THE PROMETHEUS

Jack was in the Prometheus conference room with Gen Landry and Whitted on the view screen. Jack had nothing but contempt for Whitted and the fact that he was in charge and not Woolsey made him and Gen Landry uneasy at best. Jack sensed the Whitted had an alterier motive for being in charge of this mission and it wasn't for the benefit of SGC.

"Gen O'Neill? What's the status of your people and the teams? Asked Gen Landry.

Jack was trying to control his temper knowing Whitted sent his people in on sketchy Intel.

"Five of the 15 SG teams are down and had to be de contaminated. Some where not so lucky and are missing. There were parasites everywhere, which we had no information on, thanks to you Whitted. We had unnecessary casualties and two of SG1 members are missing. We need to de contaminate the area we landed in and hope that destroys most of the parasites." Stated Jack.

"Ok, O'Neill, get your people taken care of and who are the missing personnel?

"Col Carter Sir, Vala Mol Doran and part of SG3 and 4. We can't locate them as of yet, but their chips show they are still alive, but Sam and Vala's locators were not working after their ship reportedly crashed."

"Gen Landry, how can you defend Gen O'Neill and his incompetence on this mission? Whitted stated angrily. "It's a disaster at best. He failed this mission and should be replaced."

"I should be replaced? Jack was furious. "You sent my people in on a planet that had no viable Intel, I believe you knew it and then you claim you can't tell us about this Goua'ld symbiote and then won't tell us why you need it so badly."

"I don't answer to you Gen O'Neill. I can't be blamed for your screw up and your people's failed mission. If this is what the SGC can only produce then I will take over this mission and you can go back to Washington. I have the President complete confidence."

"Why you………………..

"GENTLEMEN." Shouted Gen Landry. "Settle down; threats will get you no where Whitted. Those people are risking their lives to capture this symbiote and I doubt they will listen to your commands without Gen O'Neill. He's proven himself more times over that you realize on any mission and if I might add saved the earth a couple of times than we can count. His people are more than capable of finishing a mission and I doubt your field experience Whitted will hold up against these odds. So If I have to, I'll go to the President myself and pit Gen O'Neil's record with yours and see who comes out on top. So if there's any threatening around here, it will be by me; GOT IT?"

Whitted grumbled at Gen Landry's threat, knowing that the President understandable likes O'Neill for whatever reason. He didn't like to look like an idiot and he could be replaced by Woolsey if he wasn't careful.

"Alright, Gen Landry. You've made your point, stated Whitted. But I'm warning you O'Neill. If you screw this mission up on one of the greatest finds known to us, then President or no President, I will have you replaced. Do you understand?"

Jack decided to wait to respond, knowing this would piss off Whitted even more.

"Do you understand me Gen O'Neill? Whitted was becoming irritated playing this game with O'Neill.

Calmly answering. "Oh, yes, I understand. Now if you don't mind; Gen Landry I have to see to my people."

"That's all, Gen O'Neill. Keep me posted and make sure we don't leave anyone behind." There was a secret message Landry conveyed to Jack, but only they knew what he meant. Whitted had no clue, how close Jack and his team were.

As Jack closed the view screen, he was worried about his friends, especially Sam and Vala. They had not received any transmission from either of them and he was worried that they may be injured and can't respond, or worse. He didn't trust Whitted and knew he was hiding something. Something more dangerous than he was willing to share with SGC.

Please Sam, thought Jack. Be alright. We won't leave you and Vala down there, no matter what. Stay alive Sam, both of you. We're coming, we're coming.

Whitted suspected that O'Neill was up to something. He would have to stay on top of O'Neill to make sure the symbiote was recovered. Whitted's information from the Chinese would allow him to not only take over NID, but give him untold power and negotiation rights to alien technology. He had conveyed to the Chinese administrators that the power and knowledge the symbiote carried would be shared and he would supply the personnel to retrieve the symbiote without any loss of life on the Chinese side. Basically he would sacrifice the SGC teams and blame any problems on O'Neill and Landry. To him if was the perfect set up and he would be heralded and promoted to oversee all SGC programs and technology. No one would stand in his way he thought and any who did would mysteriously disappear. He would make sure that he would have complete control or no one would.

THE PROMETHEUS TRANSPORT

"Goddamit Teal'c let me go. We need to get to Sam and Vala; they were cut off from us after they crashed, let me go, shouted Daniel.

"I am sorry Daniel Jackson, but you were being irrational. We could not find them in time before the parasites would contaminate us both. Col Mitchell will have a plan to rescue our commarades, so you must stop resisting." Said Teal'c.

Daniel stopped struggling knowing Teal'c was right. But he felt sick inside not knowing what happened to Vala or Sam. These were not just his team members, but his friends and Vala and him had become close during off world missions. What a surprise she was at handling difficult situations with such ease and intelligence. She had saved his team mates and him countless times at the risk of her own life and negotiated surprisingly reasonable terms with other inhabitants for alien technology and ships. He couldn't just abandon her, not now, not now.

"So your awake Jackson, good, said Col Mitchell. Jack will be here soon and we need to be alert and ready for anything this time. We are all worried about Sam and Vala and I don't put it past Jack to go on a rescue mission after all our people are de contaminated. So let's be more helpful in this situation than a hindrance." Looking at Jackson.

Daniel understood what Mitchell was conveying and he also knew Jack and Cam had a responsibility to all the teams and not just Vala and Sam, no matter how close they all were.

"So Danny boy your up, good, because once our teams are de contaminated we are going on a rescue mission as well as capturing this symbiote." Said Jack. That twit agent, oh; did I say that out loud? Anyway, that agent we all love to hate is not forthcoming with any more information. So basically we are on our own. Teal'c do you and Daniel know the last know position that Sam and Vala were at?"

"No Gen O'Neill. We found their ship, but they obviously escaped unharmed. I know they would have contacted us if they were able, said Teal'c. I believe the planet interferes somehow with our communications in certain areas."

"I think you're right T. Sam and Vala would have contacted us if there was any problem or maybe they don't know their radios or chips are malfunctioning." Stated Mitchell.

"What about the parasites that contaminated some of our teams, said Daniel. "Cou- could Sam and Vala been contaminated?" Daniel had not worried about the parasites until now.

"We don't know, stated Jack. Right now we have a mission to complete, parasites to kill, find the symbiote and rescue our friends. Whitted is not going to stop bothering us until he has that symbiote, no matter what the cost and I'm not willing to sacrifice anyone for the sake of Whitted's little pet project. I don't trust him and there's more to this than what he's divulging. So we need to come up with a solid plan this time to retrieve Sam and Vala and I need more information about this symbiote. God, I wish Sam was here. Anyway, Teal'c, I need your expertise. You think the Jaffa can give me more information on a symbiote that pre dates Ra?"

"I will contact Bratac and see if he has any knowledge of such a symbiote existing." Teal'c left to do his task while the rest of his friends came up with a plan to rescue Vala and Sam.

"Daniel I need you to stay focused. Some of the teams found a fortress nearby. I don't know what's inside and it may be where Sam and Vala found the symbiote. We all need to stay focused on what's at stake and find someway to find them. Cam I need you more than ever on this one, all of you. We're going in blind as bats and I hate being blind, so any more intel you can get from the teams will help us and I'm going to check with a few friends in Washington on our little NID man. So Col Mitchell take over while I do some checking of my own."

"Right Jack."

"Cam, we've got to find them. I know something's happened and I fear that—that this symbiote is worse than Anubis could ever be." Said Daniel with fear in his voice.

"I know Daniel, I know. Get some rest. We're going to need it, said Mitchell. I need to check on the other teams and do some research of your own if you can. Any thing is going to help and we need what we can get."

Daniel nodded and Mitchell left to see to the other teams. Daniel felt helpless in finding his friends. All he could do now is hope he could find some information to assist Jack and pray that they would find Vala and Sam alive.