Wow, it's sure been a while... Sorry for long wait - the last two months have been way busier and more stressful than I'd anticipated - and I can pretty much guarantee you the next chapter will be up much sooner. Mostly, because I already have a chunk of it done.

Thank you so much to all of you, who stopped by to read the last chapter and favourited the story or left a comment. I will be responding to those shortly.

... and that's all I have to say, so without much ado, on to the chapter!


Chapter 2

The wind was sharp and blistery, the rain nearly blinding, when Ron and Harry apparated just inside the Weasley's front gate. After the calm of cloudy and only slightly breezy London, Ottery St. Catchpole felt like a whole other world – a far less pleasant one.

After short exclamations of surprise, the two young men pulled their traveling cloaks around themselves and dashed to the front door. Ron pulled it open and both eagerly entered the welcoming warmth. It took him slightly longer to pull it shut against the fierce wind, but eventually he managed to lock out the storm.

There was laughter coming from the living room, accompanied by a golden glow that had to be the result of a healthy fire in the fireplace. The house looked as it always did, an eclectic mix of old, patched up, and some shiny new – the inevitable result of seven children and a war that still hadn't quite left everyone's conscious thoughts even though it had ended four years ago. To Harry, it felt like a loving embrace. It felt like home.

Ron had shrugged off his travel cloak almost immediately, but Harry paused for a moment, uncaring of his dripping wet hair, to absorb the feeling. Somehow, he still couldn't bring himself to take this house, its atmosphere, for granted.

Down the hall, a head peeked out from the kitchen. "Harry, Ron!" Ginny exclaimed, a wide grin spreading across her face. She ran down the hallway and threw her arms around Harry's neck, her hands carefully not touching him.

Harry laughed, the sound not coming even close to giving voice to the joy that immediately began bubbling in his chest. He put his arms around her and gave in to the magnetic pull of her lips.

"Oh, sure, you say 'Harry, Ron', but the only one you really care about is Harry," he heard Ron grumble loudly.

Harry snickered as Ginny pulled back, rolling her eyes. She stepped back, once again careful not to touch him with her dirty hands, and then walked over to Ron.

"Welcome back, Ron," she said and then kissed her brother on the cheek. "Better?"

"Much," said Ron dryly, though his eyes danced with amusement. "Hermione 'ere yet?"

Ginny shook her head. "No, not yet. Everyone else is, though."

A loud ringing noise suddenly came from the kitchen.

"Ginny!"

"Yes, I can hear it, mum!" Ginny called back. She looked back to her boyfriend and brother. "Dinner's pretty much done. We can eat as soon as Hermione gets here."

She rushed back to the kitchen. Harry watched her go and then finally shrugged off his traveling cloak and hung it on the stand next to the door. It was only now that he noticed the two extra cloaks hanging there.

"Bill and Fleur are here?" he asked Ron, surprised.

"Apparently," his friend answered, also eyeing the cloaks. "And, no, I didn't know they were coming. Thought Bill was still in Albania."

Harry frowned. "I thought Bill was in Azerbaijan."

"Whatever, mate. It started with an 'A'."

They entered the living room to a chorus of greetings. Even Percy was present, though without Penelope, who was apparently away for the weekend with a group of co-workers – a shopping weekend in Paris Percy seemed only too happy to miss.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be back until next week," Harry said to Bill as he greeted him.

Bill's eyes flitted over to his wife for a moment. "Ah, well, I was able to finish up early and come home," he said.

Whatever else he was about to add was interrupted by Ron's mum rushing in from the kitchen to greet them both personally. Ron made an irritated noise as she examined them each from head to toe, as though she hadn't seen them just last week. Harry, however, couldn't really say he disliked the attention – even if he wouldn't ever say it out loud – as ridiculous as it was.

It was another half hour after Mrs Weasley disappeared back into the kitchen that Hermione finally arrived. Ron rushed out of the living room at the first sound of the door opening, leaving George snickering after him. Harry found it equally amusing, but he didn't begrudge his friends their privacy.

"Hello, everyone," Hermione greeted a few minutes later, cheeks slightly flushed, but dry, and with not a hair out of place. "I'm so sorry I'm late. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear my supervisors were Death Eater sympathizers with how much they hate me. Honestly, giving me a new, supposedly urgent, assignment an hour before the end of the day on a Friday is definitely bordering on evil."

"I thought you were just organizing old files and reports?" said Ginny as she entered the room. She came over to Harry and put an arm around him. "What could possibly be so urgent about that?"

Hermione shrugged. "There are a lot of reports from just before and during the war. Mostly from auror observers and ministry spies working in the Muggle world. Anything vital to maintaining the Statute of Secrecy is always dealt with immediately, but there are still hundreds of reports that get submitted to the discretion of the the Magical Law Enforcement Department and the Office of Muggle Affairs. They're supposed to go over the reports and then decide if anything needs to be done, whether additional monitoring or some form of intervention."

"It's helped us identify potential problems in the past," Mr Wealsey added. "Every once in a while a Muggle happens upon something magical. Often they dismiss it as their own imagination, but sometimes one of them starts to get a little too curious."

Harry thought about that. "Did a lot of these reports get missed during the war?"

Percy snorted. "Undoubtedly," he said. "Most of the auror observers were pulled from their posts after the first year, leaving Muggle Affairs, such as it was, to pick up the slack."

Mr Weasley nodded. "With more people in the field, it left less in the office and so a lot of the reports were barely skimmed over before being dismissed. The Death Eater administration certainly didn't care and everyone else had bigger things to worry about."

"Well, that job sounds horridly boring, Hermione," said Ginny, and then raised her voice. "But if we're all 'ere, dinner's ready so you should all head on to the table."

Dinner was loud and full of laughter and Mrs Weasley's wonderful cooking. Harry secretly suspected that Mrs Weasley spent days preparing for the weekly Friday night family dinners. Not that he was complaining; he loved Friday night dinner.

"So, Harry, Ron, I heard it was your team that was sent to take care of that Death Eater attack in Muggle London earlier this week," Percy said almost too casually once most of the main course had been devoured.

Hermione perked up. "Yes, I heard about that," she said. "Is it true that Muggles managed to take out most of the Death Eaters before you'd arrived?"

"What, really?" said Bill, sounding surprised. "The Prophet just said the Muggles had put up a valiant defense."

Harry blinked. "Is that what it said? I honestly hadn't actually read the articles. I figured the Ministry wasn't going to tell them the whole truth, but that's a bit of an understatement."

He looked to Ron, who just shrugged. "Don't look at me," he said. "I was unconscious for most of it, remember."

Harry smile in amusement. "On the positive side, it only took you ten minutes to write your report."

Ron grinned. "There was that, yeah."

"Unconscious?" Mrs Weasley exclaimed, looking slightly alarmed. "What in Merlin's name happened?"

The tips of Ron's ears turned pink. "Er..." he said, his eyes looking to Harry for help.

Percy was, however, more than happy to take up the explanation. "Apparently, Ronald here apparated directly in front of a Muggle drinking establishment and one of the patrons clonked him over the head with a pitcher of beer, knocking him unconscious."

The table fell into a stunned silence during which Ron had hunched in on himself, clearly trying to disappear without the use of magic.

"It actually wasn't all that funny at the time," Harry spoke up before anyone could start laughing. Ron blinked and looked at him curiously. "I apparated in just after Ron and I didn't actually see what had happened. All I saw was him going down just before a Muggle swung around and pointed a gun in my face."

Hermione gasped, looking horrified. "A gun? The Muggles were armed?!"

Harry nodded. "They were from the United States Military, er, Air Force." He frowned and turned to Ron. "Do you suppose there's a difference?"

Ron shrugged. "The Air Force probably flies."

"Zat is very different to ze Prophet report," said Fleur.

"Yes, the Ministry decided against informing the public that the most successful anti-Death Eater offensive in months was thanks to Muggle intervention," said Percy. "The numbers were right, though: four dead and three in custody. It just didn't mention that three of the dead were killed by bullets and one died of a snapped neck."

"A snapped neck?" said Ginny, looking vaguely ill. "You mean one of them..."

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Killed a Death Eater with their bare hands? Apparently, yes."

"Dear Merlin," said Mrs Weasley.

"You read the entire report, did you?" said Harry, glaring at Percy for upsetting the table.

"Of course. And the one that came in this morning, where Head Auror Bryant reported our insider at the London Police Department had managed to procure the bullet casings you'd left behind at the scene from their evidence lockup."

Harry shook his head. "I still don't understand what her problem with the bullets is," he said. "Why would the leftover casings be important? Bryant said they could be used to identify the type of gun used, but there must be a million guns out there."

He and Ron both looked to Hermione, who blinked and then scowled at them. "I don't know what you're looking at me for," she said. "I don't know the first thing about Muggle weapons. However, logically, the only reason the casings might pose problem is if the American military uses different guns than everyone else."

"Oh." Harry thought about that. "Yeah, that would make sense, I suppose."

"Well, I guess we'll find out next week," Ron pointed out.

Harry made a face, feeling the frustrated anger he'd been filled with all week coming to the fore once again. He clenched his fist. "Yeah, I guess we will."

He felt Ginny squeeze his hand and he looked over to her. "What is it, Harry?" she asked.

He let out a huff of air. "Oh, Bryant's got us in 'remedial Muggle Studies' for all of next week. Barring any emergencies that Darwish's team can't handle alone, of course."

"Harry, she must think you need to learn a few more things," said Hermione reasonably.

Harry, however, didn't feel like being reasonable. "I've been fighting this war since I was twelve!" he spat. "I know how to fight Death Eaters. She was living in France during the war and now she comes in and acts like she knows what's best. She doesn't know what it was like, didn't have to struggle to survive, to live in fear and fight day after day, not knowing who you could trust. She's never lost anyone to Death Eaters, so she should just let us do our jobs and hunt them down!"

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed in disapproval. He met her eyes defiantly, daring her to contradict him. "You know very well she fought Death Eaters! She lead the French auror teams hunting down Death Eaters who were hiding out and recruiting on the continent. It was in the Prophet's feature article about her appointment. The French Ministry awarded her a metal of courage for her work."

Harry clenched his teeth. Yes, he'd known that. It had been the main reason he'd been willing to give the new Head Auror a chance when she'd taken the position. Only she'd made it clear very quickly that she didn't care what any of them had been through with the changes she made.

But before he could say anything himself, Ron came to his defense.

"Doesn't mean she knows what she's doing," said his friend. "I mean, Yeolman was going to make Harry a senior auror and give 'im a team of his own. Then Bryant comes in and the first thing she does is tosses out that plan and put some sort of second string auror in charge instead. 'S not like anyone actually follows 'im."

"What?!" Ginny exclaimed, turning to Harry with a shocked expression on her face. "You're not going to be a Team Leader?"

He tried to smile at Ginny. "No, I'm not. According to her, I'm not ready for it yet."

"What a bitch!"

"Ginerva Weasley!"

Ginny met her mother's glare. "What? It's true. Harry's done more than prove he's a good leader. Doesn't anything he did during the war count for anything?"

"I'm sure it does, Ginny," Arthur chimed in, a clear effort to calm the conversation down. "And while I haven't had many chances to interact with Head Auror Bryant, Kingsley does seem quite confident in her abilities. Just because her style of leadership is different than her predecessor's doesn't mean it's bad. Maybe if you give her a chance, her actions will make sense in the long run."

"Everyone I've talked to at Gringotts certainly seems optimistic about her," Bill added. He shrugged at Harry. "Not that any of us know her, of course, but a lot of people like some of the changes she's implemented so far."

"That's the general sense I've been getting at the rest of the Ministry," Arthur agreed. "What about you, Percy? I mean you must have more contact with her than any of us."

Percy lifted his chin. "I think she's doing an excellent job," he said. "I recommended her for the position myself, after all. Minister Shacklebolt knew things at the Auror Department needed to change and asked me and the other aides to find him a list of people suitable for the position. After a lengthy search, Angelique Bryant was my choice, a French witch with ties to Britain through her father. Everything she's done so far has only proven me right."

"Oh, yes I remember that," said Hermione with a thoughtful frown. "Wasn't her father a Muggle? Or was her mother a Muggle? I seem to remember the Prophet calling her a half-blood, but I'm not sure they said from which side."

"They didn't." Percy hesitated for a moment. "Her father was a Muggle police officer. He died seven years ago in a Death Eater attack in Central London. Even knowing what he was up against, he still tried to protect as many people as he could."

Harry blinked, some of his anger dissipating at that tidbit of information. Losing a close family member was something he could empathize with. At least she'd gotten to know her father, a small, bitter voice inside his head whispered maliciously. He swallowed it down.

"That wasn't in the report," said George quietly.

Percy shook his head. "No, we only gave the Prophet enough information to satisfy them. Not that they can't find it for themselves, but the Head Auror requested that we maintain as much of her family's privacy as we could. I'm only telling you this much to make you understand that while she might've been in living in France for most of her life, she's not been untouched by the war."

"That means there's more," said Hermione cautiously.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Of course there's more. She entered the French Auror Academy straight from Beauxbatons, graduated in the top ten percent of her class and then had a very successful career from there. Naturally, there's quite a bit more in her file, but it's all confidential and you won't hear anymore of it from me. Suffice to say, Minister Kingsley has the utmost confidence in her to do her job well and so should all of you."

Harry bit back a snort of disbelief.

Before anyone could say anything else, Bill cleared his throat. "Yes, well, not that this hasn't been a fascinating conversation, but I think maybe it's time to move to a less, ah, controversial topic." He exchanged a look with Fleur before turning to the rest of the table. "Fleur and I have an announcement to make."

"We are going to 'ave a baby," said Fleur into her husband's dramatic pause.

Bill's lips stretched into a proud grin.

Molly Weasley gasped and then seconds later she was out of her chair rushing over to embrace the happy parents-to-be. The rest of the table erupted into delighted chaos. No one noticed when George disappeared only to come back with a large bottle of champagne.

"You knew!" Ginny accused him.

George shrugged. "They came by the shop on Wednesday during their lunch break and the smell of the freshly-made Canary Creams made 'er ill. Never done that before, so Bill had to explain what was going on before I scrapped the whole lot thinking I'd done something wrong in the brewing."

"Arthur!" Molly Weasley exclaimed, practically bouncing up to her husband. "We're going to be grandparents!"

Arthur laughed. "Yes, I know," he said, his eyes glowing just as much as hers.

"Oh! You know, I think we might still have our old crib somewhere in the attic." She immediately hurried back to Fleur and Bill's side. "You two really should go up and take a look at what's still up there. I'm sure I didn't throw everything away after Ginny was born."

Beside Harry, he heard Ginny groan. "Oh Merlin, there's going to be no living with her now," she said as she rested her head on his shoulder. "You realize this is only the beginning. Now she's going to be after the rest of us, wondering when we're all going to give her grandchildren."

Harry put a hand around Ginny's shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "I'm sure we'll survive," he said with a wide, happy smile.


"Should've known anything to do with the Tok'ra wouldn't be as simple as it sounded," said Cam, wincing as he tried to shift away from the sharp protrusion in the wall that was digging into his lower back. The chain holding his hands above his head jangled with the movement.

Beside him, Daniel rolled his eyes. "Cam, you haven't dealt with the Tok'ra nearly enough to sound that bitter and sarcastic about it."

"Didn't take much. Besides, I've read all the reports, remember?"

"Yes, we know," said Vala, her chain jangling softly as she examined the cuffs holding her wrists together. Beside her, Teal'c seemed to be looking on with vague curiosity.

Cam secretly hoped she managed to find a weakness in the cuffs. Because he sure hadn't seen it. They were nothing fancy, just your standard, everyday clunky medieval cuffs – easy enough to pick if they could get their hands to twist into the right awkward angle. Oh, and if they had something to pick them with. Out of all of them, Vala was the most likely to randomly carry something like that up her sleeve. Now the decidedly not-medieval-looking lock on the door was another story altogether.

"You know, the next time I'm told to go without Carter, I'm going to tell them where to stuff their damned mission," he said.

Not that Sam's presence alone would've been enough to prevent this latest mess of a so-called peaceful mission. They'd been taken by surprise, plain and simple. The crowd that had gathered by the Stargate to greet them had looked friendly enough, their expressions wary, but not outwardly hostile. A few of the men had been carrying long, bladed weapons that looked like something half-way between a long spear and a sithe. But most primitive farming implements looked like weapons, so Cam had learned a long time ago to remain calm and observe first.

The mood had shifted quickly and within moments their greeting committee had turned into an angry, determined – and surprisingly organized – mob. There may not have been any visible soldiers, but the locals moved in and grabbed at them and their weapons with an efficiency that seemed practiced.

As a defense plan it was pretty effective. Such close quarters would've made aiming tricky even if it had been one of the sturdy young men who'd grabbed his arm and not someone's half-blind grandmother.

Daniel snorted softly. "Can I be there for that?" he asked mildly. "I think I'd really like to be there to watch you tell General Landry to 'stuff it'."

Cam felt himself flush. "Yeah, okay, so maybe I'm not going to use those exact words," he admitted. "But, come on, I know that I'm not the only one wishing Carter was here right now, where she belongs. I mean, I get that fixing Atlantis is important and all–"

"–I thought she was analyzing the Ancient tech," said Daniel. "Pretty sure Rodney and his team are doing the actual repairs."

"Whatever. She's on Atlantis instead of with her team! Where we need her, because she's the only one with the expertise to deal with Ori tech."

"According to the intel sent to us by the Tok'ra, this planet should not have had any such technology," said Teal'c in his usual calm, reasonable voice.

"And since when is Tok'ra intel all that reliable?"

Teal'c inclined his head. "A very good point."

"Not that it matters, really," Vala interjected. "Sam wouldn't have been much help with these cuffs anyway... Aha! They're really quite ordinary."

Her chains rattled. Cam craned his head past Daniel just in time to watch as Vala slipped her wrists out of her half-open cuffs, grinning triumphantly. Sure enough, there was a long thin metal stick in her hand. Cam wasn't sure where she'd hidden it, but couldn't help grinning at her resourcefulness.

She went over to Teal'c and got started on his cuffs. "Besides, Cam, you know I spent months on an Ori ship while I was pregnant with Adria," she said. "You don't honestly think I was there for that long without learning how to pick their door locks, do you?"

Cam felt his grin widen. "Guess I should've known better."

"Yes, you should have," Daniel agreed.

As soon as Teal'c was free, the Jaffa crossed over to the cell door to stand sentry beside the small barred window that looked out into the corridor. Vala moved on to Daniel. By the time she'd gotten to him, Cam was full of anxious energy, more than ready to get going so they could complete their mission. He hadn't gotten a great look at the inside of the large stone temple they'd been dragged into by the mob, but the layout hadn't seemed too complicated.

Wasn't the first temple they'd had to escape out of, wouldn't be the last.

"So, anyone got any idea on how to find this Tok'ra operative we're supposed to extracting now that we're going to have to keep a low profile to avoid getting caught?" he asked as Vala went over to the lock mechanism.

"I was hoping they'd meet us at the stargate," said Daniel.

"Well, if they did, they kinda got lost in the shuffle."

"It is also possible that they have already been found out and are now dead," Teal'c pointed out, his eyes only briefly glancing in their direction.

"Let's hope not," said Vala. "I'd rather this all not have been a complete waste of time."

"Besides of which, it sounded like whatever intel this operative had was important," Daniel added.

"Well they would say that if they wanted to be rescued," Cam pointed out. He wasn't quite ready to trust the Tok'ra just yet. Not after the spectacularly FUBAR start to this mission. "Vala, how's that lock coming?"

"It's a bit different than the ones they use on their ships, but I've almost got it."

Just then the structure around them shook. It was a fairly gentle shake, just enough to be felt, but not enough to dislodge anything but a few loose specs of dust.

"Uh, what was that?" Daniel asked.

"I do not know," Teal'c answered. "Perhaps an explosion of some kind." He paused, listening. "I do not believe we are in any danger here."

"Yeah, it felt far enough away, whatever it was," Cam agreed.

"Indeed."

"Maybe we're in luck and it's the Tok'ra operative creating a diversion to help us escape," Daniel suggested.

Cam snorted. "We're SG-1. We don't have that kind of luck."

They waited in silence for a few moments, waiting to see if the ground would shake again. It didn't.

"Got it!" Vala finally announced just as the cell door popped open with a soft snick and a creak of rusty hinges. Cam cringed at the sound and prayed whoever was guarding this corridor hadn't heard it.

Teal'c crouched down and looked back to Cam for confirmation. Cam nodded for him to go ahead. The Jaffa was the stealthiest of them: it only made sense for him to go take out the guards first. Nodding his acknowledgment, Teal'c quietly slipped out into the corridor and Vala took his place watching. Cam, meanwhile, went over to the other side of the door from where he could see the opposite end. Just before they'd been shoved into this cell, he was sure he'd seen the corridor turn not far ahead.

They didn't have to wait long before they heard a faint shuffling sound.

"It's Teal'c," Vala whispered. "He's got the guard."

"Good," said Cam. Of course they had no idea how many guards were patrolling these dungeon corridors, but they could deal with the rest as they came across them.

Vala stood, opening the door wider just in time for Teal'c to drag the unfortunate guard into the room. The way the guard's head rolled bonelessly to the side told Cam all he needed to know about how he'd died. He was dressed in home-spun cloth and a thick leather vest that had been dyed red. He was also wearing a rather unfortunately pointy metal hat on his head that looked like it was trying to catch radio signals.

Teal'c passed him an Ori stave weapon. Cam blinked at it before taking it.

"Well, I guess we now have definite confirmation that the Ori have been here," he said.

Teal'c nodded as he unsheathed a long, sharp dagger from the guard's side. "We must hurry. I believe the guards patrol the corridors in circuits. I saw another one walking away down a far corridor."

"The corridors probably loop around and intersect," said Daniel.

Cam nodded. "Right, so let's move out then. Watch out for more guards and keep an eye out for our stuff. General Landry and the scientists will probably crucify us if we leave that anti-prior device behind."

"They're not likely to be on this level," Vala pointed out as they slipped out of the cell, Teal'c automatically falling back to take their six.

"Then we'll have to take a detour and hope there aren't too many guards around," Cam whispered back to her as he glanced down the opposite end of the corridor.

"Well, from what little I managed to see of the temple, the structure looks Goa'uld in design," Daniel added thoughtfully. "Someone tore down the statues at the front and it looks like there's been some redecorating done fairly recently, but–"

"–Does any of that help us in getting our stuff and getting outta here?" Cam cut Daniel off before he could spiral on into a long-winded speech that was more likely to get them caught than anything.

He could feel Daniel glaring at his back. "Yes," said Daniel in a clipped tone. "It means that, since most Goa'uld temples follow very similar architectural designs, then between Vala, Teal'c and I, we should be able to hazard a guess as to its basic layout."

"Good."

Cam gripped the stave weapon in his hands tightly as he approached the first junction. Holding his hand up to signal a stop to his team, he then cautiously inched forward to peek into the intersecting corridor, listening carefully for the slightest sound that would indicate someone approaching. The coast was clear.

He hurried across the corridor, hearing the careful movements of his team behind him. Their escort down to the dungeons had been rushed and confusing, with a lot of pushing and pulling from all directions, but Cam was pretty sure the path they'd taken had been mostly straight.

Either way, they had to keep moving and straight ahead was as good a direction as any.

For what was supposedly a dungeon, the corridors were surprisingly spacious: wide enough for three people to comfortably walk down side by side, and tall enough to accommodate the foot-long spikes at the top of the guards' helmets. They were illuminated by what looked like small suspended barbeques – shallow metal bowls filled with burning charcoal hung from the ceiling every five feet or so. Cam thought those seemed like a horrible idea, especially when combined with the spike helmets.

Suddenly, he heard a soft sound and froze, raising his hand to signal the others. He listened. Behind him, he could hear the faint sounds of his teammate's controlled breathing. Something rustled in the cell next to him. And coming towards them from somewhere off to the right, he heard footfalls. They weren't particularly loud, but the person they belonged to clearly wasn't really trying to be quiet either.

Cam slowly inched his way forward, careful to stay as close to the wall as he could without scraping his flak jacket against the stone. He didn't see the intersection in the corridors until he was almost on top of it, only just managing to stop himself from stepping out into the open. This intersecting corridor was narrower than the previous ones and the lights were further back, making the opening less noticeable.

The footsteps were much closer now, but continued at the same steady pace as before. He didn't allow himself to relax, too aware of just how vulnerable they were with only one stave weapon and a knife between them, and only the shadowy edges for cover.

He tightened his grip on the stave weapon, but held it low so the smooth metal wouldn't accidentally reflect light from the fires. Cam quickly turned and motioned for the others to get low. He turned back just as the guard finally stepped into view. The man looked young, though a bushy dark beard made it difficult to tell his exact age. He paused and looked to his right, down the other side of the corridor. Cam held his breath and shifted his weight forward, ready to pounce.

Suddenly, the ground around them shook. More loose dust fell down from the ceiling and, somewhere in the distance, something fell to the floor with a metallic clunk. It was another explosion, closer than the first, but still not close enough to be of immediate concern to them.

The guard paused, his head snapping automatically towards the sound. He stood there, frozen, for several incredibly long moments. Cam suppressed the urge to swallow nervously, knowing all the guard would have to do was look down and a bit to the left to see them. Eventually, the guard took a deep breath. Then he resumed his patrol, his steps quicker than they'd been before.

Once the steps were far enough away, Cam finally allowed himself to relax. Slightly.

"Well, that was a very conveniently-timed explosion," Vala whispered.

"Guess it means we haven't managed to piss off all the gods yet," Daniel whispered back. Then he paused. "I wonder what's going on."

"Let's get out of here and find out," Cam whispered over his shoulder before carefully leaning out into the corridor and looking in both directions.

He could still see the guard who'd just passed them continuing down the surprisingly long corridor. The other direction was clear. Cam motioned to the others and then quickly darted across, the rest of his team right behind him.

The next intersection was clear. So was the one after that. Cam was starting to get real sick of these dungeons.

"Cam, wait!" Daniel suddenly whispered, the sound unnaturally loud in the silent maze of stone corridors.

He turned to Daniel, annoyed. "What is it, Jackson?"

Daniel pointed his thumb to the right. "We have to go this way." Then he pointed upwards at the wall behind him. "I remember that burn mark. It was one of the things that convinced me this has to be a former Goa'uld temple."

Cam looked to the old, rounded burn mark on the wall – it had definitely been caused by a staff weapon. He nodded. "Good eye," he told Daniel, gripping his shoulder in thanks as he passed him.

The doors along this stretch of corridor were different. They were wider, more elaborately-decorated and made of smooth metal that was obviously meant to slide apart, unlike the more traditional, roughly-built doors from the dungeon they'd been kept in. He touched one door panel out of curiosity, only to find it locked.

Just then, Daniel was beside him pointing at a bit of the carving above the door. "Huh. That's the mark of Pelops. Interesting... we haven't really come across a whole lot of his planets other than Argos."

"Does that mean we'll find weapons inside?" Cam asked, not really hopeful, but figuring it was worth a shot.

Vala snorted softly. "With Pelops? No, more like the concubine's quarters."

"Oh." Cam paused to take a careful breath as he reminded himself that hatred for the Goa'uld wouldn't help him right now. "Then let's get going."

They continued on in silence, passing by about five such elaborate doors, each with increasingly more elaborate door art. Suddenly, a guard turned the corner up ahead of them. The guard froze in surprise for a scant second, before immediately raising the stave weapon in his hands.

"Shit," Cam said under his breath as he aimed his own stave weapon and braced himself for the kick-back. They couldn't afford to draw attention to themselves with a prolonged shoot-out.

Cam fired. The guard just barely managed to duck back into the other corridor, his shot going wide and hitting the ceiling above Cam's head. Which made Cam all-too-aware of their own lack of cover. As he lined up his next shot, he noticed Teal'c hurrying past him along the opposite wall.

The guard appeared from around the corner. Cam fired, only peripherally aware of the bright blue shot coming at him until seconds before it hit. He felt someone grab at him and then he was falling sideways, his upper left arm feeling like it had just been engulfed in flames. He wasn't sure how successful he'd been at muffling his scream of pain.

Forcing the bright spots away from his eyes, he began to sit up, aware of arms helping him.

"Cam, are you alright?" he heard Daniel ask.

He looked up to meet his teammate's worried eyes. "Not dead yet," he said, his tongue feeling heavy around the words. Then he winced as something poked at his arm, right in the middle of the fire that felt like it was trying to burn his upper arm off. He looked over to see Vala examining his wound.

"Well, at least the plasma shot cauterized the wound, which means you won't bleed all over the place," she said.

"Lucky me."

The sound of another stave blast made his head snap back towards the guard. The sudden movement sent another wave of pain streaming from his arm and he grit his teeth against it even as he watched Teal'c rolling to his feet in the center of the corridor, away from a now-smoking spot on the wall.

The guard moved his aim to match Teal'c movements. Daniel helped Cam to his feet while Vala darted forward to pick up Cam's dropped stave weapon.

Suddenly a blue snake of light enveloped the guard. He thrashed in the light's grip for several seconds, before collapsing to the ground.

Stunned silence filled the corridor.

"Uh, did that just look like a zat to you?" Cam finally asked.

"Yup," Daniel answered, sounding equally stunned.

Ahead of them, they saw Teal'c cautiously moving forward. Cam and Daniel followed, with Vala breaking off to their side to cover them with the stave weapon.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure walked into the corridor.

Cam froze, instinctively feeling the need to duck for cover. He blinked and grit his teeth against the reaction. Which was when he realized the figure's cloak was grey, not black. Not that the colour should have made a difference... except that somehow it did. As soon as he realized it was grey, he could feel his instinctive fight-or-flight reaction lessening. The figure stepped forward, into the light of an overhead barbeque, a feminine sway in its hips. The zat in her right hand was pointed downwards and a slender hand reached up to push the hood down, revealing a beautiful woman with pale skin, full lips and shoulder-length hair.

Beside him, Daniel gasped. "Anise, Freya?" he said.

The woman looked to him and blinked in what looked like a very subdued sort of surprise. "Daniel Jackson," she said. Her eyes slid over to the Jaffa. "Teal'c. I confess I was not expecting SG-1 to be sent for me."

"The Tok'ra requested our aide in retrieving an operative," Teal'c explained. "They said they had no ships close enough to do so."

The woman nodded. And then her features went slack for a moment before her eyes began to glow. "It is good that you have managed to escape on your own," said the Tok'ra in the usual dual-toned voice of the symbiot. "But we must hurry. The diversions I have arranged should give us enough of a window of time to get to the Stargate, but predicting its exact length is difficult."

That explained the convenient explosions.

Cam nodded to the Tok'ra. "Then we'd better hustle," he said as he started forward. "We'd like to retrieve our weapons and anti-prior tech first though."

The woman looked to him and nodded solemnly. "Of course. Follow me."

And then she disappeared around the corner with a swish of her long, grey cloak. Teal'c picked up the fallen guard's stave weapon and retreated to their six. Cam nodded to Vala and gestured her to the front, knowing that since the stave weapon required a two-handed grip, she'd be the better shot. The pain in his arm had settled into an insistent, burning throb he could work around, but it made no sense for him to carry one of their few weapons when his concentration wasn't optimal.

The Tok'ra operative had either already taken care of the guards in these corridors or else had managed to infiltrate the village and its temple for long enough to know the guard's patrol schedule. Or they'd actually managed to catch a break for once, because they didn't run into anymore guards in the dungeons.

"So how long exactly have you been on this planet?" Daniel asked her as they hurried down yet another corridor.

"Almost a year," she replied, this time without the symbiot's inflection. "I managed to infiltrate a trading party and came to the planet as a herbalist. When I realized there was something strange going on in the village, I found a reason to remain behind."

"This has to do with your important information?"

She turned around for a moment and met each of their eyes in turn. "Yes. I do not have time to explain now, but there is some distressing news I have learned during my time here. Unfortunately, the Stargate is constantly guarded and so I have been unable to leave. Even the one subspace message I managed to send out was done at great risk and could only be extremely short out of necessity."

"Does this have to do with the Ori?" Vala asked.

The Tok'ra woman hesitated. "In a way. It is a long and complicated story, one better left for another time."

"Then we should make haste," said Teal'c from behind them. "For I hear voices coming from behind us. I believe the stunned guard has been discovered."

Anise/Freya nodded to him. "Of course," she said and then turned to the left, where they finally found a set of wide stairs leading out of the dungeons.

She motioned to them to stay where they were before carefully heading up the stairs. Cam strained his ears and thought he heard her speaking to someone male for a few moments. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of a zat discharge.

"Come, quickly," she called down the stairs to them, just loud enough for them to hear.

Cam followed right behind Daniel and Vala, keeping his steps as light as possible. At the top, the space was much brighter, though they were still surrounded by stone walls. The ceilings were higher, with skylights cut into the roof that gave the space a sort of mystical feel, in the way of light peeking through a jungle canopy.

Daniel suddenly rushed off. Cam was about to call after him when he saw him helping the Tok'ra drag a man's body behind a large planter. They arranged him into the shadow against the wall and then moved a lower-hanging leaf of the odd palm-like bush so that it partially obscured the body. It wouldn't fool anyone who was looking, but it might prevent the unconscious body from being found by the first person walking by.

Straight ahead, Cam saw a set of large wooden doors. He felt relieved to know they were fairly close.

Anise/Freya must have seen his look. "We are taking a side door," she said, interrupting his plans. "Even with the commotion I have created, the main doors will still be well-guarded. Also, I believe your weapons are being stored this way."

Cam nodded, disappointed but approving the reasoning.

The Tok'ra walked up to a large embroidered tapestry covered in birds and flowers and swept part of it aside, revealing the opening to yet another corridor. Cam raised an eyebrow at that. Well, the guards certainly wouldn't expect them to know about that particular escape route unless they already suspected SG-1 was getting insider help.

This corridor was narrow and much darker than even the ones in the dungeon had been, with only a few burning torches providing light. It was also thankfully short and soon they found themselves entering a large peach-coloured room with several long tables surrounded with dozens of haphazardly-placed chairs. There was half-eaten food and half-full glasses, some strewn papers and even a scattered deck of cards at one table and some sort of boardgame further down on another.

A mess hall of some sort?

The Tok'ra immediately crossed to the right side of the room and entered a sequence into the keypad beside one of the many doors along that wall. She lifted her zat as they slid open, Vala stepping in beside her to cover the room with the Ori stave. A moment later, both women lowered their weapons and stepped inside.

Cam walked in after them. The room looked like both a storage cupboard and an armory in one. Their packs were sitting next to their weapons on a table in the corner. As quickly as they could, they divided up the packs, Cam wincing as the movements and added weight jarred the wound on his arm. He popped a couple of tylenol, but held absolutely no expectation of them doing anything but take a little of the edge off the pain. If he was lucky and their journey to the stargate went smoothly.

He grit his teeth as he held up his P90 and then they were on their way again.

"So, what exactly did you do to make them all abandon the building like this?" Daniel asked when they were back in the unnervingly empty mess hall.

"I set an explosive charge to go off inside an alcohol storage cellar located beneath one of the barns and then a second one at the base of the water reservoir," Anise stated calmly.

Cam blinked. Having grown up on a farm, he could easily picture the devastation those explosions could've caused. No wonder there was no one around. "What's next to the water reservoir?"

"I arranged it to fall in the direction of the granary."

"Holy shit." That meant potential damage to whatever wheat-like grain they used for flour, winter supplies, possibly even seeds for the next growing season. The horror must've come through in his voice because the Tok'ra paused in her steps and turned to him.

"If they are quick, they should be able to minimize the damage to their livestock and food stores," she told him. "They are well-organized and prepared for such calamities."

"Beneath a barn seems like a rather stupid place to keep an alcohol cellar," said Vala with a frown.

Anise shrugged. "The leaders of this town do not know of its existence. The man who uses it is a particularly repulsive excuse for a human being who is only tolerated among the people here because of his relation to one of the council members."

"Bet that's about to change," Cam muttered under his breath.

"Most likely, yes," she said and then, apparently having decided the conversation was over, continued towards an empty alcove at the back of the room.

It wasn't until they reached the alcove that they saw an opening discretely hidden in its shadowed curve. The narrow hallway on the other side was surprisingly bright and airy, its walls a simple beige stone with very few decorative touches save for a couple vases full of large bright flowers his mom would've been jealous of.

Even through the burning pain in his shoulder, Cam found just enough of a spark of humour to be amused at the idea of bringing his mom flowers from another planet. Maybe next mother's day. He was sure Daniel would help him smuggle them out of the Mountain.

The smells wafting out of the kitchen they passed by were amazing. The arched entrance into the kitchens was several times wider than any standard doorway, giving them a good view into the space. There was a large pot hanging over a fire pit, its contents sizzling as they steadily boiled over into the low fire. Cam wished he could go take a peek at what was cooking inside. But, besides the obvious danger they were in, the lack of any living creature in the building was eerie.

"Am I the only one expecting a monster to jump out at us from one of these rooms?" he whispered.

He didn't have to turn around to know that Teal'c was raising one of his eyebrows at him.

"Well, if it does, we'll make sure to push you at it and then run away," said Vala, sounding all-too-serious for Cam's liking.

"Vala," said Daniel pointedly.

"Oh fine, I suppose I could try shooting at it first. If that doesn't work, then we'll push Cameron at it. Happy?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Hey!" Cam protested and then grit his teeth against the renewed wave of pain from his arm when the movement jarred it a little too much.

Up ahead, he saw Anise shoot them a bewildered look – it was one of the many variations of the 'you Tau'ri are crazy' looks. They tended to get them a lot, some more polite than others.

"Hello?"

SG-1 froze. The pain in his arm was momentarily forgotten as Cam let instinct take over. He raised his P-90 and hurried past Daniel and Vala to the front to assess the danger. Anise turned back for a moment and motioned to them to stand down as the glow disappeared from her eyes. She lowered her zat before slowly approaching the old woman standing in the doorway of the room just ahead of them.

Though her hair was as white as newly fallen snow, and her wrists looked like they would snap like twigs at the slightest pressure, she didn't look feeble. She stared at them with wide pale blue eyes, her expression caught between shock and horror. There was also a sort of desperation in them when her attention latched on to Anise. "Freya, what's going on?"

"I'm afraid I am leaving," said Freya, her voice quiet and gentle.

"Leaving? But why?" The woman's eyes slid briefly to SG-. "And why are you helping these outsiders? They bear the marks of the enemies of the Ori."

Cam blinked in surprise. Enemies of the Ori? He thought they'd already dealt with this. Wasn't the Ark supposed to be all-inclusive?

"They are my friends," said Freya calmly, though Cam noticed the way she shifted her grip on the zat. "They came to help me get home. Amarela, you have been a good friend to me during my stay in this village, but the Ori are not the benevolent gods you believe them to be. They are no more gods than you or I, but rather beings of more advanced knowledge and ability, ones who have been able to transcend their physical form."

Anger flashed through the woman's eyes. "Their Prior foretold of a great illness befalling us and then came offering the powers of the Ori to save us from it. Without the Ori, my son would be dead!"

"The Prior caused the illness that nearly took your son's life."

The old woman's eyes widened and Cam could see the moment almost-understanding was shut down by denial. She shook her head. "No, you're lying. The Ori are all-powerful, they do not need to resort to such tricks."

"She's not lying," said Daniel softly as he stepped forward. "We've seen it happen. First comes the Prior, followed by a mysterious plague only he can cure. Sometimes, they don't bother with a plague. Either way, those who do not submit to the Ori either fall to the plague or are slaughtered mercilessly from the sky."

The old woman was speechless for a moment as she stared at Daniel. However, once that moment had passed, she seemed to rally herself. "I, too, have seen the powers of the Priors," she whispered back to him, her eyes boring into his, suddenly sharp as steel. "You speak of the Ori as though they were conquerors. They are gods. We have not submitted to the Ori, we have embraced them. Once, this village had a god and he was beautiful, but cruel, caring naught for his followers. Hundreds of years passed until we finally rejected him and tore his adornments from his temple. The Priors, yes, they can be cruel and seem uncaring, but the world is also beautiful, yet cruel and uncaring. The balance of the world is reflected in the balance of the Ori and their mouthpieces, the Priors. For the Ori are benevolent and loving to those who have embraced their warmth."

Daniel was frowning. "The Prior's powers come from an understanding of science and how energy flows through the universe, beneath the surface we can see and feel. It's not magic anymore than the Ori's powers themselves are. They just have a much more advanced understanding of how the universe works."

And just like that, Cam realized Jackson had found his perfect foil. These two could probably debate this forever. He cleared his throat. "Guys, as fascinating this, we're on the clock, so let's move out." He looked to Anise and then gestured towards the old woman with an inquiring look on his face.

Anise – or Freya as he supposed she was right now – nodded. "Yes, we should go," she said. She smiled sadly at the old woman. "I am sorry to have deceived you, Amarela, but I do wish you good health and hope your dreams of a granddaughter are granted."

The old woman nodded to her solemnly, but said nothing. Then she turned her gaze back to Daniel. "Young man, be careful," she said, now with a hint of softness in her eyes. "You seek to explain the world. But is that truly necessary? When the magical becomes mundane, what is left?"

"Reality," Daniel responded immediately.

"Are you certain?"

Cam didn't give him the chance to answer, instead grabbing Daniel by the arm and pulling him forward. "Come on, we've gotta go," he said, nodding to the old lady as they passed. "It was nice to meet you ma'am."

The corridor finally came to an end and they exited out of a simple wooden door and walked into a garden. It was neatly arranged and obviously well-tended, but functional rather than decorative, full of vegetables and herbs. Wooden planks had been laid out down the center as a walk-way. Anise took the lead again as they hurried along the not-entirely stable wood.

When he looked behind them, Cam saw wisps of dark grey smoke reaching for the sky from somewhere on the other side of the temple. Refusing to waste any time thinking of the potential consequences of the fire, he turned his attention to scanning the perimeter of the garden for danger. Like the rest of the temple, it was deserted.

The garden ended at a forest. Cam remembered seeing the forest when they'd first stepped through the stargate, a lush green wall that seemed to surround the entire eastern side of the town. Walking through it now, he could tell it was wild, with no attempts anywhere to tame it or create actual paths, but the undergrowth was sparse enough to make walking fairly easy.

When Anise finally led them back out of the forest, they found themselves right behind a large wooden structure. She led them around the structure where they found a convenient and rather sizable collection of barrels and crates. From behind this cover, they finally saw their goal: the stargate. The houses had actually been built in a wide semi-circle around the gate, with a single stone structure behind it, looking like it had been abandoned quite some time ago before being half-swallowed by the forest. The stargate itself was standing on the usual stone dais with the DHD at its base.

Unfortunately, they also saw the guards their new Tok'ra friend had mentioned, all wearing their signature red leather vests and spiked helmets. On the bright side, Cam only saw one wielding a stave weapon.

"It would appear they are waiting for us," said Teal'c.

"Yup, looks like," Cam answered him.

Beside him, he saw Anise nod. "I had anticipated this would happen," she said. "They do not know I am helping you and thus would not expect you, as strangers, to know of the side entrance behind the tapestry. No doubt the guards at the main doors will also be on high alert."

"Wouldn't that old woman have already warned them about that?" Vala asked.

Anise paused and then hung her head for a moment. When she lifted it again, the glow was gone from her eyes and it was Freya speaking. "Amarela was a friend to me and I recently helped cure her son's wife of a fever that would've killed both her and the child she carries." She looked back to the stargate. "I do not believe she has told them of my involvement. If she had, there would be more guards here as takes mere minutes to run from the temple to the Chappa'ai."

She lowered her head again and then Anise was back. "It does not, however, mean she will not tell them eventually, only that she has not yet. Her knees give her problems, she might simply be taking her longer to get to the guards at the front doors."

"So we've gotta be quick about this," Cam finished for her, already bracing himself against the pain in his arm. "You've really thought this through."

She shrugged. "I knew that if the chance for escape presented itself, I would have very little time to consider anything and so I thought of multiple scenarios and prepared in accordance, so that I would be in a position to take advantage of the situation when it arose. As brief as my message had been, I also realized there was a strong possibility of my rescuers getting captured and so I'd set up the diversions discretely in advance. Thus, while you were being taken into the temple, I was slipping away to arm my explosive devices."

Cam had to admit, he was impressed. He motioned towards the guards at the base of the stargate. "Okay, so do you think those are it, or are there more hiding in the shadows?"

Anise pointed to a tall building about half-way down the front row of houses. "We must first take out the sentries," she said. "They are in the top room of that house." She then pointed towards the old stone building. "And in a wooden tower beside that building there."

Cam squinted past the stargate and into the treeline behind it. "A wooden tower?"

"Yes. It is concealed by the trees. The sentries at both guard posts are armed with stave weapons and are instructed to kill anyone who approaches the DHD without permission." She looked past Cam. "Teal'c, if you will take the sentries in the wooden tower, I will deal with the ones posted in the building."

"You've got a plan all set up for them?" Cam asked.

She looked at him, her face expressionless, and blinked. "One of the guards was our lover. He was originally the excuse I used for staying in the village when the trading party left."

Of all the answers she could've given him, that was the last one he'd expected. "L-lover? You're going to go take out your lover?"

She cocked her head at him. "Yes." She shrugged. "Freya did not find him particularly satisfying."

Cam knew he was gaping at this point. "And that was more information than I wanted to know," he finally said.

Anise frowned. "Then why did you ask?"

"I, uh..." He shook his head as listened to Vala giggled softly. "Next time I won't. So you two go take out the guard towers. Teal'c, two clicks on the radio when you're done. Anise..."

He paused, wondering if giving her one of their radios would be a wise decision.

"I will open the window," she supplied. "When the guards are no longer a problem, I will open the top right window and drape a blue cloth over its side."

"Works for me," said Cam and then turned his full attention back to the area in front of the stargate. There were four guards in front of the gate. And probably at least that many mere minutes away. "Teal'c, when we get the signal from you, we'll respond with one click to acknowledge. Once we've gotten the signal from Anise, we'll give you three clicks."

He paused for a moment to visualize the battleground.

"When you get to the base of that stone building, give us another click," he continued at Teal'c while eyeing the distance between the building and the stargate. "That'll be our signal. Daniel, Vala and I will open fire at the guards. I'll aim for the guy with the stave weapon. As soon as he's down we break cover and go for the gate. Jackson, I want you to head for the DHD and start dialing." Daniel nodded. "Anise and I will divide the other's attention while Vala has our six. Watch for those re-enforcements from the temple. Unless there's more surprises waiting for us, we should be able to take out these guards and have Teal'c join us before those re-enforcements get here, and if we're really lucky, Jackson might even have the gate open by then."

He looked at his team and their Tok'ra companion. "Any questions?"

They all answered negative.

"Then Anise, Teal'c, good luck to both of you."

Both the Jaffa and the Tok'ra nodded and then slipped away in their respective directions. Cam turned to his other two teammates. "Vala, keep an eye on that stone building. If something looks like it's going to go wrong, we need to know asap. Jackson, keep a lookout for anyone coming at us from behind."

"Got it," said Daniel before hurrying off to the end of the building to keep watch.

They settled in to wait.

With their need for radio silence, their complete lack of knowledge of their surroundings, their necessity to trust a Tok'ra operative they barely trusted – even if Daniel and Teal'c seemed to at least know her – and a shaky, mostly unknown timeline by which to complete their escape attempt, the situation was a perfect recepie for disaster. Cam's eyes kept glancing up at the cloud of smoke that was more visible from this angle than it had been from behind the temple. It looked like it was starting to lessen.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Vala idly twirling a strand of hair around her finger with one hand, even while she continued to watch the stone building with her field binoculars. That meant she was bored, but not yet bored enough to start whining about it. He really hoped Anise and Teal'c got done before that happened.

As he'd predicted, Anise finished first. And despite the eternity it had felt like, it really had taken her less than fifteen minutes. He'd been watching the guards for any change and then glanced back to the tall building and froze, blinking his eyes to make sure he wasn't imaging it. The topmost right window was now open. As he watched a pale blue cloth was carefully placed over its ledge, just enough to be visible, but not enough to look like it was meant to stand out.

"Keep sharp, we're in business," he whispered to Vala as he keyed his radio and sent out the three click message.

Vala didn't say a word, but she stopped twirling her hair and placed her hand back onto her weapon. Cam looked over his shoulder to where Daniel was watching the other side of the building, wincing at the flash of burning pain from his arm. Jackson must've felt his team leader's eyes on him, because he looked to Cam and gave him a thumb's up. Cam nodded to him and then turned his attention back to the guards.

Teal'c's two clicks came another eternity later, just as Cam was ready to maybe send someone after their teammate to see if he needed help. He immediately sent the one click confirmation. Moments later, Daniel was once again by his side.

Cam glanced to the sky and swallowed. The cloud was definitely starting to dissipate, which meant the townspeople had managed to get the fire under control. The water tower might take them a bit longer to contain and clearing the damage to see what could be salvaged would also take time, but not necessarily require the immediate action of all the townspeople.

Teal'c's last click came through at last. Cam took a deep breath.

"Okay, we're on," he said quietly. "I've got the one the stave weapon. On three." Beside him, he heard his teammates settle in and get ready. There came the twin sound of guns being cocked. He took another deep, calming breath. "Three... two... one!"

The sound of their guns firing exploded into the silence with a suddenness that was deafening. There was no way the guards by the temple didn't hear it. Cam's first bullet was deflected off the stave-holder's armor, sending the soldier staggering several steps backwards. Cam cursed under his breath and immediately depressed the trigger two more times, this time aiming for the legs. The guard, however, didn't stand around waiting to be shot at and dove for the cover of a large statue as soon as he got his feet back under him.

Cam was sure one of his bullets had caught the guard in the thigh, but that didn't prevent him from getting to cover. A quick glance to the side showed two sprawled bodies at the base of the stargate. Which left two alive, including the Ori soldier wannabe. He looked back to the statue his target had taken cover behind. He saw movement and fired. A chunk of stone flew off from the statue.

Then he saw the sun reflect off a thin piece of metal from the other side of the statue.

"Get down!" he called as he ducked down for cover.

A familiar blue shot flew just above their heads and hit one of the buildings behind them. Some sort of animal screeched and Cam winced at the high-pitched tone.

"I thought you were going to take out the one with the stave weapon?" Vala asked pointedly.

"He's wearing Ori armor!" Cam snapped at her.

Daniel frowned. "They seem to have a curious amount of Ori left-overs in this village."

"An annoying amount, more like," Cam muttered under his breath. He looked up over the barrels they were hiding behind and then ducked back down just as another shot went flying over their heads. "At least they shoot like stormtroopers... and I fondly remember a time when I didn't know what that meant."

"You can blame Teal'c," said Daniel as he peeked over a crate. "He's almost at the stargate, by the way."

"Well, their backup will probably be here any minute," Cam added. Their window of opportunity was closing. And where the hell was that Tok'ra?! "Okay. I'm going to get in closer. Vala, cover me. Jackson–"

"–Get to the DHD," Daniel finished. "Got it."

"Good." Cam braced himself, pushing the pain in his arm to the side. The adrenaline was making it easier. "Then, let's do this!"

And then he was on his feet and running forward, pausing every few steps to shoot another spray of bullets at the statue, but staying to the left to give Vala a clear line of fire on his right. Behind him, he heard a new burst of gunfire, which meant the fourth guard hadn't been willing to just stay out of it. Cam put that out of his mind. Jackson could handle it.

Vala was unrelenting, never letting up her steady stream of bullets, but Cam knew she had to be getting close to needing a new cartridge. He picked up speed, hustling to get to the statue before that happened.

He was mid-run when the guard suddenly shot up from behind the left side of the statue, the stave already aimed right at Cam.

"Shit!" Cam didn't pause, just threw himself down low and forward and then rolled to the left. White hot pain exploded down his arm and he couldn't help the cry it wrenched out of him. Somehow, he still managed to follow-through and found himself on one knee with his P-90 aimed towards the statue and the guard who was shadowing his position.

Dots of white light and sweat made the guard look fuzzy and unsteady. Cam wasn't sure who the unsteady one of them was, though. He aimed for between the guard's eyes and fired.

The bullet nicked the base of the guard's throat, causing him to cry out and abort his intended shot at Cam. Which Cam was more than happy about, but it still wasn't a killshot. He pressed the trigger again, only to have it hit the Ori armor.

A blue stave bolt suddenly hit the guard from the side, burning through his armour. The guard went down with a scream. Cam blinked at the guard and then looked over to where Anise was hurrying towards them.

"What the hell took you so long?" he demanded.

"The guards from the temple will be here in a moment," she said instead of answering. It was Freya speaking, and she looked worried. "And we have a bigger problem on its way."

"Bigger problem how?"

"An Ori ship has just arrived. It will reach the town in approximately twelve minutes. I have stalled them by informing them of the fire in the barns so hopefully that means they will first focus their attention there instead of the stargate, but that will give us a few extra minutes at most."

Suddenly, a familiar blue bolt of plasma fire burned into the ground by their feet.

"Looks like we've run out of time on those re-enforcements," said Cam as he instinctively ducked his head and turned to the source of the shot. And, yup, there were those ridiculously distinctive helmets. He stood and braced himself before letting out a spray of bullets at the new arrivals.

Then he ducked behind the statue. Beside him, Anise shot several blasts at the guards. Another P-90 went off and Cam glanced over to see Vala running low towards the DHD while Teal'c covered her. Daniel was crouching down next to the dialing device. The stargate was ominously silent.

"Jackson, what's taking so long?" he called out.

Daniel glanced over to him quickly just before closing the bottom panel of the console. "The crystals were switched!" he called back. "Hang on!"

Cam grit his teeth as he jumped out from behind the statue and let out another wide spray of bullets. At this point, he didn't care if he hit any of the guards, he just wanted them to stay back. There were only about half a dozen or so of them, but they were all armed with Ori staves.

As he finally heard the stargate come to life, one of the guards peeked up from behind the cover of a building and fired at them. Cam could see the shot going too high, so he ignored it. Until there was a crash just above his head. His gaze snapped upwards just as the top piece of the statue burst apart. His eyes widened and he ducked down and turned away, covering his head as pieces of stone hit his back.

None of the pieces that fell were large enough to be particularly damaging, but he knew he'd have some colourful bruises there later.

He straightened and looked first to Anise. Her hair was covered in dust and she had a small cut on the back of her neck, but otherwise looked fine. She'd resumed shooting at the guards – assuming she'd ever stopped.

Cam glanced over towards the smoke cloud – it was visibly smaller now, which meant the fire had definitely been put out. And then his breath caught as he saw a shape materialize through the clouds. White, smooth and gigantic: it was the belly of an Ori warship.

"Jackson!" he screamed.

"Almost there!" Daniel called back.

"Well you've got, like, thirty seconds!"

Another plasma shot whizzed by him as he ducked back down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Anise hadn't moved, only barely shifting to the side to avoid getting hit. Cam wondered if she was suicidal, crazy, or had observed the guards during target practice.

Just then searing pain burned across the back of his left thigh. Cam staggered forward, grabbing hold of the statue to keep himself from falling into the line of fire from the front. He turned so that his hip was leaning against the stone.

"Shit, they've circled around us," he announced for Anise's benefit. He raised his P-90 and depressed the trigger, letting them have a full spray of bullets. "Goddamn, these guys are actually smart and well-organized!"

"Those aren't guards from the temple," Anise told him. "The time limit on my diversion has apparently ended."

"Great, that's just wonderful."

Cam's gun went silent as his cartridge ran out of bullets. Releasing the empty cartridge and reaching for a fully-loaded one was such an automatic movement he was barely aware he was doing it, his hands moving almost without his conscious thought while his mind worked scenarios on how to deal with the new influx of fighters.

The welcome ka-whoosh of the stargate interrupted his thoughts. He clamped down on the urge to relax, knowing full well it wasn't over until they were actually on the other side. Instead, he aimed his weapon and emptied the clip in the direction of the uninvited backup, hoping to discourage them for long enough to let his team retreat.

"We're green for go!" he heard Daniel shout over the noise of his semi-automatic.

Cam hesitated, wondering how to cover to both avenues of attack at once. "Ah, fuck it," he finally decided as he grabbed a grenade from his vest and pulled the pin out with his teeth.

He tossed it towards the newest group of attackers. "Anise, get down!"

Anise glanced in his direction and then crouched down just before the grenade exploded. Several people screamed, though Cam couldn't quite tell whether it was in surprise or pain. He took a deep breath and then changed his clip again, before pushing himself away from the statue and turning back to the original guards.

"Anise, I'll cover you," he said. "Get to the gate."

She frowned at him. "You are injured," she said. "It would make more sense if I were to cover your retreat."

"Yeah, but getting you out of here was the whole point of the mission. We have not gone through all this shit just for you to get killed five steps from the gate. Besides, didn't you say you have important intel?"

Anise nodded. "I do."

"Then get your Tok'ra ass through the stargate! We can handle this." At least, he hoped they could. Either way, he wasn't going to have this mission fail. He had a lot of questions of his own that needed answering too. Starting with why the Ark hadn't taken care of this particular problem.

He looked to the sky again. The Ori ship was almost entirely visible now. If he was right, it was preparing to land.

He glanced to his left. Teal'c was still firing at the temple guards from the base of the stargate stairs. Daniel was crouched down at the top of the stairs, also firing. Vala was nowhere to be seen – that was one of his teammates safe.

Cam looked back to the group he'd thrown the grenade at. He couldn't see any movement from them yet. Maybe they'd decided to retreat? He doubted it, but he also wasn't likely to get a better time to hightail it out of his position.

Turning to the stargate, he saw Anise slipping into the event horizon. Teal'c met his eyes and nodded once before increasing the intensity of his bullets. Cam took a deep breath and braced himself for the pain before leaping out from behind his cover. First, he sent another spray of bullets at the guards. Then he grit his teeth as he half-ran, half-staggered as fast as he could across the clearing.

As soon as he hit the steps, he was shouting orders. "Jackson, go now! Teal'c, you're on my six!"

Daniel waited until Cam was half-way up the stairs and then he backpedaled towards the gate. He didn't stop shooting until he was right in front of the horizontal pool. Only then did he turn around and step through the stargate.

Cam didn't bother looking back to see if Teal'c was behind him. It was taking all the energy he had to concentrate on making sure his leg didn't collapse beneath him. Suddenly, there was someone beside him, an arm coming around to prop him up and he was moving up the stairs much quicker.

"We must hurry, Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said next to his ear – though for some reason, he sounded very far away. That didn't make sense though, because Teal'c was right beside him.

"Yeah, hurry," Cam gasped, struggling to get the words out. "Ori ship... right behind us."

"Indeed."

And then they, too, were walking into the stargate. The coolness of the wormhole was a relief.


Bright moonlight streamed into the room where a light sea breeze was making long curtains dance, a streak of brightness in the otherwise dark space. A wind chime made of sea shells, polished driftwood and colourful bits of twisted metal tinkled softly. It was early morning, though barely.

Fabric rustled, a sound of movement from the lone figure in the bed still completely enveloped in dark shadows. A soft gasp, barely heard in the darkness, was the only sound for a long while. But more movement followed, quickly growing agitated. And then the breathing became louder, quicker. Another gasp.

Teyla's eyes flew open. She surged forward, her eyes not yet entirely seeing what was really in front of her, her right hand clasped tightly around an imaginary weapon.

She blinked once. Twice. And then she took a deep, calming breath as her surroundings finally registered. The room was more than familiar to her; it was home in a way no other space had been since the Wraith had first attacked her people on Athos all those years ago. For a few minutes, she merely sat in the dark, letting the familiar sounds of her wind chime combine with the gently lapping waves from outside her window and the hum of Atlantis to calm her racing heart.

Eventually, the after-effects of the nightmare left her and she was able to think about it more objectively. Teyla frowned. The Wraith usually featured quite heavily in her nightmares. Occasionally, she saw the Genii, Michael, or only felt the threatening presence of an unknown danger. She'd seen her teammates, friends and hurt and dying in more than a few. This nightmare had not been any of those.

It hadn't felt like a dream. It had felt the same as the nightmares where she relived her father being taken by the Wraith, where she was Michael's prisoner, where she was sneaking through the corridors of Atlantis, both hiding from the Wraith and hunting them. It had felt like a memory. That it had also featured Daniel Jackson and Teal'c of SG-1 was mildly surprising, but not nearly the most confusing aspect.

She recognized the location: Trafalgar Square. She'd been there only days ago. There had been a traffic accident... At least, she thought she remembered a traffic accident. Now, in the wake of her nightmare, she found herself less certain. Except that she knew the others also remembered the accident – they'd all written reports about it, after all. But what she'd just dreamt was very different from the report she remembered writing.

An image of dark-cloaked figures flashed across her mind's eye. She looked down at her hands. They were obviously empty of the knife she'd wielded in her dream. A butcher's knife. She could still feel its weight in her hand, could see the exact way blood had streaked it when she'd pulled it out of the cloaked body.

She looked away, her eyes drawn to the bright moonlight streaming in through the gap in her curtains created by the breeze. Throwing her covers off completely, she slipped out of bed and crossed the room. Pushing the curtains back a little more, she then looked out into the night. Her view wasn't perfect – even in the small hours of the morning, Atlantis herself wasn't completely dark. But the night was clear and the moon nearly full where it hung in the sky surrounded by a brilliant canopy of stars. For a while she distracted herself by finding the many constellations Rodney and John had shown her and Ronon.

By the time Teyla finally felt tiredness pulling at her once more, she'd already come to a decision. First thing in the morning, she would find John and ask to see the accident reports they'd all submitted.

Mind and body finally at peace, she turned away from the window, leaving the curtains half-drawn to let the moonlight in, and slipped back between the sheets of her bed.