Tidal Years, Chapter Four
Rating: PG-13 (shouldn't go higher, maybe lower at times)
Word Count: 2,856
Disclaimer: One half of SSK Productions is owned by pygmies & debt collectors. The other half is owned by her dogs. Logically, then, they own nothing.
Summary: Following the events of the episode "Dominion," SG-1 embarks on a mission that will change their lives forever, in more than one time line.
Pairings: Eventually, Sam/Daniel & Mitchell/Vala. Maybe more later.
Author's Note: This started as an idea for a missing scene fic for Atlantis and really spiraled out of control. This is also an attempt to fix things that were missing from the last two episodes, rewrite history, etc...

We have all the Time in the World

Vala was antsy. She couldn't help it. She hated being in one place for too long, and even though she knew she was technically safe at the moment, she wished she hadn't come on this little trip to see the Asgard. Besides, she had absolutely nothing to contribute on a mission like this, and she hated feeling useless. Especially when Daniel was being monopolized away from her. It would be so much better if she had Daniel to herself.

Smiling, she winked at him. It was nice that he'd sat next to her.

Daniel shook his head ever so slightly and went back to what Colonel Carter was going on about.

"Thanks to Asgard technology," Sam was saying, "we are in a time dilation bubble. While time may appear to be passing at a normal rate for us, in fact years will pass inside the bubble while mere fractions of a second pass outside the field."

"You won't need that much time, though," Landry said. Vala detected a smallish hint of concern in his voice, and that worried her.

"Hopefully not," Sam answered. "My plan is to try and make the necessary modifications to the Odyssey so we can take it out of phase. Then, when we shut down the time dilation field, the blast won't hit us."

"Well, that would be good," Daniel interrupted.

Sam smiled tightly. "You're probably wondering why I didn't do that in the first place."

General O'Neill held up his hand. "Hey, I'm still back on the 'time thing.'"

"I'm with the general on that," Mitchell began.

Sam's smile tightened. "The Asgard core has the time dilation field technology built right into it. It was a quick and easy option. I'm actually going to have to recreate some of Merlin's out-of-phase technology from scratch with what we have aboard." She paused. "And it could take a while."

"Just to be sure," Daniel began, "how long is a . . . a while in our time?"

"I'm not exactly sure," she admitted. "But we have enough food and water for three months."

Vala felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach. "Three months."

"We can ration supplies," Landry told them, though Vala's mind was not on whether they had enough to actually survive that long, but whether or not they could survive being in such close quarters for that long.

She leaned over to whisper in Daniel's ear. "I gonna go crazy, and I'm taking you with me."

Daniel sighed, then grimaced. Vala felt a little insulted.

"Of course, if it takes a little longer . . ." Sam began.

"Excuse me?" O'Neill demanded at the same time that Mitchell said, "Oh, whoa. Longer than three months?"

Landry stood, up, and everyone quieted. "Bottom line is, none of you are going to have any excuse for being behind on you paperwork," he told them, and hen he walked out of the briefing room.

Before she could stop herself, Vala laughed nervously. She watched as Sam grimaced and bounced on her feet a little.

General O'Neill stood, looking like he was going to say something to Sam but shook his head and stalked away instead.

Vala turned to Daniel. "So, what are we going to do for three months?" she asked, putting just enough suggestive tone in her voice.

Daniel chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. "I don't know what you're going to do, but I do have work to do." He glanced at Sam. "You want some help?"

"Sure," Sam answered.

That left only Mitchell, Teal'c, and Vala.

"I'm going for a run," Mitchell announced and left.

Vala smiled at Teal'c. "Looks like it's just you and me, Muscles."

Running had always helped Cam to clear his thoughts, to forget what was going wrong in his life or—barring that—at least get his mind off of it. But it wasn't helping him this time, and, unfortunately, the reason was pretty clear—even though it had taken them until his second lap around the Odyssey to figure that out. The reason was that he couldn't escape what was going on by running. It was all around him. They were stuck on the ship—which, he realized that he didn't really like the Odyssey all that much, somewhere between laps three and six. He liked traveling through the stargate. He felt too exposed on the ship—even with all of its advanced technology and capabilities. He liked being in control of situations, but on the Odyssey, he didn't have any control. And he realized that he was almost never in control of SG-1, but it was different somehow.

He turned down another corridor, signaling the beginning of lap seven. Cam wondered if somehow this whole situation was some cosmic practical joke, but the only beings probably capable of it were the Ancients, and well . . . quite frankly, it just didn't sound like something they would do. He knew it couldn't be the Ori, otherwise the Odyssey would have been destroyed. Granted, it didn't seem that likely that this was a joke, but it was within the realm of possibility—as much as he kind of wished it wasn't. It was easier to believe that than this just being another random coincidence. After all, Stargate Command and SG-1 had finally fulfilled their first mission—to acquire the most advanced technology—only to be trapped by it.

Cam was beginning to believe in karma.

He smiled to himself as he turned to the corridor and headed to the messhall. He figured that he would grab some water before continuing.

He heard Vala before he saw her. "Muscles?" she was calling, "Muscles?" She paused. "Teal'c?"

Cam back-peddled a little. He really didn't want company right now. But it was too late. She'd seen him.

"Cameron," she began, smiling broadly as he slowed to a stop.

"Vala," he acknowledged between deep breaths.

"Well, I would ask where you've been, but I'm not sure I want to know," she told him, eye his sweaty t-shirt.

He frowned. "What?"

"Oh, so you and Colonel Carter . . .?" She left the sentence hanging.

Cam stared at her. "Me and Sam?"

Vala shrugged. "Well, you two are awfully chummy."

He cut her off. "No, there is nothing but friendship between me and Sam."

She smiled, stepping closer to him. "So, you're available."

Cam saw Teal'c walking toward them, and used it to extricate himself from the conversation. "Oh, look it's Teal'c," he said.

"Muscles!" she exclaimed, turning to see.

Cam didn't say another word, turning and heading back the way he'd come. He did, however, catch the look that Teal'c gave him.

Someday, the stoic Jaffa was going to get his revenge. Cam hoped it wasn't for a long time.

Space, the final frontier.

Somehow, he'd never really expected to be stuck in it.

Jack looked out the Odyssey's main view screen and stared; literally into space he didn't like the thought of being in another time dilation field. He'd practically gone nuts—he had gone nuts—the last time he'd been in a time dilation field. And that time, at least he'd been at the SGC. This was the Odyssey. A ship. Limited resources, limited space, and limited company.

Carter would figure something out.

She had to figure something out.

He couldn't take this for very long.

He knew it wouldn't be any different if he had been in command. He didn't blame Hank. The Ori could track the Asgard core. No order anyone could give could change that.

"Do you doubt Colonel Carter's ability to save us, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked softly, walking towards Jack. Jack looked at him. The big guy never seemed to age, but Jack felt old. Tired. Useless.

He shook his head. "No. Carter will figure something out. She always does."

"Indeed," Teal'c observed. There was something about the tone of his voice that made Jack frown. The big guy didn't believe him.

"Look, T, believe me, Carter's going to figure it out. She has to."

"Your statement is incorrect. Colonel Carter has already spared our lives. Without her actions, we would all be dead. She has already done much," Teal'c turned from the view screen. Jack stood next to him and studied the stars again. Yep. This view was going to get real old, real fast. He had already named three of the stars he could see—he was trying to save them, draw it out. Plus, Sleepy, Dopey, and Bob weren't exactly names that would win any prizes.

There was nothing to do but wait.

Jack had never been good at waiting.

"Do you wish to spar, General O'Neill?" Teal'c asked quietly. Hell, Jack was too old. Too old to spar, too old to live the rest of his life out on a damn ship. But he looked at Teal'c and nodded. "Sure thing, big guy. I'll even go easy on you."

The Jaffa let out a giant, booming laugh.

I'm sorry, but it just won't be the same. Sam's own words returned to her as she worked on the Asgard core, and all the memories she had of working with the Asgard deluged her mind. All the times she'd spent working with Thor on defeating the Replicators. All of the times the Asgard had arrived just in time. It still didn't seem real that they were all gone now.

And at her fingertips was their legacy.

Had she doomed it by creating the bubble? It was the one question she'd tried to keep from asking herself, because she was afraid that the answer might be that she had.

She sighed, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Despite everything else that had happened, at its simplest, she still had a problem to fix. She just wished that she could concentrate on only that problem, but she should have known better. It hurt her that everyone seemed to be fracturing in one of the biggest crises they'd ever faced. They were a team, but they weren't acting like it. She understood that the prospect of being on this ship for months—possibly longer—was daunting, but she didn't think she'd deserved General O'Neill and Cameron's harsh words.

She wished the Odyssey was a bigger ship.

Sam opened her eyes, staring down at her laptop. The sooner she recreated Merlin's out of phase technology, the better.

She began typing in a new set of algorithms, hoping for some kind of inspiration to hit her.

"That function is not possible." The sound of Thor's voice startled her. She had almost forgotten about the hologram of him standing a few feet away from her.

She turned, in frustration, to look at him. "I wish you were really here," she told the hologram, hearing for the first time, the sadness in her voice. She fought the urge to cry. Now wasn't the time for her to break down, she knew that.

She looked at her computer again, but she couldn't seem to concentrate on it. She didn't understand why. And she really wished that Thor was there to offer his advice.

Wishing he was there didn't change anything, though.

Forcing her mind back to the computer, she typed in another sequence of equations. Out of the corner of her eye, she searched the hologram for any sign of movement, and finding none, she entered another set.

"That function is not possible."

She let out the breath she'd been holding. She'd known that would happen. She opened a new macro, but stopped after a few moments. She knew that she wasn't going to solve this today. Her mind was not in the right frame to concentrate on such complexity. What she really needed was coffee.

Daniel walked into the room, to the single console, feeling the weight of the universe on his shoulders. This…This was all that was left. The Asgard were gone, and this room was their legacy. A legacy that no one might ever see.

He sighed. Even thinking those words seemed like a betrayal of Sam. She had saved their lives by activating the time dilation field. And she was smart enough and had resources enough to figure it out. Daniel knew she would, no matter how long it took.

She was good, Sam. Good at what she did, at what she could do. And so many times, she did the impossible.

But Sam, for all her brilliance, her talent, couldn't bring back the Asgard.

Keeping their memory alive, passing on their legacy, that was Daniel's job. He would learn everything he could, teach any of the others who were willing to listen, to learn. Sadly, Sam was the one he most wanted to share it with. He knew that she would appreciate it, would value it, more than anyone else. But she was the one who had to do something else. She had to find the solution. And when she wasn't working on it, she wouldn't want to be studying more.

Daniel moved the stone, watching the words cross the screen. The Norse language derived from the Asgard was familiar to him, but now the symbols filled him with sadness.

"I miss Thor," he remembered himself saying. He'd been complaining about the Asgard they had sent instead of Thor. But any Asgard would be welcome now.

He browsed the directory. Thor or one of his people had organized the directory with plenty of subjects, from science to philosophy, gardening to fabrication. He did not know where to begin.

He touched the controls, scrolling down. He was interested in the history of the Asgard. He knew it to be a long, great history, from their origin as a species to their dealings with the Ancients, the Fuhrlings, and the Nox, the life the Asgard had seeded across the galaxy. Daniel didn't even know where to begin.

He decided that the beginning would be the best place. He had no other ideas, at least not with any sense of order. If he could find something to help Sam get them out of the bubble, that would be best, but there was so much data here, he didn't even know where to begin.

He touched the controls again. He opened the file on the origin of the Asgard. He smiled sadly. He was glad that this would take a very long time.

He wasn't sure what he needed more. A distraction…or hope.

With great reluctance, Teal'c ended his sparring session with O'Neill and returned to the supply room. He had agreed to meet Vala Mal Duran in the supply room, to assist in the task given her by General Landry, but he had not done so with enthusiasm. Teal'c knew that Vala did not require assistance, and General O'Neill was extremely agitated.

Teal'c entered the storeroom, greeting Vala. She stood among the metal shelves, holding a clipboard. He pulled a bin of fresh produce from a shelf.

"Do you think the Ori warriors could have found a way to get through the time dilation field and over here out to the ship?" Vala asked.

"No." Teal'c hoped to finish this inventory with great expedience.

Vala Mal Duran did not appear to believe him. "'Cause I'm hearing things all the time. Are you hearing things?"

"I am trying not to," Teal'c responded. He continued with his task.

His companion chose to ignore his words. "Maybe they found away to ring over, but they can't figure out how to secretly shut off the time dilation field, so they're trying to drive us crazy and make us shut it down ourselves.

"No."

"That wasn't a question," Vala protested.

"No," Teal'c agreed, putting the last of the plastic bins onto the shelves. He feared for her sanity.

Their time in space would not be easy, for any of them.

For General O'Neill, the inactivity could prove too much for him. O'Neill was content when fishing in a pond without any fish, but he possessed the soul of a warrior. He did not wait patiently, nor did he care for such confined space.

General Landry as well, would suffer. He was in command, yet there were no orders to give. All aboard the Odyssey had no choice but to wait for Colonel Carter had this dark time.

Colonel Carter had a heavy burden to bear. Though her actions had saved their lives, she would be blamed with increasing frequency as the time they spent in the time dilation field continued. Teal'c sensed that General O'Neill already did so, as did Vala Mal Duran, and Teal'c's efforts to change his mind had been unsuccessful. Teal'c feared that he himself would be the only support Colonel Carter possessed in this dark time.

Daniel Jackson, perhaps, would become that additional support Colonel Carter needed. Yet Teal'c worried for him, as well during this time. Daniel was greatly affected by the loss of the Asgard, obsessed with the repository of their knowledge. Daniel had taken upon himself the burden of passing on the legacy of the Asgard.

This time upon the Odyssey, however long its duration, would take its toll upon them all.