div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"NOTE:/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Hi! This is my second story in the Turn of Events universe. The first chapter is in Sam's POV. As always, I own nothing. Enjoy!/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"It had been months already since the… impromptu implantation of Nathifa. And the team still got weird looks as we walked down the hall. As an airman's eyes widened and he stared at Dani as we passed him on our way to the gate room, I internally counted to ten. I could almost hear the colonel's teeth grinding together just as well as I could feel Teal'c murderous glare. You would think people would be used to having a Tok'ra in their midst, but apparently not. I got the feeling that everyone who did not personally know Danielle felt that a) she was a threat and should be dealt with, b) she had her own personal agenda now that she was a host, c) there was something wrong with her and they felt the need to stare at her then gossip about it, or d) she was kind of frightening and they wanted to be as far away from her as possible. It was, needles to say, kind of frustrating./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" And even though Dani tried valiantly to hide her hurt whenever someone made an excuse to get away from her or flat out refused to acknowledge her, it was still there. I was so close to kneeing a marine in a certain place at one point when he let the commissary doors swing close right in Dani's face. But I had to admit, it was getting better. Less people were outwardly violent to her and there were more people that stood up for her every day. I was gaining hope that everyone would just accept her eventually. But for now we couldn't focus on that. We had just gotten geared up, ready for our next mission to P3X-559, and were almost to the gate room. And then the klaxons went off. I exchanged a look with Dani./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Any teams off world?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Nope." She shook her head, and we picked up the pace, arriving at a slight jog. We were just in time to hear the general order the defense teams to stand down as Bra'tac walked off the metal ramp, meeting Teal'c at the entrance to the gate room with a certain amount of urgency to his step. /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Master Bra'tac." Teal'c greeted, bowing his head./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Teal'c." He paused to take a breath, "You must come quickly. Drey'auc has fallen ill."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"A look of slightly restrained panic had formed on Teal'c's face, and he instantly looked over to General Hammond, who had come up next to us, for approval./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Go." He nodded and Teal'c made his way with Bra'tac to the 'gate. Dani stepped up to the general immediately after the technicians began to dial the correct gate address for Teal'c./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Sir, permission to go with him." /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"At the general's hesitation, she spoke up again, even more insistent than usual, "Sir, the mission is already scrapped with Teal'c absence, I just want to make sure he's okay." She looked to him beseechingly, her voice lowering slightly, "Please, sir. He's supported me so much these past months, I just want to do the same."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Ya, no way the general was going to say no to that. He was putty in her hands. He gave a swift nod and she sprinted over to stand next to Teal'c. She talked with him a moment before he bowed to her and turned to face the 'gate again, already on the 4th chevron. As soon as she was gone, General Hammond held up a hand./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""No. I'm sorry, but I can't let you two go as well. I'm already unhappy in my decision to allow Dr. Jackson as well as Teal'c to leave. I'll send SG-7 to P3X-559 as soon as I can brief them. Major, I would like you to be there. Do you have enough knowledge on the reason Dr. Jackson wanted to explore the ruins as well as your reason for wanting to go there?" At my nod, he turned to the remaining member of SG-1, who was already beginning to look indignant, "And colonel, I realize that you managed to convince me to let your team go on this mission instead of working with the new recruits, but now that the mission is scrapped, I believe that your schedule has been freed up."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""You know sir, I think that SG-3 would prefer to deal with the newbies. They just love that stuff." /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Don't worry colonel, they'll be there too. I can't have just one person briefing the new recruits, now can I?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Looking dejected, Colonel O'Neill sighed, "No, sir."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""They'll be in the briefing room at 1:00 hours. Major, I would like you to join him as well. You'll be done with SG-7's briefing by then, I'm positive."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I suppressed my sigh, "Yes, sir."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"When he got a look at the depressed looks on our faces, the general gave a sigh, "Look, I know that nobody likes briefing the recruits, but it has to be done. And I prefer having my most experienced teams teaching them. SG-1 is my first choice." At our unchanging melancholy expressions he shook his head, "And despite your attitude, I expect you to be there in exactly five hours. Am I clear, colonel?" /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yes, sir. It's just-"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yes?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Colonel O'Neill took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Nothing, sir."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Good. I'll inform you when Dr. Jackson and Teal'c check in or when they arrive home." He faced me, "SG-7's briefing will be in 2 hours, at 11:00 hours."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Thank you, sir." I smiled and nodded as he walked away./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"The colonel threw his hands up in the air, "Ugh! Why do we always get stuck with the crappy jobs!"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I tilted my head to the side, "Uh, sir. The last five times new recruits came through, you bugged Dani or I until we went to the general with an 'important' mission. SG-2 and 3 have had to do most of them."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"He blinked at me, "That's not the point, Carter."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Then what was the point, sir?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""There was no point."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Sir? That makes no sense."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Well, now you know how I feel every time you use all that technobabble."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I just smiled and started to walk away, "Goodbye, sir."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"10 minutes later…/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"As I tweaked the small alien device sitting on my desk, sparks flew from the small metal opening in the side. I muttered a few choice words and set my tools to the side, resting my head in my arms. My worry for Teal'c and Danielle, the soon to be irritation with the new recruits, and this increasingly infuriating alien device was not helping the headache that had started to build behind my eyes. Suddenly, the klaxons rang out again./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""UNAUTHORIZED INCOMING WORMHOLE!"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Great, what now?" My muttered words weren't heard by anyone but myself as I stalked out of my lab and to the elevator, making my way to the control room. /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""We're not receiving an IDC, sir. In fact, we're receiving nothing."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Walter's words hit my ears as I walked up to the console and took a seat. I scanned the screen in front of me quickly before a voice broke in./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Carter. What's up?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Well, sir, apparently nothing."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Nothing?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Nothing."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Huh."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yep."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I turned back to the computer, explaining the situation further without being asked, "Well, usually it takes matter entering the wormhole to keep it open, even a radio signal would do. But there appears to be nothing."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Could it be the Goa'uld?" the general made himself known, "They have used this tactic before."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Walter spoke up after a moments hesitation, "Um, no sir. Deep space radar is detecting nothing."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"He nodded, "Alright. Keep an eye on this, Major. I want to be informed of any developments."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yes sir." I focused back on the screen in front of me, scanning the data, "but the longest a wormhole can be sustained is 38 inures, so it should shut down then."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"38 minutes later…/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Colonel O'Neill blinked at me./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""It doesn't seem to be shutting down."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Okay, 38 minutes give or take a minute or two."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"We waited patiently, but after three minutes, nothing seemed to be occurring./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Major?" General Hammond looked over at me quizzically./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Okay. Now we definitely have a problem."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ya think?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""I do." I grinned at the long-suffering look he gave me, "Look, sir. We'll figure this out, trust me."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""You always figure it out, Carter. You always do."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"But as I stared at the gate, the light radiating from it flickering around the room, I was not so sure. If this was an error, it could take possibly months to find it. The gate was huge, and so was the program that ran it. I sighed. This was not helping my headache. Moving back to the control room, I started a new program, typing up a few things to start another scan. /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ma'am, I think I found something."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"The techs voice startled me out of my scans and I glanced up at him questioningly./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Well, there's a rise in power being absorbed in the 'gate's internal capacitors by .1 percent."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I looked at him and sighed internally at my false hope, "That's completely normal for gate activity. The power will fluctuate by that much with any open wormhole."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ya, but not for 12 minutes straight."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I tilted my head, "Go to gate diagnostic screen 5 and increase sensitivity by 75%."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"He typed a few commands and I narrowed my eyes at the slight pattern my trained eyes were picking up, "Increase sensitivity by 200%"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ma'am, this is completely in the normal range for gate activity."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""I know, just humor me." A smile flicked on my face as he typed in the command. The screen popped up and I grasped onto the data like a drowning man clutching at straws, "There. Now, I know this is a pretty small anomaly, but it could be contributing to the buildup in the gate."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""But-"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I interrupted him, "This is not an error. It has a distinct pattern."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Right."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I barely noticed his agreement. The possibilities were piling up in my mind. If it wasn't random it would continue to build. The internal capacitors could only hold so much energy, and the iris would only slow it down a bit. So after a few days, the capacitors would over load and we would be toast. So maybe this wasn't an accident or natural occurrence on the other side. Maybe this was an attack. And the scary thing was, I had absolutely no idea how to stop it./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"-/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Hi! This is my second story in the Turn of Events universe. The first chapter is in Sam's POV. As always, I own nothing. Enjoy!/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"It had been months already since the… impromptu implantation of Nathifa. And the team still got weird looks as we walked down the hall. As an airman's eyes widened and he stared at Dani as we passed him on our way to the gate room, I internally counted to ten. I could almost hear the colonel's teeth grinding together just as well as I could feel Teal'c murderous glare. You would think people would be used to having a Tok'ra in their midst, but apparently not. I got the feeling that everyone who did not personally know Danielle felt that a) she was a threat and should be dealt with, b) she had her own personal agenda now that she was a host, c) there was something wrong with her and they felt the need to stare at her then gossip about it, or d) she was kind of frightening and they wanted to be as far away from her as possible. It was, needles to say, kind of frustrating./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" And even though Dani tried valiantly to hide her hurt whenever someone made an excuse to get away from her or flat out refused to acknowledge her, it was still there. I was so close to kneeing a marine in a certain place at one point when he let the commissary doors swing close right in Dani's face. But I had to admit, it was getting better. Less people were outwardly violent to her and there were more people that stood up for her every day. I was gaining hope that everyone would just accept her eventually. But for now we couldn't focus on that. We had just gotten geared up, ready for our next mission to P3X-559, and were almost to the gate room. And then the klaxons went off. I exchanged a look with Dani./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Any teams off world?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Nope." She shook her head, and we picked up the pace, arriving at a slight jog. We were just in time to hear the general order the defense teams to stand down as Bra'tac walked off the metal ramp, meeting Teal'c at the entrance to the gate room with a certain amount of urgency to his step. /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Master Bra'tac." Teal'c greeted, bowing his head./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Teal'c." He paused to take a breath, "You must come quickly. Drey'auc has fallen ill."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"A look of slightly restrained panic had formed on Teal'c's face, and he instantly looked over to General Hammond, who had come up next to us, for approval./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Go." He nodded and Teal'c made his way with Bra'tac to the 'gate. Dani stepped up to the general immediately after the technicians began to dial the correct gate address for Teal'c./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Sir, permission to go with him." /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"At the general's hesitation, she spoke up again, even more insistent than usual, "Sir, the mission is already scrapped with Teal'c absence, I just want to make sure he's okay." She looked to him beseechingly, her voice lowering slightly, "Please, sir. He's supported me so much these past months, I just want to do the same."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Ya, no way the general was going to say no to that. He was putty in her hands. He gave a swift nod and she sprinted over to stand next to Teal'c. She talked with him a moment before he bowed to her and turned to face the 'gate again, already on the 4th chevron. As soon as she was gone, General Hammond held up a hand./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""No. I'm sorry, but I can't let you two go as well. I'm already unhappy in my decision to allow Dr. Jackson as well as Teal'c to leave. I'll send SG-7 to P3X-559 as soon as I can brief them. Major, I would like you to be there. Do you have enough knowledge on the reason Dr. Jackson wanted to explore the ruins as well as your reason for wanting to go there?" At my nod, he turned to the remaining member of SG-1, who was already beginning to look indignant, "And colonel, I realize that you managed to convince me to let your team go on this mission instead of working with the new recruits, but now that the mission is scrapped, I believe that your schedule has been freed up."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""You know sir, I think that SG-3 would prefer to deal with the newbies. They just love that stuff." /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Don't worry colonel, they'll be there too. I can't have just one person briefing the new recruits, now can I?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Looking dejected, Colonel O'Neill sighed, "No, sir."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""They'll be in the briefing room at 1:00 hours. Major, I would like you to join him as well. You'll be done with SG-7's briefing by then, I'm positive."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I suppressed my sigh, "Yes, sir."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"When he got a look at the depressed looks on our faces, the general gave a sigh, "Look, I know that nobody likes briefing the recruits, but it has to be done. And I prefer having my most experienced teams teaching them. SG-1 is my first choice." At our unchanging melancholy expressions he shook his head, "And despite your attitude, I expect you to be there in exactly five hours. Am I clear, colonel?" /div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yes, sir. It's just-"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yes?"/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Colonel O'Neill took a deep breath and forced a smile, "Nothing, sir."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Good. I'll inform you when Dr. Jackson and Teal'c check in or when they arrive home." He faced me, "SG-7's briefing will be in 2 hours, at 11:00 hours."/div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Thank you, sir." I smiled and nodded as he walked away./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"The colonel threw his hands up in the air, "Ugh! Why do we always get stuck with the crappy jobs!"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I tilted my head to the side, "Uh, sir. The last five times new recruits came through, you bugged Dani or I until we went to the general with an 'important' mission. SG-2 and 3 have had to do most of them."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"He blinked at me, "That's not the point, Carter."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Then what was the point, sir?"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""There was no point."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Sir? That makes no sense."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Well, now you know how I feel every time you use all that technobabble."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I just smiled and started to walk away, "Goodbye, sir."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"-/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"10 minutes later…/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"As I tweaked the small alien device sitting on my desk, sparks flew from the small metal opening in the side. I muttered a few choice words and set my tools to the side, resting my head in my arms. My worry for Teal'c and Danielle, the soon to be irritation with the new recruits, and this increasingly infuriating alien device was not helping the headache that had started to build behind my eyes. Suddenly, the klaxons rang out again./div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""UNAUTHORIZED INCOMING WORMHOLE!"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Great, what now?" My muttered words weren't heard by anyone but myself as I stalked out of my lab and to the elevator, making my way to the control room. /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""We're not receiving an IDC, sir. In fact, we're receiving nothing."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Walter's words hit my ears as I walked up to the console and took a seat. I scanned the screen in front of me quickly before a voice broke in./div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Carter. What's up?"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Well, sir, apparently nothing."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Nothing?"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Nothing."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Huh."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yep."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I turned back to the computer, explaining the situation further without being asked, "Well, usually it takes matter entering the wormhole to keep it open, even a radio signal would do. But there appears to be nothing."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Could it be the Goa'uld?" the general made himself known, "They have used this tactic before."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Walter spoke up after a moments hesitation, "Um, no sir. Deep space radar is detecting nothing."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"He nodded, "Alright. Keep an eye on this, Major. I want to be informed of any developments."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Yes sir." I focused back on the screen in front of me, scanning the data, "but the longest a wormhole can be sustained is 38 inures, so it should shut down then."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"-/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"38 minutes later…/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"Colonel O'Neill blinked at me./div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""It doesn't seem to be shutting down."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Okay, 38 minutes give or take a minute or two."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"We waited patiently, but after three minutes, nothing seemed to be occurring./div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Major?" General Hammond looked over at me quizzically./div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Okay. Now we definitely have a problem."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ya think?"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""I do." I grinned at the long-suffering look he gave me, "Look, sir. We'll figure this out, trust me."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""You always figure it out, Carter. You always do."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"But as I stared at the gate, the light radiating from it flickering around the room, I was not so sure. If this was an error, it could take possibly months to find it. The gate was huge, and so was the program that ran it. I sighed. This was not helping my headache. Moving back to the control room, I started a new program, typing up a few things to start another scan. /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ma'am, I think I found something."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"The techs voice startled me out of my scans and I glanced up at him questioningly./div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Well, there's a rise in power being absorbed in the 'gate's internal capacitors by .1 percent."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I looked at him and sighed internally at my false hope, "That's completely normal for gate activity. The power will fluctuate by that much with any open wormhole."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ya, but not for 12 minutes straight."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I tilted my head, "Go to gate diagnostic screen 5 and increase sensitivity by 75%."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"He typed a few commands and I narrowed my eyes at the slight pattern my trained eyes were picking up, "Increase sensitivity by 200%"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Ma'am, this is completely in the normal range for gate activity."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""I know, just humor me." A smile flicked on my face as he typed in the command. The screen popped up and I grasped onto the data like a drowning man clutching at straws, "There. Now, I know this is a pretty small anomaly, but it could be contributing to the buildup in the gate."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""But-"/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I interrupted him, "This is not an error. It has a distinct pattern."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;""Right."/div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;" /div
div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"I barely noticed his agreement. The possibilities were piling up in my mind. If it wasn't random it would continue to build. The internal capacitors could only hold so much energy, and the iris would only slow it down a bit. So after a few days, the capacitors would over load and we would be toast. So maybe this wasn't an accident or natural occurrence on the other side. Maybe this was an attack. And the scary thing was, I had absolutely no idea how to stop it./div
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div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;"-/div