another idea for us." O'Neill shrugged, feeling tired, but glad to see his friends again. "It has the same plans for you too, though, so don't worry. We're stuck in the same boat. Now go shower, get checked out by Lam and then we have a briefing at… 0400." He made a face at his watch which he was just now noticing the time.

Daniel gave him a strange look, as did Vala and Colonel Mitchell. Teal'c just stood stoically to the side. General Landry was the one to tell them to get moving, and everything would be explained at the briefing. Once they left, General O'Neill turned to Landry, "I'm going to go check on Carter. See if she needs anything." He walked out without a reply.

He found her hunched over a device, trying to get organized by the look of it. He honestly wished he could tell her to take it easy, but he knew he couldn't, and so did she. He came up beside her to look at the device which he had heard of, but not actually seen before. She glanced up at him, sensing his presence beside her, but didn't say anything.

She worked in silence for a moment before he spoke up, "Everyone's back. There's a briefing in about a half hour, but you don't need to come since there likely won't be anything new to tell you. I'll get Daniel and Teal'c caught up, and it sounds like Mitchell is taking over the Hammond while you're gone."

Sam made a bit of a face, but nodded, "Makes sense. I think I can have this done in a couple days, but… It's going to include little to no sleep."

He winced, "I'm sorry. I tried to talk to Landry, but it seems we really don't have a choice. I've got your back though, as much as I can, anyways."

She turned to smile at him and nodded, "I know, thank you."

They fell back into a comfortable silence while she worked and he kept her company until he had to head up for the briefing. They figured it best that she keep working, and he'd bring SG-1 down once the briefing was over.