Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or anything connected to them. I only own the plot.

OK, this little story is going to be a challenge. I hope you enjoy it. This is an idea I've often though about and finally found a way to make it work. (Grins evily) Enjoy!

SG-1 returns to the safety of the SGC to find something is wrong. The power is out, the gate room is a mess and everyone is missing.

Empty Halls

Colonel Jack O'Neill stepped through the Stargate to finish his most recent mission. SG-1 had been sent to a new planet as usual and the mission had gone about as well as a mission could for SG-1. They'd arrived, scared the locals senseless, explained themselves and the fact they were not gods, and then they sat down and had a meal. All in all the mission had went pretty well, except for the strange tradition that resulted in Colonel O'Neill being chased around the dinner table by a short man in a clown suit who had a very large baseball bat. O'Neill had decided he wouldn't join them for dinner again. Everyone else had had their fair share of trouble, Sam got hit on by some old men, Teal'c scared a bunch of school children and Daniel... well... Daniel fell down a hole, actually, a mine shaft. Luckily it was a short mine shaft and Daniel came out of the hole safely, albeit very dirty.

So now, SG-1 was heading home to proclaim the good news of the deal they struck to trade food stocks for a decent amount of raw Trinium. Overall everyone was pretty happy as they waved goodbye to the inhabitants of whatever randomized letter and number code this planet had been given. SG-1 stepped through the gate and after a whoosh and a chilly breeze they were home.

They exited the wormhole and found themselves exactly where they expected to be; the Stargate Command Gate Room, only something was a little odd. O'Neill was surprised to see that the usual small contingent of airmen who cluttered the gate room was absent. More surprising however, was the fact that the lights were out and the gate room was being lit by the emergency lights.

"Auntie Em? Auntie Em?" After a brief pause the colonel continued. "Where's the welcoming committee?" The colonel asked aloud to no one in particular. SG-1 proceeded to walk down the ramp and when they stepped onto the concrete floor they saw a great deal of spent shell casings littering the ground.

"Sir?"

"I see them, Carter."

"Firefight?"

"Well that would explain the bullet holes in the walls." Daniel chimed in.

"Alright team, check your gear. We don't know what we're dealing with here. We need some answers. We'll head to the control room and see if we can find anybody. If not, we'll use it as our base of operations." O'Neill said when he noticed the blast doors were closed. "Stay alert. Carter, take point."

The group made their way to the control room. The base was dark and silent. It was an eerie silence because it was something never heard in this base. Even when no one was on duty, there was still the constant hum of machinery, like the ventilation system, but now nothing was active. They walked the short distance to their destination and found it too was in a state of slight disarray; chairs were overturned, papers were scattered about and all the computers were turned off. Carter tried booting up a computer, but the 'on' button just clicked and the computer stayed off.

"Main power must be offline." She explained.

Colonel O'Neill was still scanning the room. His eyes finally stopped on a coffee cup sitting on the far ledge on top of a piece of paper. He approached the cup and grasped it gently.

"It's still warm." He declared then moved the cup to retrieve the paper. As his commanding officer attempted to read the chicken scratch on the page, Daniel quickly scanned the room. When he was sure the rest of his team was occupied he quickly snagged the coffee cup and downed the contents in one swig. Then he returned the cup to its original position just as quickly. He now felt much better. He'd been craving that cup of coffee since Jack had pulled him out of the mine shaft. And besides, now he'd be able to tackle the problem at hand.

"I can't read it. Daniel?" The colonel said and passed the coffee stained sheet of paper to the resident linguist. Daniel was caught slightly off guard, thinking the colonel had seen his previous actions, but when he realized the colonel was holding the paper out to him, he took it and attempted to read it.

"This is the worst writing I have ever seen. I can't make heads or tails of it." Daniel finally replied.

"Let me see it." Carter reached out and took the page from Daniel. "I can't read it either sir. But this here," she pointed to a few darker-than-coffee stains, "appears to be blood."

"This is someone's idea of a practical joke, right?" Daniel said now that his caffeine levels were sufficiently high, he could think again.

"There is nothing neither practical nor humorous about this situation Daniel Jackson." Teal'c added from his vantage point in the corner.

Colonel O'Neill looked around the room again then spoke. "So... where is everybody?"

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