Chapter Four

Cameron Mitchell did a mental head count twice of his team and allowed himself a moment to enjoy the warmth and fresh air of PX37562. "So Sam, do you think we have restored the timeline?"

"There's no way to tell and if we haven't we may not even be aware of it but I think the fact that Vala is back with us and Daniel hasn't had any flashes of Atlantis is a good sign."

"Flashes of Atlantis?" Vala asked Daniel.

He only nodded.

"The consequences of time disruption." Sam explained in brief.

"I see," Vala said remembering that she had prevented Daniel from getting there not once but twice. "Well I bet it was boring there without me." She needled Daniel.

"It was certainly quieter," Daniel retorted but his tone was sombre and he dropped his gaze.

Vala stared at him quizzically.

"We've still got that nagging problem of getting home." Cameron said. "I vote for calling the SGC, we don't identify ourselves and we get the date."

"I'd actually been thinking that was our best bet too." Sam said.

"You have?" said Cam.

"I was thinking that if we went to a planet that we – SG1 had been to in the past, a planet that SGC is most likely already aware of in this timeline, we could dial earth. That way if they trace the stargate address we would be minimising disruption. We'll need to keep the contact minimal and Vala will have to do the talking."

"Me?" Vala said surprised and excited.

Sam nodded. "If Daniel, Teal'c or I speak and we happen to be in the control room at the same time or our voices are recognised that is going to cause a temporal paradox. There's also an outside chance that Cam's voice could be recognised or identified by someone on base but obviously not yours Vala."

"Gotcha," Vala nodded.

x x x

The lush fields of PXx-xxx were brilliant with purple flowers and the wormhole to earths SGC had been established.

"SGC this is" Vala halted at Sam's head shaking, "-nooo-onnnne in particular. Can you give me the date and time at your location please?"

"Who is this?" Sergeant Harriman's voice asked.

"Oh hi Walter," Vala smiled disarmingly despite the fact it was only her voice being transmitted.

Cam shook his head in disbelief. Vala shrugged then waved her hand at him dismissively.

"Who is this?" Walter repeated again.

"Actually, I can't tell you but if you could just give me the time and date on earth and then forget that this ever happened, I'd appreciate it." Vala singsonged.

"Is this SG-5?" Walters voice queried. "You were scheduled to check in at 0200 hours. What happened?"

Sam had covered her mouth with her hand aghast.

"SG-5?" Daniel mouthed silently looking about.

"And what time is it now?" Vala pressed Walter.

Daniel had taken the two-way from Vala and with resignation switched it to off. "A little after 0200 hours I'm guessing." He turned and motioned for Vala to do the same.

"Captain Carter, Dr Jackson, Teal'c," greeted Colonel Garraty, his team behind him. "Colonel," he nodded at Cameron quizzically. "Ma'm." He added to Vala. "What are you doing here?" His quick eyes had taken in Samantha's rank as well as the insignia's on Cameron and Vala's uniforms.

"Oh we're on a mission to screw up the timeline as much as we can," Cameron said bluntly.

Sam found a nervous laugh escaping her.

"What he means is," Daniel started, "actually no, pretty much what he said."

SG-5 was beginning to get nervous, their guns edging ever more to a ready position.

"We are in need of your assistance." Teal'c said firmly. "In order to return to our own timeline we require the correct time and date."

"Timeline?" Colonel Garraty repeated.

"Yes," said Sam, "I'm sure it's obvious by now we are from the future." Sam ignored the absurdity of her own remark. "And what we need is the current time and date on earth so we can return to our timeline," Sam paused, "and for you and your team to be ordered not to reveal anything that they have seen or heard in regards to us, otherwise you could significantly disrupt the timeline and endanger the safety of SGC in your own timeline."

"Not to mention that if any of you say anything, we'll have you busted down to cadet in the future." Cameron added.

Sam tried not to pull a face. Cam's grasp of temporal physics was almost as bad as Jack's. If the timeline was disrupted none of them would remain in this timeline to remember to bust anyone down to cadet.

Colonel Garraty remained severe in expression and surveyed SG-1 again. "You want the time and date? That's all?"

"Yes," said Sam. "I need to be able to correlate the current time and date with the data to return us to our correct time period."

"From this planet?" Colonel Garraty demanded.

"No." Sam admitted reluctantly, "we came to this address since it was known to the SGC at this time."

"So you do already know when you are." Garraty accused.

"We have a rough idea but nothing close enough to what we need." Sam replied.

"Look," Daniel interjected pressing his hands together in a plea fashion. "We just want the time and the date. We came here to try to prevent SGC from learning future addresses to try to minimise our impact on what is our past and your possible future."

"Obviously we aren't doing a very good job," Vala stated honestly.

Daniel shot her a look before turning back to Garraty. "I know suspicion is part of the job but I also know that unusual is too. Believe me, we don't mean you any trouble, we just want to go home."

"If you aren't willing to help us. We'll find another way." Colonel Mitchell stated folding his arms.

After a tense moment Colonel Garraty stated. "14th July 19xx, 02,36 hours"

Daniel thanked him profusely while Sam immediately altered her watch. Vala flashed the entire SG-5 team a brilliant smile while Teal'c nodded his thanks. Colonel Mitchell's thankyou was equally stoic.

Colonel Garraty ordered SG-5 to consider the conversation classified after which they had checked in with the SGC explained Vala's communication as a mishap with a villager and departed the planet but not before one of the SG-5 team worriedly whispered something about Dr. Jackson being dead.

x x x

SG-1 had decided to return themselves to PX37562 to assure no further interactions took place and Sam began to take apart the DHD in order to override the safety protocols so they could pass through the solar flare.

"It's just occurred to me that we might have been the cause of our time travel." Sam said in astonishment.

"How is that?" Cam asked. "This is the past."

"Since I've disabled the safety protocols of this gate, PX37562 it stands to reason that in the future, in our time, they're still disabled."

"So we sent ourselves back before we went?" said Cameron. "Wait, wait, what does that mean in regards to waking Vala? Does that mean we were meant to wake her?"

"I guess it's possible that Daniel was always the one to wake her."

Cameron smirked at the realisation and then noticed that Daniel and Vala were missing. "Woah, hold the phone, it looks like sleeping beauty and prince charming have disappeared on us again."

"Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran went to look for the artefact," said Teal'c.

"Don't scare me like that. Wait - together? Alone? Well, well, well looks like I won't be sitting in on the next IOA meeting," Cam said confidently referring to the teams wager on whether Jackson and Vala would finally admit their feelings to each other.

Colonel Carter tried to disguise her uneasiness, remembering that she had bet the next IOA meeting against Cam on this mission. "Didn't you say that last time?" She countered.

"Yeah, I did." Cam said dejectedly. "I swore those two were going to figure it out after being trapped in a cave for four days and nights. And that meeting . . ." Cam shook himself, "Ugh, alright all bets are off for this one."

"You demonstrate great wisdom Colonel Mitchell," said Teal'c.

"After six IOA meetings," Sam giggled.

"Yeah well those two just can't be predicted." Mitchell folded his arms.

x x x