I would like to thank SVU Chicky, Barbarossa Rotbart, mia66, Piper-jacko06-Butterflygirl and Andrea for their kind words. Would you believe that I was able to get this chapter done so fast because I got snow? In mid-November! That's what I get for living on a mountain, I suppose.

Stargate: SVU

Chapter Three

"I've got him," Elliot said, when he emerged from the elevator with the building superintendent. "You have any luck?"

"None," Fin replied, as he switched his cell phone off. He and Munch stood in the hallway just outside Olivia's apartment. "After banging on the door, I just tried calling her again. Still no answer either way."

"I really hope nothing's wrong," Mr. Millstein, the super, said. "Detective Benson is one of our favorite tenants."

"Just open the damn door!" Elliot snapped at him.

"Hey, Elliot, calm down," Munch said.

"I'll calm down when I know Liv is safe and sound," Elliot replied. No word had been heard from Olivia since last night, and when she failed to show up for work this morning--without calling in sick--Elliot began to get really worried.

When Millstein opened the door using the master keys, it only swung open a crack, thanks to the door chain.

"Christ, it's been locked from the inside," Elliot muttered, his heart sinking. He stuck his face into the narrow opening and shouted: "LIV! OLIVIA!"

Still no answer, and the apartment sounded eerily quiet.

"To hell with it," Elliot said, as he took a step back and then kicked the door in. The door chain tore out a strip of wood from the wall as the door swung all the way open.

"No, sir," Munch said to the super, who was about to go in with them. "For your own protection, please wait outside."

Elliot and Fin entered Olivia's apartment with their guns drawn. Elliot called Olivia's name repeatedly, yet there was no answer. After a quick check, the three detectives determined that there was nobody in the apartment at all. Which was a relief to Elliot, because it meant that Olivia wasn't lying dead on the floor--yet his worries had not ended, because he still did not know what had happened to her, or where she was right now.

"Look at this!" Munch called.

Both Elliot and Fin came over to where Munch stood in the living room. On the coffee table was a half-eaten meal of Chinese food.

"Either she didn't get to finish, because she left," Fin said, "or she got interrupted by something…or someone."

"Her gun and badge are still here," Elliot said, shaking his head. "She wouldn't have left without them."

"The chain was still on the door," Munch commented. "If Liv had been abducted, where did her kidnappers take her out?"

"There's a fire escape outside her bedroom window," Elliot replied. "But that window's still locked from the inside."

"Did you check the clos--" Munch started to say, then stopped when he looked at Elliot.

"Did we check the closets, or under the sink, in case Liv's body had been stuffed in there?" Elliot angrily asked. "Was that what you were going to say, Munch?!"

"We'll check them," Fin calmly told Elliot. "You stay here. All right?"

Elliot punched his own hand in frustration as he waited alone in the living room. 'Maybe she got lucky, and spent the night with somebody,' he hopefully thought. 'Maybe Liv had such a great time, that she simply forgot to--'

But Elliot then shook his head when he realized that Olivia would never forget to call the precinct. One time, she had gone rock climbing upstate with Alex Cabot and several other of her girlfriends. When their car broke down on the day they were supposed to head back home, Olivia called right up and told everybody the situation. Cragen had told her to take the day off, yet Olivia still managed to show up later that afternoon at the one-six, still clad in her hiking clothes. Olivia's dedication was so great, that if he didn't hear from her, Elliot always assumed something disastrous had happened.

'Just like now,' he thought, as he somberly stared at a half-eaten meal on the table. Something very bad had occurred to his partner, and Elliot had never felt more helpless than he did right now.

Munch and Fin returned. Munch shook his head. "We searched every nook and cranny; she's not here."

Elliot let out a sigh of relief. He still didn't know where Olivia was, but at least she wasn't dead. There was that slim hope, at least. "We'd better call CSU," Elliot said resignedly.

"Yeah," Fin replied solemnly. "The sooner we get the process started, the better."

As Munch made the call, Captain Cragen entered the apartment with a grim look on his face.

"Cap," Elliot said, startled. "I was just about to call you."

"You got anything?" Cragen asked shortly.

"Nothing, she's not here," Fin said. "But what's weird was that the door was locked from inside and the chain was on. Plus, all the windows are locked from inside as well."

Elliot pointed at the half-eaten Chinese food. "Apparently Liv was interrupted during dinner--and now you know about as much as we do."

"CSU's on the way," Munch announced, as he closed his cell phone.

Cragen appeared to brace himself as he took a deep breath. "Just got a call from the District Attorney's Office. Casey never showed up for work today, either."

"Oh man," Fin dismally muttered. "Not the both of them…."

"They had a pair of uniforms swing by her place," Cragen said. "Same thing as here. The door had been locked from within, the chain was on, all windows were locked; her bed looked like it was slept in--yet no sign of Casey."

Munch slowly shook his head. "First Liv is gone, and now Casey?"

"It's not just them," Cragen said. "I've got a call from Captain Ross, over at the Major Case Squad, and he says they've been swamped with several more cases of people who have disappeared in exactly the same manner--all from locked houses and apartments."

"What the hell is going on here, Cap?" Elliot said, unsettled.

"We're going to find out, Elliot," Cragen firmly told him.

SG1: SVU

Olivia awoke, startled.

For a brief second, she thought the events of last night had been nothing but a bad dream. Then Olivia looked down at Luanda, who was fast asleep, cuddled up against Olivia's body, and realized that everything she had experienced had been all too real.

They had all run from the Jaffa hunting parties, deep into the darkening forest, where the only illumination came from the multiple shafts of moonlight that fell between the canopy of leaves. Yet no matter how fast, or far, they had run, the Jaffa always appeared to be right on their tail. There was talk about making a stand--yet it was tempered by the fact that their adversaries far outnumbered them. If they did tried to fight back, it would be a suicidal gesture.

But there had been a confrontation. As Olivia, Luanda and the SG1 team ran up a narrow pathway, a trio of Jaffa had jumped out in front of them, their red eyes glowing, and staff weapons at the ready. O'Neill, Teal'c, Sam and Daniel had all shot the Jaffa group down before they could make a further move. However, the sound of their gunfire had alerted the other Jaffa hunting parties, who began to mercilessly close in on all of them.

It was actually Luanda who saved them. She recognized an old hiding place where she used to play as a young girl. It was a space under a giant slab of rock on an incline in the ground. After they all took shelter within, Teal'c and O'Neill quickly covered the opening with bushes and tree branches.

Then they all sat back and nervously waited as the Jaffa hordes fell upon the area around them. Olivia held her breath until their hunters had gone past.

"It's a damn good thing they're not using bloodhounds," O'Neill whispered.

"Neith is the goddess of the hunt, Jack," Daniel whispered back, "she could have very well introduced the idea of using bloodhounds, or some other type of animal in--"

"Daniel," O'Neill had calmly said, "shut up."

They had spent the rest of the night just sitting there in silence. Olivia never even knew she had fallen asleep until she woke up just now. Her body had become cramped sleeping in the same position, yet she was hesitant to wake Luanda, who looked so peaceful, curled up as she was in the nook of Olivia's arm.

Still, Olivia's arm was going numb, so she very gently moved the sleeping Luanda aside until she was able to get up. As she rose to her feet, Olivia saw that she and the girl had been the only ones left in the hiding space. She could hear the SG1 team speaking quietly just outside.

Olivia emerged from the hiding space to see O'Neill leaning up against the rock, cradling his machine gun in his arms. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c stood close by to him in a tight circle. When he saw her, O'Neill said, "Morning, Olivia. Sleep well?"

"I'm amazed that I slept at all," she said. "What's going on? Is the hunt over?"

"No," Daniel grimly replied. "We've only just heard the horns sound again a few minutes ago."

"They sounded like they were quite a ways away from here," Sam quickly added, when Olivia looked alarmed. "So it appears we're safe."

"For now," Teal'c added darkly

"How's Luanda?" O'Neill asked. "Last I saw of her she was using you as a pillow."

Olivia couldn't help but smile at that. "She's still asleep."

"Good," O'Neill said, as he glanced at his watch. "We'll let her sleep another hour before we move out."

Daniel frowned at him. "Move out to where?"

"Back to the main base," O'Neill replied.

"We're headed back to Neith's stronghold?" Sam asked, looking startled.

O'Neill nodded. "Think about it. If Neith's got her whole Jaffa force out here in this hunt, then that means that her guards around the stargate must be seriously depleted."

"You are assuming that she does not have a reserve force, O'Neill," Teal'c reminded him.

"Even so, Teal'c, there's another problem: we're way overdue for our last communications check," O'Neill countered. "Which means Hammond will be sending another SG team to check up on us, and once they step through the stargate…."

"They'll be walking right into a meat grinder," Sam said in despair. "The Jaffa guarding the gate will cut them down."

"Exactly," O'Neill said. "At the very least, even if we can't get to the stargate, I want us to provide enough cover for that other team to be able get back to the SGC and tell them what's going on here."

Teal'c nodded his approval. "This is a good plan, O'Neill."

"Agreed, sir," Sam said. "But it might get very dicey for us."

"When is it ever not dicey for us?" O'Neill asked.

Sam nodded. "Good point."

"O'Neill," Teal'c said, gesturing with a nod.

They all looked over to see Luanda standing at the mouth of the hiding space, rubbing her eyes.

"Well, well, if it isn't young Xena, the Warrior Princess," O'Neill said in jest. "And how are we this fine morning, Your Highness?"

"My name is Luanda," she corrected O'Neill, giving him a frown as she came over and stood by Olivia, taking the woman's hand in her own.

"Looks like you've made a friend," Sam said with a smile to Olivia.

Olivia smiled down at Luanda. "You sleep well?"

Luanda nodded as she solemnly gazed at the grassy ground, still clutching Olivia's hand.

"Either of you guys hungry?" Daniel asked Olivia and Luanda, as he rummaged through his backpack. "I've got some granola bars in here, somewhere…."

"I'm fine, thanks, Daniel," Olivia said.

"What's a granola bar?" Luanda wanted to know.

"It tastes very good!" Sam assured her.

"Go on, try it," Olivia encouraged the girl, who accepted the granola bar that Daniel offered.

Luanda took the slightest of nibbles on the edge of the bar. When her face lit up with approval, she started taking larger, heartier bites. Luanda released Olivia's hand and began to shyly chat with Daniel as she ate.

"Is it me," O'Neill whispered to Olivia and Sam, "or is she a little less boisterous this morning?"

"She just watched her entire world be destroyed in a matter of hours by the Jaffa," Olivia murmured. "Hell, if I witnessed the same thing happen to my home, I'd be in a fetal position on the ground for a week!"

Sam nodded. "Not to mention the fact that we don't know what happened to Sartor. As much as I hate to say it, but she may well be an orphan now, sir. Considering all that, I'd say Luanda's holding up remarkably well."

"Yeah, she's a tough kid," O'Neill said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "We'll take her back with us, through the gate--that is, assuming we get that far."

"Shall we proceed to the base, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked. "Given that Luanda has already awakened…"

"Yeah," O'Neill said, as he glanced at his watch again. "It'll be two hours before Hammond sends the rescue team, so that'll give us more than enough time if we get started now."

"So, I guess we 'saddle up'?" Olivia asked with a smile.

O'Neill grinned at her. "Looks like you're getting the hang of this, Olivia."

That made Olivia pause for a second. "Yeah, um, there's something I need to tell you guys."

The SG1 team and Luanda all stopped to stare at Olivia.

"I've only known all of you for barely a day, now," Olivia said, choosing her words carefully. "And, maybe it's because we've been through so much in so little time, but I feel very close to all of you. My friends, my really close friends, call me Liv. And, well, I'd like for all you guys to call me Liv."

Sam looked touched. "Thanks, Liv."

"Liv," O'Neill said with a nod. "I like that."

Daniel smiled. "Liv, it is."

As they all started to walk in the direction of Neith's stronghold, Teal'c nodded to Olivia. "Thank you very much, Olivia Benson."

His response made Olivia give him a double take. "Oh, no, Teal'c, I mean that you can now call me--"

Sam placed a hand on Olivia's arm. "Teal'c has never called us by anything other than our full names since for as long as we've known him, Liv."

"Yeah, it's his way," O'Neill added. He glanced at Teal'c and said, "You wacky guy, you!"

Teal'c, still smiling, merely gave him a slight shrug.

"I thought your name was Olivia?" Luanda asked, puzzled.

"Liv is a nickname," Daniel explained, as they continued walking. "It's a shortened version of her full name. For instance, we would call you Lu."

Luanda's eyes grew wide with shock. "Lu is a boy's name! You call me that, and I shall pluck your eyeballs out!"

Daniel just stared at her, stunned, with his mouth hanging open.

"Such an adorable little tyke, isn't she?" O'Neill muttered, as he put his sunglasses on.

SG1: SVU

Mo'at was very angry.

As he quickly strode the vast corridors of the Mothership, the Jaffa warriors who stood guard each snapped to attention as he passed, in honor of Mo'at's title as the First Prime to Her Lord Empress Neith.

The initial reports from the hunt had been very good, as expected. There were the few casualties here and there, where a Jaffa had been caught off guard--yet that did not matter to Mo'at. If a Jaffa was stupid enough to let the prey get the better of him, then he deserved to be killed. This weeding out process during these hunts helped to keep the imperial armies of Her Lord Empress Neith pure with only the finest of warriors.

Yet there was a problem--at least according to Nacre, the Royal Physician, who had summoned the First Prime. Technically the Lord Empress did not require the use of a doctor, since she had her own healing powers. The Royal Physician post was created by Neith to serve mainly for science/medical research and experimental purposes. Mo'at entered the medical laboratory, where the elderly man strode up to him and said, "Thank you, First Prime Mo'at, for gracing us with your presence!"

"Enough!" Mo'at said, waving his hand with impatience. "Get to the point, Royal Physician. Unless you wish to become a patient in your own hospital!"

"Of course, First Prime. We have received three more Jaffa bodies from the hunt."

"Three more idiots who were foolish enough to get themselves killed," Mo'at sneered. "Of what consequence is this news?"

"It is the manner in which they were killed," the Royal Physician replied. "Not by arrow, nor spear…but by this."

The Royal Physician held up a metal tray, and when Mo'at saw the object in the center of the tray, his eyes--which were painted Egyptian-style with black eyeliner--flared wide with shock.

He took the object from the Royal Physician and went directly to the top of the Mothership, to the Imperial private quarters. Mo'at entered the sun room, the uppermost place in the pyramid-shaped vessel, and approached the solitary figure who sat as still as a statue atop a regally adorned throne.

Mo'at placed the tray down on the floor, and then bowed before the figure on the throne with his fists crossed in front of his chest--a gesture which mimicked the imperial crest he wore on his chest: two arrows crossed over a shield.

"Forgive me for disturbing your mediation, my Lord Empress," he said humbly. "However, a situation has arisen in the hunt which requires your attention."

He gestured at the object on the tray. "Three of our Jaffa were killed during the hunt by objects like this."

The figure, who wore a fully painted Egyptian mask of a woman over her entire head, moved for the first time when she leaned forward. Then she extended a hand towards Mo'at.

Mo'at placed the object in her hand, being careful not to touch her--for those who dared to touch the Lord Empress were subjected to a penalty of immediate death.

The regal figure then held the small metallic object up to the lifeless face of her mask and examined it. "It is a bullet," she said, her voice echoing hollowly throughout the room, "from the P90 submachine gun, the weapon of choice of the Tauri Stargate teams. They are still here, Mo'at."

"The ones who gunned down the assault team from yesterday?" Mo'at asked. "Forgive me, my Lord Empress, but I thought they would have fled the planet by now."

"Either they are unable to escape, or unwilling," the figure replied. She waved a hand. "No matter. I want them taken alive and unharmed."

Mo'at bowed again, once more crossing his fists together in front of his chest. "As you command, my Lord Empress, they shall be brought to you alive and unharmed, as soon as they are hunted down by--"

"No, recall the main hunting force, and keep them hidden in the woods north of here, out of sight," the figure commanded. "Order the hunt commander and his team to continue their normal hunting pattern, making sure they also continue to sound the horns every so often."

"Yes, my Lord Empress," Mo'at said, unable to keep the confusion out of his voice. The Lord Empress was deliberately stripping the hunt commander of all his forces, yet still sending him onwards as though nothing were amiss? They would continue blowing the horn to rally a hunting party that did not exist?

"And put the reserve force in an encampment in the fields surrounding the ship," she added.

Once again, Mo'at said, "Yes, my Lord Empress."

The figure leaned forward in her throne and held out her hand. "They shall come to us, Mo'at. They shall step right into the palm of our hand--" She then closed her outreached hand into a tight fist "--and we shall have them!"

Now Mo'at could not help but smile broadly. He still wasn't sure what her plan was--but Mo'at did not need to know; all he had to do was to carry it out. "As you command, my Lord Empress."

The figure sat back in her throne. "Finally, my dear Mo'at, the insolent Tauri shall receive the divine wrath for which they so well deserve!"

Mo'at excused himself as his Lord Empress burst into hysterical laughter, which echoed off the walls of the sun room. To the First Prime, the laughter of his beloved ruler sounded as sweet as the first patter of rain--just before the cleansing thunderstorm.

SG1: SVU

"Chevron four--encoded!"

First Lieutenant Jennifer Hailey nervously tugged at the chin strap of her helmet as she stood waiting with her SG team in the gate room. Her blond hair was done up in a braid, which the damned helmet had squashed against her head, making her feel more uncomfortable than she already was. Fully clad in combat gear, including her Kevlar vest, she was physically ready for anything. But emotionally…that was another thing.

"Chevron five--encoded!" Sergeant Harriman's voice called over the intercom.

Hailey always hated that countdown. It was nothing personal against Sergeant Harriman, who was just doing his duty, but she never liked listening to the Chevron countdown as the stargate dialed its destination. Especially now--when it was bad enough that they didn't know what the hell they would encounter once they stepped through the stargate--the countdown almost sounded like a grim foreshadow of doom.

"Chevron six--encoded!"

Of course, it didn't help that SG-12, the team which Hailey was a part of, were essentially going out on a search (and possibly rescue) mission to see what had become of SG-1, who were way overdue. Hailey supposed that she should be grateful that Colonel Melham, their commander, had insisted that they all be fully battle-ready. Each member would be going through with their weapons in hand, locked and loaded.

But they still had no idea what they would encounter. Jack O'Neill, Teal'c, Daniel Jackson, and Sam Carter--the latter Hailey thought of as a mentor and friend--all seemed so indomitable. And anything that could take down SG-1, one of the best teams in the Stargate Command, would have to be pretty damned formidable.

'And here we are,' Hailey grimly thought, 'getting ready to dive into the thick of it!'

"Chevron seven--wide!"

The stargate flared as what appeared to be a whirlpool of water momentarily pushed outwards, then settled back into the event horizon. It looked like a flat, silvery pool of water that lay vertically. Hailey wondered what they would encounter once they stepped through that silver wall.

Second Lieutenant Satterfield gave Hailey a tight smile. "You ready?" she asked.

"I was born ready," Hailey said, mustering up as much gusto as she could.

But Satterfield, not convinced, shook her head. "You always were a bad liar, Jenny."

"Can the chatter," Melham ordered, as he glanced up at the control room for the ok.

On the other side of the glass, General Hammond gave him the thumbs up. "You have a go," he said over the intercom. "Good luck, SG-12!"

"We'll bring SG-1 back home, sir!" Melham promised.

"Or die trying!" Sergeant Cullman, the fourth member of SG-12 swore, as he brought his M60 machine gun up to bear.

Hailey flinched inwardly at Cullman's remark. 'Oh, jeez, talk about tempting fate! Why don't we just smash a damn mirror while we're at it?!'

"All right, let's move out!" Melham ordered.

SG-12 all began walking up the ramp, side by side.

'Please God, let it just be a bad transmitter!' Hailey prayed, as she stepped through the event horizon of the stargate with her team.

SG1: SVU

"Damn it," O'Neill said. He gazed with contempt at the vast army of Jaffa in the valley below them. There appeared to be at least several hundred that surrounded the stargate--not to mention the additional thousand more that were camped out on the open ground nearby. "Just how many of these guys does Neith have in that mothership, anyway?!"

As he surveyed the multitude of warriors below them, Daniel asked, "Maybe they're the main force, called back from the hunt?"

"We have only just heard the horns sound again," Teal'c said. "And from quite a distance behind us. The main body of Jaffa are still out hunting."

Sam gave O'Neill a wide-eyed look. "If these guys are just the reserve force, then Neith must be packing them in like sardines on board the mothership!"

Olivia pointed at the stargate, which began flashing a series of lights around its outer rim. "Hey, what's going on?"

"Oh no!" O'Neill said. "They're coming through already!"

"Jack, I thought the 'check-up' team wasn't coming through for another hour!" Daniel said, stunned.

"Knowing Hammond, he sent them early," O'Neill said with a grimace. "Everybody take up sniper positions--except you, Liv. Your zat doesn't have the range from this distance. Just stay behind and guard our flank, ok?"

"Uh, ok," Olivia said nervously. "Um…Jack? Guard your flank means I watch your back, right?"

"You got it," O'Neill told her. "We'll make an Air Force officer out of you, yet, Liv!"

Olivia was about to say that she'd settle for getting back home, until she thought better of it. Luanda huddled down beside her as Olivia knelt on the ground and opened her zat. As she anxiously kept vigil on the hillside above them, Olivia shook her head and wondered just what the hell her chances were at surviving this insane situation were.

SG1: SVU

No sooner did she emerge on the other side than were Hailey's worse fears confirmed. There was a Jaffa army the size of which Hailey had never seen before surrounding the gate.

"Tal shak!" a Jaffa voice roared.

Within a split second, Hailey saw the figure who had spoken--he wore a serpent head and stood behind a line of Jaffa warriors; all of whom had their staff weapons aimed right at them.

"Everybody take cov--" Melham began to say--

--just before his head had been evaporated in an energy blast.

As she reacted with horror and shock at the death of Colonel Melham, a small voice at the back of Hailey's mind solemnly informed her that, as the second highest ranking officer in SG-12, she was now in command.

'Ohmigod!' Hailey thought in a flash panic.

"Oh, sweet Jesus!" Satterfield cried, as she watched the headless body of their commanding officer fall to the ground.

"Get down, now!" Hailey shouted. Cringing under the withering hail of laser fire from the Jaffa, she held up her P90 and pulled the trigger; one Jaffa, caught in her fire of bullets, fell from the ranks.

Despite the sheer panic on her face, Satterfield also returned fire with her own P90. "Get down?! Jenny, where?!"

"The DHD!" Hailey commanded. "Get behind the DHD, now!"

The three remaining members of SG-12 dived behind the Dial Home Device. Cullman glanced over at the headless Colonel with horror. "Oh God, Colonel…."

"Grieve for him, later, Cullman," Hailey ordered. "Right now, I want to hear that M60 sing!"

"You got it, Lieutenant," Cullman grimly replied. He laid flat on his stomach and began shooting the large caliber weapon. The spray of bullets cut down several Jaffa who were trying to outflank them.

When she noticed a bright light had abruptly vanished, Hailey glanced at the stargate behind them. The reflective event horizon had vanished as the stargate shut down, looking for all the world like the giant metal ring that it basically was.

As she fired at the attacking Jaffa from behind the cover of the DHD, Hailey realized that they would have to turn the stargate back on to get back home, anyway--yet the only way to do that was to dial the gate, and the only way they could dial the gate is to expose themselves to enemy fire. The Jaffa were doing a marvelous job at keeping them pinned down.

"At least we know what happened to SG-1!" Satterfield shouted. She kept firing her weapon at the seemingly suicidal Jaffa who charged at them. "They've been captured--or worse!"

"Yeah," Cullman said miserably, "just like we will be!"

Hailey watched a group of advancing Jaffa get mowed down by suppressing fire--but it didn't come from them. And the Jaffa had been cut down by what looked like the energy bolts from a staff weapon. The attacking hordes of Jaffa slowed in their advance as they all looked up to see where this new incoming fire was coming from.

Hailey glanced up at the ridge and smiled broadly when she saw the four figures who fired at the Jaffa. "Satterfield, Cullman, you're wrong! Look up the ridge, at two o'clock. It's SG-1!"

As her teammates cheered and whooped, Hailey glanced at the overwhelming force that lay before them and made a very hard decision. "We can't get them out, the enemy force is too overwhelming. But we can at least get back and apprise the SGC of the situation."

"How are we gonna--" Satterfield started to ask.

"You will dial the gate," Hailey firmly told her, "and Cullman and I will cover you."

Despite the fact that Satterfield stared at Hailey as if she were crazy, she nodded. "All right," Satterfield said, sounding oddly calm. "I mean, what the hell? I've got nothing better to do today…."

Hailey gripped a grenade in her hand and said, "On my mark, let's give them a pineapple surprise!"

SG1: SVU

Sam's eyes went wide when she thought she recognized one of the three figures taking cover behind the DHD. "Sir, one of them looks like Jennifer Hailey!"

"Just keep firing!" O'Neill ordered. "Keep the bastards diverted from the gate long enough for them to escape!"

Sam kept firing on the Jaffa below them. All the while, she kept an eye on Hailey and her team--one of whom lay on the ground, looking very dead. Sam was then startled to see Hailey, along with a male member of her team and another woman--was it Satterfield?--pop up from behind the DHD and throw grenades at the hordes of Jaffa in front of them. Just as the grenades exploded, tearing up the forward lines of the Jaffa, Hailey and her teammates all ran around to the opposite side of the DHD.

'Oh, no you don't!' Sam thought, as she shot down a Jaffa who tried to attack Hailey and her team.

Teal'c came over by Sam's side and aided her by expertly picking off the attacking Jaffa warriors with his staff weapon.

Hailey's team managed to dial the gate and get it started up. They began running towards it even before the event horizon had stabilized.

Sam grimaced when she saw the male member of SG-12 fall, as if hit. Hailey and Satterfield came back for him. They each pulled his arms over their shoulders and ran like hell for the safety of the stargate. Even the wounded man tried to hobble as fast as he could.

"Go, Hailey, go!" Sam muttered, as she kept shooting. "Get back home…."

SG1: SVU

"They are almost through the gate, my Lord Empress," Mo'at reported from his console.

The figure that sat in the throne behind him never even moved as she said, "Why don't we send them a parting gift, Mo'at?"

"As you wish, my Lord Empress." Mo'at smiled broadly as he pressed a button. "The gift has been sent."

On the side of the mothership, a massive Egyptian symbol abruptly slid to one side, as a guided missile roared out of its launch tube.

SG1: SVU

"Jack, look!" Daniel shouted. "The mothership!"

From the smoke that appeared on the side of the pyramid, Olivia initially thought the mothership had been hit. But then she saw a contrail arc high up into the air, and realized that the mothership had opened fire at them.

Sam abruptly got up and ran over to Olivia. "Take Luanda and get out of here! Now, Liv!"

"What about you?!" Olivia asked. "I'm not leaving without--"

"Damn it, Liv, don't argue--" Sam started to say, until Teal'c called her name.

"The missile," Teal'c said, as he gestured with his staff weapon. "Observe!"

"You sons of bitches," O'Neill said angrily, as they watched the missile begin to dive down, away from them--and right towards the stargate.

O'Neill keyed his radio and urgently said, "Incoming! Incoming! SGC, you have an incoming missile! Shut the iris now! I say again: Shut the iris--"

He stopped when the Goa'uld missile screamed straight into the stargate. There was a bright flash, and Olivia, expecting an explosion, instinctively shielded Luanda. However, there was no booming noise, nor any rain of debris. When Olivia and Luanda glanced at the stargate, it merely looked like a hollow circle once more.

"What happened?" Luanda asked.

"Damn good question," Olivia muttered. She gazed at SG1 and saw the grave expressions on their faces. "Is everything all right? Did the other team make it back?"

"We've got bigger problems of our own right now," Daniel said solemnly. He stared down at the huge army of Jaffa in the valley. "These guys have noticed we're up here, and they really look pissed!"

"Let's move out, now!" O'Neill called.

They all froze when they heard the bellow of the hunting horns once more, this time it sounded very close--just over the ridge above them.

When Olivia glanced up in that direction, she was stunned to see a long line of Jaffa had appeared up there. The Jaffa had their staff weapons aimed right at her and the SG-1 team.

"Looks like the hunting party's back," Daniel said grimly. "They must have really hustled, in order to return here in time to--"

"They were never that far away," O'Neill said, shaking his head. "It was all a ruse."

Teal'c nodded. "Indeed. We were led to believe by the horns that the main hunting force were much further away than they actually were."

"Don't look so shocked, Daniel," O'Neill said. "Neith is the goddess of the hunt, after all."

"And of warfare," Sam whispered somberly.

"It's what she does best--as we've just seen," O'Neill said. "She outfought us and hunted us down."

"What do we do now?" Luanda asked, scared.

Olivia was startled as a large sphere-shaped object abruptly shot up from the valley below. No sooner did it appear than O'Neill shouted, "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"

Sam tackled both Olivia and Luanda to the ground, just as the sphere exploded in the air above them. Having the wind knocked out of her, it took a moment for Olivia to catch her breath.

"Sam?" she asked, lightly touching the blond woman's hair. Sam lay face down right on top of her and Luanda. "Hey, honey, you ok?"

Olivia, growing alarmed at the fact that Sam was not responding, quickly sat up and rolled Sam over on her back. Luanda got out of the way, yet stared on with a fearful expression as Olivia pulled the prone Air Force Major--whose eyes were closed--into her arms.

"Please, don't do this to me," Olivia whispered, as she gently touched Sam's neck for a pulse. "You were my one link to sanity, Sam. So please don't leave me alone in this nutty place, ok?! Please, I--"

Olivia let out a heavy sigh of relief when she felt Sam still had a strong, steady pulse. "She's alive; just knocked out, that's all! Oh thank God! Sam's still with us, Luanda. Hey, Luanda, do you…."

Olivia trailed off when she saw the girl recoil in terror at something that was behind them. When Olivia glanced up, she saw several dozen Jaffa now stood right behind her. They all held zat guns at her.

Olivia glanced over at O'Neill, Daniel and Teal'c, who also all lay prone on the ground. "I hope you guys are just knocked out cold like Sam," she called to them. "I'd come and check you out, but, we've got visitors."

"Brenna! Ya wan ya duru!" one of the snake-headed Jaffa growled.

Gently placing Sam back on the ground, Olivia slowly stood up and held out her hand to Luanda. The girl took it as she tightly clung to Olivia's side. Olivia could feel Luanda's body shivering with mortal terror.

"No, don't be afraid of them, sweetie," she gently told the girl. The calmness of Olivia's voice belied her own tremendous fear. "They're just a bunch of bullies, that's all. Ain't that right, you sons of bitches?"

Olivia smiled slightly as a crazy idea occurred to her. "I'm Detective Olivia Benson, with the Special Victim's Unit of the New York City Police Department," she shouted at the massive assembly of Jaffa before her. "And you guys--all of you guys here--are under arrest for being very, very ugly!"

Two of the serpent-headed soldiers turned to stare at each other, as if sharing a puzzled glance.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" Olivia barked at them. "Get down on your knees with your hands behind your head, your fingers inter--"

Olivia jerked back, still clutching Luanda, as they both reeled from having been shot by a zat gun. 'Well, attempting an arrest was worth a shot, anyway,' Olivia thought, as she and Luanda both fell backwards on the ground. 'Elliot would be proud….'

Gripped in the now familiar full-body numbness that accompanied being shot by a zat, Olivia took the last few seconds of consciousness she had to gaze down at Luanda--lying on top of her body, already knocked out--and then at Sam, who lay unconscious beside her.

'I don't care where I wake up this time,' Olivia thought as she blacked out, 'as long as we're all still together when it happens….'

To Be Continued...