Standard Operating Procedure

A/N: Welcome to SOP, the long awaited sequel to Occupational Hazard. It's not strictly necessary to have read Occupational Hazard, but it'll help with some of the backstory. You can find it via my author link above.

Warnings: Strong T level violence, coarse language(Up to and including "F") implied adult situations, whump, and the razor sharp edge of sarcasm and snark.

Characters: SG-1 with focus on Sam and Cam. Minor cameos by other recognizable faces (yes that includes Jack :P)

Keep an eye on the dates before each scene, this fic takes place over several months and is interweaved with SG Canon.

Chapter 1: Unfinished Business

- Planet: P2X-3YZ (Earth) -

- Stargate Command -

- February 27th 2007 -

- 11:32 am Local Time -

"You can't win, Cam. I can probably statistically prove it."

Colonel Cameron Mitchell maintained his poise, and ignored the distraction of Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter seated next to him, his gaze was locked onto Teal'c who sat opposite him with a hint of a smile on his face. "You think I don't know that? But I'm going to set the record here!"

Around Cam, Sam and Teal'c, the other two parts of SG-1 watched carefully to ensure neither of the two competitors blinked. More than a few airmen and other officers had crowded around, most of the money passing hands going towards Teal'c's victory. Cam was undaunted, and he now twitched slightly as Teal'c remained motionless.

The Jaffa Warrior wasn't silent though. "Colonel Mitchell, I regret to inform you that I have had much more practice at this game than you may realize."

Cam growled and narrowed his eyes a fraction. "Disneyland don't count! How'd you expect me to concentrate with Goofy dancin' 'round right behind me!" Cam fought his chuckles at how several of the costumed goons at their recent trip to Disneyland had attempted to get Teal'c to laugh, they'd all failed.

Doctor Daniel Jackson, - sitting beside Teal'c - said. "I don't think he means Disneyland Cam," He turned towards Teal'c who remained still as a stone. "He never beat you, did he?" Cam kept his composure - Daniel mentioning their non-trip through time on Odyssey wouldn't distract him.

Teal'c merely smiled slightly more and continued staring into Cam's eyes. "Indeed."

Vala Mal Doran rubbed her chin as she watched Cam from opposite him. "Fifty years, Cameron. You should just give up now and take up quilting. I could use a new sweater."

Many of the airmen and officers chuckled and continued to bet and generally be a very bad distraction. Cam winced and felt his eyelids yearning to close and hydrate his eyes. "Not yet!"

Sam chuckled and took a sip of her tea, she kept a close eye on the betting and knew that Cam was fast approaching his record. "Win this and you could probably pay all those IOUs you owe me."

Cam grit his teeth, now determined to win it. "Yer on!"

The airmen and women who'd bet on Cam started to chant "Mit-chell! Mit-chell! Mit-chell!"

Teal'c was completely unfazed though and even reached down to take a tater tot from his tray. He almost condescendingly put it in his mouth and began to chew with emphasis, all the while staring at Cam with undaunting force. Cam's eyes were burning - five excruciating minutes and he was reaching the end of his reserves. Another thirty seconds and -

"Unscheduled offworld activation! Base to full alert!"

Cam blinked and his hands went immediately to his face - everyone around groaned as they quickly exchanged their monies, and headed out to their assigned areas.

SG-1 reacted fast, the food was left on the table, and Sam led the way up to the control room to see what was going on. Cam blinked repeatedly, his vision fuzzy from the odd experience. "Hey! Wait up!"

Teal'c had already gone ahead with Sam, and Cam was completely lost as he walked around. In a base emergency, everyone needed to get to their post as fast as possible, Cam stumbled out of the mess hall after his team, only to find that Vala had stayed behind to ensure he was okay. "Come on, Cam!" She took his arm, and led him down the busy hallways to the gateroom much to Cam's relief.

Cam's vision was back to normal by the time he'd reached the gateroom. Sam coordinated with General Landry and Walter at the forefront. "Who is it?"

Sam turned her head over her shoulder and nodded once. "It's SG-2. They were on a recon mission to a Lucian Alliance base we've been keeping an eye on the past few weeks with offworld teams."

Cam took his place by Sam and General Landry, a full squad of Marines in the gateroom below had their weapons trained on the gate, standard operating procedure for any unscheduled activation. The trinium-titanium iris slid apart, and - moments later - Colonel Reynolds along with Major Anne Teldy walked through. Following them was a MALP with what looked like a dessicated body on top, The Marine guards tracked the MALP, probably just in case the body decided to reanimate and develop a taste for human flesh. To Cam, it was an amusing thought. Perhaps the George Romero zombie marathon wasn't the best idea to have had the night prior.

Captain Alicia Vega and Master Sergeant Ronald Greer followed behind the MALP with a radio control. Both looked quite disturbed by what they'd seen.

Cam could clearly see that the body on the MALP - with his vision back to its pristine 20/10 - had a torn open chest despite the burns; those kinds of wounds only came from projectile weapons. "Look at his chest, center mass shots. Didn'cha say that planet was Lucian Alliance?"

Sam remained unusually silent, and General Landry sighed softly as he spoke into the loudspeaker. "SG-2, Get cleaned up and report to the briefing room." He turned to Sam and Cam and nodded. "Get suited up just in case. Something tells me we're gonna want to know what happened over there."

- Planet: P6N-1X8 (Collust) -

- Lucian Alliance Kassa Plantation -

- February 18th, 2007 -

-10:55pm Local Time -

It was a dark and actually quite pleasant night to Sotero's surprise, much nicer and less annoying than those dark and stormy nights that played havoc on the camera system. He likened those nights to badly scripted stories.

The clouds were light and fluffy in the sky, the air was slightly moist but not so much as to cause discomfort, and even better, the forecast read for rain to come later the next day. For Sotero Adima, the lieutenant in charge of this plantation of Kassa, there couldn't possibly be an easier or more prodigious job.

Sotero yawned as he waited for his Tel'tak to fully land, having just returned from a meeting with the other Kassa plantation heads. He nodded to his assistant as she hander him a notepad with production notes and investment in materials and men.

Sotero sighed and handed it back. As great as this job was, it could get annoyingly bureaucratical. After checking in with a few other of his subordinates, making sure everything was running smoothly, he retired to the main complex of the base.

The ground was soft and fertile, perfect for Kassa. This temperate world had been through several extinctions over the ages, making the ground exceptionally good for any sort of farming. Sotero was even considering expanding into actual food supply instead of just Kassa. Diversity ensured he'd keep his business going.

Everything was dark, only a few lights remained on at a time like this. A few hellos, a few mementos from the meeting given out, and Sotero went up to the control tower which he'd turned into his office.

He sat comfortably in the hastily erected hanger tower at the south end of a kilometer long landing zone for Tel'taks, Al'Kesh, and on the rare occasion, one of the precious Ha'tak left to the Alliance. He was lucky to own his own Tel'tak that sat alone on the pad now though. Sotero had stolen it during a Tok'ra rebellion on his world and it had helped ensure his position in the Alliance.

The hangar control room was fitted with a communications hub connecting him to all his men and women, a control device for a ground to orbit staff cannon to scare the natives, and even camera positions all over. He was as close to a god as he could be and he damn well enjoyed it. Sotero only wished the higher ups didn't demand a production list and inventory; it's not like he was going to be eating away their profits.

Even better than being in charge though, the stupid pre-industrial tribe of sub-humans on this planet were the most manipulable people he'd ever met. Given that fact that they saw the Chappa'ai as some kind of portal to higher realms of existence instead of planets, none of Sotero's men had to till the fields, water them, or even harvest. The 'quality control' test subjects were another benefit that other Kassa plantations had issues with.

If any of the almost two hundred sub-mutants gave him lip, he'd shock them with a Zat'na'ki'tel and say that their new gods wouldn't be so lenient to them the next time. Sotero now understood what the Goa'uld System Lords must have felt like.

The perks were the real advantage of this posting though, As long as the Kassa flowed, none of the higher ups in the Alliance would bother him beyond a transmitted request for more. He'd even managed to stay clear of Kiva, that self-serving bachti kregat!

He'd become the governor if not emperor of this planet. Sotero had it all, loyal servants who shared the spoils of the Kassa farming, a little planet out of the way of the Ori fanatics, the Tok'ra agents, or even the Tau'ri infiltrators. He still kept a watch out, because he had no intention of getting caught with his pants down should one arrive. As long as the Kassa kept flowing, the Alliance got their cut, Sotero was set for life.

Sotero remembered of one of the nicer perks about being a god with a smile. He keyed in his personal assistant, a new and fresh faced servant who'd worked with the Free Jaffa for a time before finding Sotero on this planet and… transferring positions. "Anna-Keen, you there?"

Sotero checked all the cameras - everything looked normal. Anna'Keen's voice came through - the hint of an accent Sotero couldn't put his finger on always amused him. "Yeah, Sotero? You need something?"

"Not something… someone."

Anna'Keen replied with a suggestive chuckle "Ah, feeling anxious again are we? Alright, I'm over by the staff cannon; I can swing by and get us some company." A pause and something that sounded like a muffled cough came over before he continued. "So you want that little redhead again, or something different?"

Sotero sighed in relaxation as memories washed through. "See if the redhead's around, otherwise just get me one with nice lips."

Anna'Keen chuckled and replied in the affirmative. Sotero sat back down on his chair and looked at the odd light on the monitor. That light was strange; there was something about it that seemed unnatural. As far as Sotero knew, he had only one team out in that direction and they were just on a standard guard mission. In fact, it should have been ending soon. Sotero keyed in their communications frequency and said. "Selac, you there?"

This time it took a few seconds, but a voice replied soon enough. "Yeah…"

The voice sounded odd to Sotero, almost as if Selac were clearing his throat. "You alright Sel? You sound weird."

"Yeah, caught me sneaking a bite."

Sotero raised his eyebrows. Selac wasn't addicted. "Hope that's not our profits you're eating."

"Nah, had some crap in the village, They couldn't cook a Quat if their life depended on it."

Sotero chuckled, that sounded more like his cynical underling. "Tell me about it, I can only stomach that stew with those tubers."

"Yeah that's not too bad. You need something?"

"Yeah, you see over by the northern hill?" Eyeing the light on the screen again, Sotero said. "The little light on top?"

"Uhh… yeah I do now. What is that?"

"Don't know. Go and check it out. Take your team and once you're done, get whatever you want from the village."

Selac's voice came through suggestive, just as Anna'Keen had been. "Whatever I want? "

"Ha-ha, if you insist."

Sotero cut communications, and stared at the light on the hill again. It could be a small fire in the distance, or maybe one of the villagers testing the light emitting devices they'd wowed them with. But something was peculiar about this and Sotero just couldn't figure it out.

Anna'Keen's voice came back a few seconds later over the speaker, hushed and almost scared. "Sotero! There's someone here!"

Sotero turned his attention to the camera near the space between the village and the staff cannon - he tried to see where Anna'Keen was. "What? What is it!"

"Tau'ri… it's got to be. They're in black and heading to the staff cannon. They must have flown in on a Tel'tak."

Sotero winced and cursed aloud in Goa'uld, he'd always felt it was stronger than his own language, and the Chappa'ai's language translation never deciphered his feelings properly. "So stop them! You've got a gun, use it!"

"There's four of them, they're heavily armed. I think they're actually heading to the village, they just took out the guard at the staff cannon."

Sotero again cursed when he turned his attention to the staff cannon camera. He could now easily see the guard lying on the floor with a pool of blood seeping from his neck. He couldn't see the Tau'ri; they must have already passed by the light of the camera. "I'm sending reinforcements to the village. Tell them anyone who helps the Tau'ri is getting thrown through the Chappa'ai backwards and into the abyss!

Anna'Keen didn't reply, and Sotero turned attention to the wide communications channel. "All personnel, the Tau'ri are here. They're probably going to try and get the village to help them fight us, shoot as many as you have to, but I want the Tau'ri alive if possible. Everyone to the village now! You too Selac! Forget the light!"

A crescendo of affirmatives, and Sotero couldn't help but feel pleased, he only had around twenty people total working this base, but even the Tau'ri with their weapons couldn't take on that many people. With his own people armed with Zat'ni'ke'tels and Staff Weapons, the Tau'ri were hard pressed even with their technology. They may have had the training of their planet, but the Lucian Alliance consisted of pirates and criminals, people who knew how to fight dirty.

Sotero watched on the monitors, his small force moved effectively and quickly from the hanger base to the outskirts of the village, all hiding and staying quiet.

He was concentrating so hard that Sotero didn't even notice the slight sound of footsteps behind him, and only heard the beginning of a rush of air next to him before he fell to the floor.

A rifle butt had cracked against his shoulder drawing him down. He was unarmed, and apparently the Tau'ri were sneakier than he'd expected. Feeling an arm wrap around his neck, Sotero cried out in pain. He could barely make out his attacker behind him by looking at the reflection in the screen.

"You Sotero?"

A man with no discernable accent but an odd dialect. "Yes…!" Cooperation was the only chance for survival, the Tau'ri were strong, but they had the fatal flaw of mercy, if Sotero helped them do whatever it was they were here to do, they'd let him go or at worst give him to the Jaffa. He'd escaped Jaffa Prisons, though that wasn't that hard nowadays.

"Well a little birdy told me you've got the command codes to that Tel'tak parked outside."

"That's it?" Sotero couldn't believe it! They were after his Tel'tak! "Let me go and it's all yours!"

The man snorted and tightened his grip, Sotero choked under the strain as he struggled on his knees, but the Tau'ri was ruthlessly strong. "Give it up, or the next time you look down you'll see your ass instead of your dick."

Sotero took the rather strange and uncouth threat seriously. The Tau'ri had killed hundreds if not thousands of Jaffa, and blowing up Kassa Trains they'd killed quite a few Alliance mercenaries. He was just a flunkie in their eyes and easily disposable. Sotero moved one hand slowly and pointed to where his command console was. "There! It's already unlocked!"

The man holding him grunted, and a moment later another skinnier man moved over. He was dressed in black Tau'ri fatigues camouflaging him well in the night sky. He had a beard and moved too quickly for Sotero to note much other than a war weary face. The skinny man quickly tapped a few buttons on the console, and Sotero heard the distinct sounds the computer made when information was brought up. The skinnier man turned and Sotero could see his short brown hair, well trimmed beard and blue eyes. "Right, I've got it. Once StirFry and James are back, we'll blow this dump."

"Bitchin'." The Tau'ri's idea of language was quite strange to Sotero, but he said nothing.

The skinnier man cracked his knuckles by forming a fist and clicked his radio. "Light it up, Stirfry."

Sotero watched through the windows of the hanger tower as on the hill far away, too far to see the little light, an intensely bright shot flew up into the air, and split apart into raining shards of flame… right top of the Kassa. He gasped and involuntarily moved, drawing even more strength from the man behind him. After struggling enough to get his voice back, Sotero cursed. "You fools, now my men will kill you all. Starting with whoever set that field aflame!"

The skinnier man chuckled, and then said in a gruff Voice. "Oh, you mean Selac and his little team you sent out? They talked just as fast as you did… two hours ago."

Sotero couldn't believe it, how had the Tau'ri done this? They must have had dozens of men around to do this so quietly. "Then why do you want the Tel'Tak…? Why are you…"

A familiar voice sounded out behind him having just entered the room. Sotero felt a hand pat his shoulder as it said. "Because you're the easiest target, and nobody'll miss ya buddy."

Panic crept into Sotero's heart. "A-Anna'Keen? Wha… What are you doing?"

Anna'Keen moved around to sit on Sotero's chair, and spun it around to face the Lucian Alliance lieutenant. His olive skin and devious smile hadn't changed one bit. He was holding a strange looking Tau'ri weapon with a long smooth cylinder sticking out the barrel. "Cuz that's my job, and I've been doing it for so long I'm better than the scum who really do it."

Sotero could hear the distinct report of rapid fire projectile weapons outside. It sounded like a dozen or more were firing as well as Staff and Zat fire. He'd truly been caught in an inescapable trap. His men were likely getting slaughtered, and there was nothing he could do about it. "I'll give you the Tel'tak, just let me go… please."

Anna'Keen smirked and shot a glance at the skinnier man before he replied. "Okay. Let's just get you down there." Anna'Keen then looked up to the man holding Sotero. "Try not to break his neck on the way down, would you?"

Sotero's captor chuckled, and pulled him to his feet. "Alright, come on ya kurvo jedna. Walk!"

Still not getting a look at his captor, Sotero was led out of his control room and into the hallway leading to the stairs. He could trip on purpose and at least wound his captor, but they'd just shoot him in retaliation, He'd heard that the some of the Tau'ri infiltration teams liked to terrorize in order to get what they needed, but they never executed prisoners. That was the only hope left in Sotero.

The stairs were a little confusing, but they quickly got to the ground floor and walked past empty racks of weapons and other assorted equipments. Most - if not all of it - was loaded onto a cart that would barely squeeze through the doorway at the far end of the room.

Sotero could feel the heat and wind from the fires that raged outside- from even inside and through the open doorway. He heard more gunfire outside and prayed that whoever was shooting out there didn't decide to take a shot at him.

Anna'Keen and the skinny man flanked him on both sides. The skinny man had a long and alien looking rifle, exactly the kind of thing he'd expect from the Tau'ri. It was long and mean looking, and even had a blade attached to the front. The skinny man was obviously expecting combat both at range and up close.

Sotero was near the edge of the doorway when he saw three of his people running towards the fire, or rather around it to reach the hangar tower. They saw him and instantly raised their weapons, but before they could fire, a dozen small explosions raked across them. Blood spewed out and they shook in place before falling to the ground screaming.

Another burst of fire, this one from the skinny man beside them and their screams were silenced. Sotero couldn't believe it, but at the same time, he'd have done it too. Sotero could feel his sweat mixing with that from the arm of his captor in the tremendous heat.

The village was in shambles and Sotero had no doubt that the Tau'ri were already helping them. It's what they did.

A few more kicks to his backside, and thirty seconds later, they were at the Tel'tak. Sotero watched nervously as the skinny man input the command codes into the doorway pad and the airlock opened. The man cried out in a strange dialect, and then turned to Sotero and his captor. "Get him inside, get him to start it up and wait for StirFry, I'll get the package."

The skinny man took off into the night, and Sotero was led into the Tel'tak, He went over the possibilities in his head, he could probably disable the inertial dampeners and the artificial gravity, then take off and hope that being seated meant he wouldn't pass out from the crushing forces. But that was too risky, and he needed to stay alive.

He engaged most of the systems, but kept it all very still. One false move and they'd kill him no doubt, or at least hurt him more. Sotero knew he was likely the only survivor of this surprise attack and he needed to let the Alliance know… once he'd gotten through the Chappa'ai.

The one they called "StirFry" arrived soon after. To his surprise, it was an attractive young woman with olive skin and long flowing reddish brown hair. She wore black clothing festooned with pouches and equipment. She also held a very strange looking weapon that looked almost like a larger, longer Zat. Stirfry was as fiery in spirit as her angry facial expression showed. "Get this asshole outta here!"

The man holding Sotero chuckled again and deadpanned. "Just keeping your seat warm. Wouldn't want that ass getting anymore frostbite."

StirFry gave a condescending look and hissed. "Fuck off, Drake. Now get him outta here before I rip out your tongue and toss your salad with it."

Sotero didn't understand the action, but 'Drake' behind him again laughed. "Only half bad. See? You're already warmin' up to me."

StirFry rolled her eyes and pushed both Sotero and Drake aside to take the helm. Drake pulled Sotero back into the cargo compartment where Anna'Keen and the skinny man were now loading stolen equipment next to a large shipment of weapons grade Naquadah. Drake held Sotero near the personnel hatch in the rear of the craft, not too far from where the cargo area was.

Now Sotero understood, the Tau'ri were after supplies. Likely trying to build up resistance against the Ori. Drake held onto Sotero for the entire time, almost ten minutes of staring out the open cargo doors to the field of burning Kassa, the inevitable layers of ash over the area. All that mattered was getting free, and then getting someplace he could hide out from the Alliance. They'd never forgive losing such a valuable asset.

Once they were done loading, Anna'Keen walked past and completely ignored Sotero despite a look in his direction. Sotero was wondering what would happen now.

The skinny man called out as he closed the main cargo doors and moved over. "James! Tell Stir-Fry to get us going! Circle the fields for a bit and then take us back to Alpha Site!"

Sotero understood now, 'Anna'Keen' or rather James had been a spy all along, for three months he'd acted exactly as an Alliance member would, all the 'morally reprehensible' things that the tribe elders and Jaffa found criminal… the Tau'ri must have been willing to go far to attack the Alliance to justify what James had done in those three months. "Are you going to take me? Or leave me here?"

The skinny man, now up close and in detail smirked deviously. He wore a beard around his lips, and the hint of age in his face showed through a few hardened lines. Drake muttered over Sotero's ear. "Whaddya say, Colonel? Just get rid of him?"

Sotero was getting really worried now. He was fully expecting a knife in the back or across the throat now, just a quick death. Instead, the Colonel in front of him shrugged. "He's a stowaway on our new ship." He looked at Sotero straight in the eyes. "On my planet, we'd throw stowaways on our boats into the water." Turning to the field, the Colonel took a deep breath of the heated air. "Once we're airborne, kick him off."

Sotero struggled against his captor and fought with everything he had - screaming as he tried to bite Drake's arm around his neck. Drake easily overpowered him and flipped his arms to loop around Sotero in a full nelson hold.

The Tel'tak was suddenly much smaller than he'd remembered and the open door with wind gusting through loomed ahead. Drake chuckled again and held Sotero right up to the open personnel door. "You got it, Colonel!"

The fighting continued, and Sotero tried to kick back to try and free himself. But it was too late, and the Tel'tak took off from the ground. He could feel his shoulders popping out Drake was holding him so hard.

The air was rushing in from the door, and the heat from the fire of the burning Kassa field below flowed into his lungs as he tried to muster enough strength to escape. It didn't matter anymore though, as Drake pulled him back deeper into the Tel'tak, and then let him go.

Turning to face Drake, he saw him for the first time, a rugged looking man with an angry face. Drake brought his rifle up and smacked it against Sotero's face pushing him back towards the door amidst a spray of bloodstained saliva. Sotero managed to grab a desperate hold of the sides, barely hanging on. "No please!" He was right over the burning fields of Kassa, he looked over his shoulder to the scorching inferno below and the tremendous updraft. Even at this height, he'd survive the fall and it wouldn't be a quick death.

Drake ignored him and brought the buttstock down again, this time against Sotero's right hand breaking three of his fingers and loosening Sotero' hold on the Tel'tak's door jamb.

Sotero flailed about, half his body hanging out of the hovering craft, the other barely holding onto the Tel'tak, he begged for mercy, to spare his life, but Drake instead just raised a handgun and fired a trio of shots into Sotero's upper chest. The flashes blinded Sotero who finally lost grip and slipped back into the warmed night air. The shots were too high to hit his heart, and Sotero felt the odd rush of endorphins as he fell from several hundred meters in the sky into a funeral pyre worthy of a Viking King.

Drake closed the door to the Tel'tak, and silently the small craft took off, the occupant's mission successful.

- Location: Deep Space -

- Somewhere near 'Alpha Site' -

- February 19th, 2007 -

-3:25pm Local Time -

It had taken almost half a day to get to the Alpha Site, and Colonel Malcolm Leach was getting antsy. Nobody had expected them to survive their infiltration mission, but a combination of distraction, infiltration and subversion along with their inside man's knowledge of the base and its security let them hit fast and hard. It was likely the Lucian Alliance would think it was a coordinated strike from an entire platoon.

That's what Malcolm enjoyed, using superior tactics, training, and a hell of a lot of creative uses for everyday things to win the battle decisively. He'd also found that his team worked well together despite only having formed recently. These little pinpricks against the Lucian Alliance would serve well to keep them off balance, and they were enough for the long term plans to destabilize them to come to fruition.

At the helm, Captain Rachel Friedman called out. "Colonel! We're approaching the Alpha Site!"

Malcolm got off his makeshift cot and strolled towards the control panel ahead. The other two members of his team, Captain Dan Drake and Santiago "James" Garcia were resting as well, both deserved it after such a long mission.

It had taken hours to get everything ready. All details had been accounted for; the security cameras, the village's possible reaction, the sabotage of the ground based Staff Cannon, even re-purposing their flare gun into a makeshift incendiary mortar for the Kassa. He would have loved to take the credit, but Rachel had given the brilliant idea when Drake had suggested using the flares along with butane to light the field.

Malcolm watched as the craft came out of the blue of hyperspace in orbit of the big blue and green planet he'd been expecting. He tapped the communications button on the helm as he stood next to Rachel and announced. "This is Omega Team, do you read?"

Nothing but static - Rachel craned her neck up to Malcolm and asked. "Maybe we're not in range. These cargo ships are supposed to be junk."

Malcolm motioned down to the planet. "Get us down there, cloak the ship." He wasn't wiliing to make an assumption from this range.

-3:35pm-

Dan realized that what he'd seen on the way down after being woken wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a joke.

Standing outside the cargo ship's doors he could see that the Alpha Site was gone - the entire complex had been smashed into pieces.

Malcolm moved ahead and looked at the ground. He used his gloved hands to inspect the loose dirt. James did the same, but closer in to the ashy ruins. Rachel stood still, seemingly unmoved by the sight.

Dan realized just how utterly screwed they were. The complex had become home in the last year, and even more, it had the Stargate… There was no way they were digging through all those tons of rock to reach the Stargate on the 3rd sublevel. From the looks of it, it had almost been a controlled demolition.

As James moved closer, Malcolm suddenly got up and pulled him back - even in the beautiful forest and side lake of this area, Dan couldn't help but feel abandoned.

None of them said anything for almost an hour, the four of them splitting up and going around on their own. Each searched and pulled at the rubble looking for any evidence, and eventually they regrouped in front of the cargo ship, Malcolm summarized their situation succinctly. "They're dead, there's combat boot prints, blood and spent brass all over the place. The SGC must have found them."

That meant trouble; that meant getting shot or dragged back to Earth to spend the rest of their lives in Area 51. None of the four wanted to experience that.

Malcolm continued - his spirit undaunted. "Sod em. If they can't hold a simple base, the tossers deserve it. Fuck Franklin, fuck Ridge, and fuck the SGC. We're alive and we're not stupid enough to get caught out by those SGC do-gooders." Malcolm was used to giving these speeches - morale was very important in his former and current line of work. "If a load of backwards thinking pirates and criminals can form the Lucian Alliance, how much more do you think we can do if we fight for it?

Malcolm looked at each of his team and wasn't too surprised to see that they weren't disagreeing. James simply gave a nod of consent - this was his style of fighting anyway. Rachel was speechless, but Malcolm knew she'd follow orders. Drake on the other hand seemed uncharacteristically cautious, and his words belied his expression. "All we've got is a Cargo Ship, some shit Jaffa weapons and a few spare mags. What can we do?"

James scoffed at the question. "I made a lot of contacts in the Alliance - I can get us some work, we'll have to lose the 'Tau'ri' getup for awhile but there's still plenty of non-Alliance mercs out there, and we still might find the backup cache here." He turned to Malcolm. "You got any problem with being a hitman for awhile?"

Malcolm grunted in annoyance. "I've been a hitman for longer than you've been messing your trousers. What's a few more Jaffa and Goa'uld? Tossers deserve it far as I'm concerned."

Rachel sighed as she turned back to the Cargo swallowed audibly and finally spoke. "So… it's just like that, huh? We're freelance. Guess all those savings went to waste." Before the others could say anything else, Rachel turned back to them and spat. "Screw it, not like we can go back to Earth anyway. Not like I want to. I'm in. I say we show the Jaffa and Lucian Alliance what real soldiers can do."

Rachel stuck her fist out, calling for a consensus. Malcolm quickly took her wrist in his fist, and James did the same forming three parts of a square. "I'm in."

"Nothing we're better at."

All three looked at Drake, who after a moment's hesitation, stuck his fist in too completing the square. "Aw fuck it, never wanted to live forever anyway."

A/N: Each chapter alternates emphasis between SG-1 and the surviving Redscope team, next chapter has strong SG-1 focus.

For the imaginative of you out there, here's the 'actor' faces i have for the Redscope team.

Malcolm Leach - Gary Oldman

Rachel Friedman - Moran Atias

Dan Drake - Jamie Bamber

James Garcia - John Leguizamo

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