A/N: Alright, here's the long-awaited Chapter 3. It was really hard for me to write, that's part of the reason why it took so long to post. Also, I reuploaded Chapter 2 because it really had paraghraphing from hell. Hope it's better now. One last thing, I'd like to apologize if there are any physicists out there reading this. I do a lot of research for my fics but since I'm not really good at physics and math, it is possible that there are some scientific inconsistencies. Blame it on the author's license ;-)

Enjoy!


Chapter 3

In the corridor just outside the briefing room door, Sam nearly ran into Captain O'Brien who was moving awkwardly on a pair of crutches, followed by a rather worried Colonel Bishop. Sam observed absently that with her light brown hair tied back into a short pony tail, the Captain looked more like a college student than an Air Force officer and not even the green BDU she was wearing could really do anything to change that. Sam gave both officers a nod of acknowledgement and slid into the room. Greeting Daniel and Teal'c, she seated herself into her usual chair next to Colonel O'Neill.

"Morning, Carter," O'Neill greeted her and when she responded with a wide grin, he added with a wry smile. "Sleep well, did ya?"

Sam felt her lips form a megawatt Carter smile, the one she saved for the Colonel only, and replied playfully. "Yes, sir."

A mischievous spark appeared in the Colonel's eyes as he locked hers and held them. Anything and everything Sam was about to say was quickly forgotten, as her entire world reduced into the pair of deep, chocolate colored and wonderfully sparkling eyes and the man they belonged to.

Finally, Sam lowered her gaze, breaking the connection, and tried to regain control of her emotions, hoping that the blush she felt creeping up her cheeks was faint enough to go unnoticed by other people in the room. She exhaled deeply. Lifting her head to face him again, Sam noticed that his eyes never left her face. O'Neill gave her a rueful smile, which she returned. Just as Sam was about to say something, General Hammond walked into the briefing room.

All of the military personnel in the room snapped to attention, accompanied by the rather annoying noise of chairs being moved across the concrete floor. All of them, that was, with the exception of Captain O'Brien, who made an effort to stand up, only to stop mid-motion, wincing with pain, and slump back into the chair with a look of poorly concealed exasperation on her face. Sam couldn't help but chuckle inwardly at the sight of the expression which would have been much more fitting for a pouting four-year-old than a trained military officer.

"As you were," the General said and waited for everyone to sit down before he continued. "I have called this meeting to determine how and why our visitors ended up here and, more importantly, how to get them back to their time," Hammond paused and then turned to Sam. "Major Carter?"

She sighed. Here they were again, asking her to come up with a working theory when she barely knew what had happened in the first place. Suck it up, Major! Sam mentally scolded herself, kicking back into military mode. She turned to face the General and replied thoughtfully, camouflaging her momentary hesitation.

"Well, sir, at this point, there are just too many unknowns," she decided that buying herself some time by reminding them all of the obvious truth was her best tactics. "I mean, of course we could assume that the wormhole passing close to a solar flare caused the matter stream to travel backwards in time, like it did when we returned to 1969, but..."

"But the fact that the jump occurred in time as well as in space suggests there were others factors at work here," O'Brien finished the sentence from her seat across the table and the delicate arch of her eyebrows furrowed, creating a thoughtful crease right at the root of her nose.

Everyone in the room was staring at her quizzically, everyone including Sam, but thanks to her scientific mind which allowed her to concentrate on more than one problem at a time, she was able to maintain a coherent train of thought. "Yes, Captain," she stressed out the younger officer's rank, the kid may have been from the future but she was still a junior officer and Sam didn't like to be interrupted. No matter how right she may be, a small voice in the back of Sam's head added. "I was just about to say that."

O'Brien looked down for a moment but didn't back away, instead, she met Sam's eyes squarely. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, perhaps I should have mentioned that I have a degree in theoretical astrophysics," her tone was polite, but definitely not apologetic.

"Oh, great, another egghead," Colonel O'Neill mumbled, making himself center of everyone's attention. Sam was too busy glaring at him aggrievedly to notice that the Captain chuckled dryly in response to his remark. O'Neill shrugged innocently in Sam's direction and she continued.

"Anyway, since there was no mention of alien devices of any kind in your report," she turned to Colonel Bishop and then to Captain O'Brien for confirmation. "We can at least rule that one out."

"Well, Ma'am," O'Brien emphasized the honorific. "There were no signs of alien technology on P9M 778, the planet we originally visited," the young Captain clarified, noticing everyone's confused looks. "But that doesn't mean that some alien device couldn't have operated from another location. We've seen..." she stopped mid-sentence, then sucked in a breath and continued. "Never mind. My point is, if the electro-magnetic field of a solar flare can cause the wormhole to jump back in time, then..."

"Then maybe a strong enough burst could cause it to jump in space as well!" Sam finished, her eyes sparkling as she realised the impact this might have on their understanding of wormhole physics. "Good thinking, Captain."

The young Captain's only acknowledgement of the praise was a hint of a lopsided smile twitching the corner of her mouth. "The question is, what could have been the source of such a strong EM burst. Even if we rule out alien influence, there are still a number of possibilities," the Captain theorised, her face brightening as she started thinking out loud. "A pulsar could emit a powerful enough EM field but..."

"But those bursts occur periodically, so it's likely you would have experienced the effect before," Sam finished O'Brien's sentence. The kid was brilliant. "So what could emit an incredibly strong EM burst all of a sudden...." Sam trailed off, listing possibilities in her head.

"A supernova!" Both women suddenly exclaimed in unison. Sam's blue eyes met O'Brien's dark brown, their faces mirroring each other's excitement.

General Hammond cleared his throat. Sam had been so engulfed in this scientific puzzle that she had completely forgotten about her surroundings, therefore she'd missed everyone's confused looks at the exchange she had just had with the other physicist.

"Major, are you confident you can figure this out?"

Sam glanced across the table at Captain O'Brien. The young woman raised her eyebrows and shrugged, ducking her head to one side.

"Yes, sir. We'll figure it out."

The General nodded sharply. "Good, then I temporarily remove SG-1 from mission rotation until you get to the bottom of this. Teal'c will be assigned to SG-3, Doctor Jackson will be working with the linguistic department on the translation of the Ancient tablet and you, Colonel," he pointed at Jack, "will catch up on your paperwork."

"Yes," the Colonel mouthed, gesturing with one hand.

Everyone including the General decided to ignore O'Neill's antics. "Very well. Dismissed."

General Hammond then stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the officers standing in attention. Daniel apologized himself and hurried out of the briefing room, eager to start his work on the translation of the tablet that held the location of the Lost City of the Ancients.

Teal'c walked over to where Sam and the Colonel were standing. "I am confident you shall unravel this mystery shortly, Major Carter," he nodded towards Sam.

"Sure we will," Captain O'Brien confirmed with a smile as she neared their position.

Colonel O'Neill shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on his feet. "Well then, I'll leave you rocket scientists to it," his eyebrows were in constant motion. "I have an important appointment with my... desk."

Sam smiled at him. "Yes, sir."

"Yes," he echoed. "Major," he nodded towards Sam, who nodded back with an encouraging smile. "Captain," he turned to O'Brien, who shifted uncomfortably on her crutches and gave a brief nod, not meeting his eyes.

The Colonel then turned to leave. Teal'c bowed his head with a polite smile and followed O'Neill out of the room.

Sam turned to O'Brien. "Okay, Captain, we better get to work."

The young woman smiled faintly. "Yep. Work it is."

They headed out of the room when suddenly the Captain stopped and tlooked back. Sam followed her example and saw Colonel Bishop still standing by the briefing room table. She noticed the Captain's raised eyebrow and the Colonel's barely perceptible nod in response.

"I'll be in the gym," he said, gesturing vaguely.

The Captain nodded and headed for the door. Sam made a few long steps to catch up. "I'll show you the way."

O'Brien chuckled. "Thanks."

*


That's it for now and quite possibly also for the nearest future, since my high school finals are approaching rapidly. I'm sorry if this chapter was kind of slow but it was neccessary, the next one should be better :-)

As always, feedback of any kind is appreciated!