I know it's been a long wait, and I apologize. It's not perfect, but please read and leave an honest review.


SGD Snapshots #7: Adjustment

Vala removed her helmet and tossed it onto the table. She ran her gloved hands through her hair, and they came off slick with sweat. "Why do we have to do this?"

"We've been over this before, Vala," Daniel said exasperatedly. Since he was largely responsible for Vala's position in the SGC, Jack had stuck him with the role of her babysitter. While he understood why the General did it, it didn't make Vala any less annoying. He placed his own helmet on the same table. "It's called training."

"I know how to handle myself, Daniel," the woman huffed. "And crawling under barbed wire, jumping off a tower and being dumped in a pool of dirty water is not training. It's torture!"

"You need to learn to-"

Vala cut him off mid-sentence. "I can take care of myself, you know!"

"-work together as a team." Daniel finished, glaring at her. "Look, if this doesn't work out, Jack is going to send you back to prison."

"I know," Vala replied, sadly. "Was what I did really that bad?"

"You tried to steal Earth's flagship! Morally in your position what you did wasn't actually too horrible, but that's not what matters to the people who make the decisions. It's the perception."

"Crazy bitch tries to steal expensive starship and sell to known group of drug dealers and slavers? I suppose when you put it that way..."

She slid closer to Daniel. "He wouldn't really do it, would he?"

"Oh, I wouldn't put it past him." Vala slid closer. "You can stop right there."

"What? I wasn't doing anything."

"You're sliding closer to me," Daniel said dryly.

"Uh... there's a wet spot on the bench and I don't want to sit on it," Vala stammered, backing out. It briefly occurred to Daniel that she was really cute when she did that. He quickly dismissed the thought.

"Nice try."

Vala was quiet for a while- it seemed like a very long time but in fact was only about half a minute. She muttered, "Earth is so weird."

"What was that?"

"Earth. It's the cleanest planet I've been to, but it's also the dirtiest! It's so strange and hypocritical. "

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, you say you're all about freedom of thought and giving everybody information rather than propaganda, but there are a billion people who have their primary source of information censored!"

"You mean the Chinese internet censorship?"

"Yes! Speaking of the internet, it is really, really messed up! Some of the things I've seen on their will leave me scarred for life! Who makes the internet, anyway?"

"Nobody makes the internet, Vala," Daniel explained- again. "It's an open system. Anyone can create their own content and put it up for the world to see. A lot of good things have come out of that."

"And a lot of bad things." Another awkward pause, then Vala perked up again. "You should take me to a mall!"

"What?" Daniel sputtered, shocked. "A mall? A shopping mall?"

"I've read about them and it sounds incredible! Everything you could ever need or want and a lot of stuff you would never all in one place. Thousands of people at once come together to exchange one form of wealth for another. All the latest trends and fashions, the newest revolutions..." There was a dreamy look in her eyes as she trailed off.

"Honestly, I've never looked at it that way," Daniel admitted. "It's... interesting."

"Of course it is. I've gone from primitive planet to primitive planet- even the most civilized worlds out there, like Lucia and Hebridan- have nothing that can compare with Earth." She slid even closer to Daniel and quietly suggested. "We could make it our date."

"I am not going on a date with you," Daniel replied sternly. Vala slumped, looking genuinely hurt, and after remembering what she had been through, it made him feel really bad.

"Okay, fine. But it's not a date."


SGD 2x07 Independence

July 4, 2005

Pegasus Galaxy

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Well, we've never tried it, but McKay assured me that it will," Cadman replied to her team commander.

"Yeah, well, we both know what he's like," Lorne replied lightly. "If all else fails, we can always just nuke the fucker."

"Thirty seconds," a voice announced from the front of the puddle jumper.

"Get ready," Lorne ordered, standing up. He slammed a magazine into his battle rifle and yanked back on the charging handle. "Active camo up."

The puddle jumper shuddered, and as soon as it stopped the rear ramp of the spacecraft flew open. Lorne's spectre-like team immediately mowed down the two surprised Wraith standing just outside the jumper.

"Move out!" Major Lorne ordered. His four-member team followed him out of the now-cloaked jumper and into the cavernous dart bay. Occupying a large percentage of a hive-ship's interior space, the combined space of the bays was large enough to accommodate thousands of the small fighters. They headed toward an access door, gunning down the emerging Wraith as they ran toward it. "We've got to do this quick, before they can jump back into hyperspace."

Following a map on his HUD, the Major led his team through a claustrophobic, foreboding corridor toward a door at the end. They were halfway there when a half dozen Wraith drones emerged into the hallway.

Lorne aimed for the head, advancing slowly even as he fired the rifle. Beside him, Lieutenant Cadman brought her AA-12 up and fired, blowing the head off one of the drones with several ounces of buckshot.

Plasma explosions peppered the hallway when the drones responded with their pulse rifles, trying to aim at and hit rapidly shifting shadows. Of course, the active camo was a double-edged sword. With it enabled, they had no shields and were vulnerable to the powerful energy weapons.

Fortunately, there weren't too many Wraith, and it was nearly impossible for them to hit enemies they could barely see. It took seconds to eliminate them, and Lorne ordered his team closer to their objective. He motioned to a door, one of the many organic shutters spread throughout the hallways.

"Breach and clear!" Lorne ordered. Cadman slung her shotgun and stuck a stick of C4 explosive to the door. Before detonating the explosive the Lieutenant planted, he shouted, "Breaching breaching!"

The organic door simply disintegrated in the blast, and they rushed into the room. Three drones stood inside, disoriented, and within seconds dead. "Clear! Lieutenant, get on it."

"Yes, sir," Laura replied, connecting her tablet to the central column of the room, a computer interface.

"Defensive positions, switch to shields." Outside, the Wraith had began to figure out what was going on. Drones began to attack the blown-open door, as well as the still working one on the other end of the room. Lorne's team quickly followed his orders, taking cover in what they judged to be the best spots and dropping their active camo, with the effect of appearing out of thin air.

It didn't take Major Lorne to realize that the pulse rifles were a lot more powerful than the stunners. The days of standing in the open and taking as much stunner fire as they put out were over. He ducked behind the open doorway, peering out to fire into the passageway beyond. That was the other problem. The drones also seemed to take more hits than they used to before dropping. "Lieutenant! Hurry up!"

"Sir, I'm working as fast as I can. The damn macro doesn't want to run!" Laura wasn't trained for this sort of thing, and she knew it. Well, nobody really was, but she was an EOD tech, not a scientist. Gaining access to weapons and engines would be next to impossible, especially without the right knowledge. "I don't think this is going to work!"

"Damn it! Okay, Plan B. Kaz, drop the package!"

Behind Lorne, Sergeant KazlauskienÄ— removed the small cylindrical nuke from her backpack and wedged it against the pillar. "Done, sir!"

"Back to the jumper, move!" Lorne ordered. He tossed a grenade down the hallway before turning around and running toward the blasted doorway. There was a Wraith in the way, a situation rectified by a smash to the face with his rifle.

It wasn't far to the jumper bay, but it seemed every Wraith drone in the galaxy was in the way. Cadman continued to blast the aliens rather gruesomely at point blank, and Lorne wished he had brought a shotgun of his own. The new rifles were nice and short, however, and relatively easy to manoeuvre in close quarters. And the quarters were way too close. Were it not for the sealed helmet on his head, Lorne would have been able to smell their alien breath.

After what seemed like an endless slaughter, the team finally made it back to the jumper bay. Still cloaked, there was no way they would be able to find the small ship on their own. Thankfully, that was what the tactical HUD was for. They headed for a wireframe overlay, sandwiched between two darts. The ramp dropped, allowing them inside.

"Go!" Lorne shouted before they were even completely inside. The rear door swung shut as the pilot took off, zipping the small craft through the door they had come in on.

As they accelerated away from the massive ship, Lorne switched comm channels and asked, "Bravo, what's your status?"

"At a safe distance," a Hebrew-accented voice identified as Cpt. Chadad replied. "We could not hack into the ship, but we did plant the bomb. It should explode any moment now."

As if on cue, a fiery explosion ripped through the farther-away of the two hive-ships, followed by several blue secondaries. The other hive-ship exploded soon after in much the same way, appearing to tear in half before disintegrating into very small pieces.

"Well, I guess we can call that a success," Major Lorne said to everyone. "Perhaps it is fate that today is our-"

"Independence Day!" a deep voice shouted over the comm circuit. A very low quality version of the movie's theme began playing in the background. Laughter and cheering flooded the channel.

Milky Way Galaxy - P8X-412

"Well, they're pretty shocked that they're god was a false one," Dr. Dieter Schmidt said to Captain Roberts as she led her teams- plus one ex-reporter- into the village. "I'd say they're dealing with it well given the circumstances."

"Learning that their god Qe'tesh wasn't a god?" Roberts asked. "Or telling them the Ori weren't?"

"Both. Funny enough, they thought we were gods until we explained technology to them. These people are culturally primitive. Anything impressive they immediately label as magic."

"So, have they agreed to clear out?"

He paused. "That... may be a problem. Some of the villagers are ill. Don't worry, it's nothing serious- but they don't want to move them."

"Nothing serious? You willing to bet your life on that?" Melissa's eyes immediately flicked to the CBRN status indicator on her HUD. Fully sealed.

"No, and the funny thing is that I came back to avoid this sort of thing," Schmidt replied cynically. "None of us have been exposed, we kept our suits sealed. Standard procedure, ever since the Genii incident."

"Are we still going to be able to do our thing?" Sergeant Lewis asked.

"It shouldn't be a problem. We're moving the villagers into the temple- there were some objections, of course."

"That gives us a nice clean field of fire, plenty of room to engage," Roberts replied. She turned to address the teams behind her. Among them was Amanda Somers, former reporter and now the official PR officer for the AESF. She seemed to stare at her, though she was actually recording digital footage that would probably never be seen by the public. She wore the same Aegis III suit as the rest, as well as the Tactical Load Carrier and an M-57 pistol strapped to her hip. "Alright, I'm sure you all know the plan, but I'll go over it one last time."

"We plant explosives throughout the village. Now the Priors are probably pretty damn tough, so most likely it won't serve as anything more than a distraction. The tanks go on the ridge, along with stationary heavy weapons. Two teams are to occupy the temple, one is to secure the gate, the rest pour fire down from the hills. We're going to hit this guy with everything we've got.

"We're going to kill the Prior."

SFB Cheyenne Mountain

"I'm so bored," Vala complained to Daniel as General O'Neill droned on in front of them.

"As you know, Operation Kingfish in Pegasus is proceeding well, with two hives taken out today. The situation in the Milky Way, not so good. The Ori continue to subvert worlds, even as the Lucian Alliance, Free Jaffa, Yu's faction and everyone else keeps fighting. So, yeah, it's kinda fucked up out there. Vala-"

"What?" Vala asked, startled. She bolted upright.

"It's your turn. So far, we've had little success with the Lucian Alliance- in any way. They continue to grow and are becoming a real threat, up from oh so annoying. Ever heard of Netan?"

"Isn't he their leader?" Vala paused. "Oh, I get it, you want to kill him."

"If necessary. Subversion is better but that never seems to work for anyone but the bad guys. Anyway, the problem is that this guy is untouchable. We have no idea how he works, where he is, or how we might find him. You said you can get us inside the Alliance?"

"Well, I... have a few contacts."

"Who?"

"Do you really expect me to give up my bargaining chips that easily?"

"You know, I hear Leavenworth is lovely this time of year."

"What's that?" Vala asked, not understanding the threat.

"A prison," Daniel whispered in Vala's ear.

"Okay, okay? Jup and Tenat. They were the people- if you can call them that- I worked through when I tried to steal the Athena."

"Any idea where we could find them?"

"Not exactly." Vala added quickly, "But I can set up a meeting."

"Good. Then let's do it."

P8X-412

"More of them are falling ill," Schmidt informed Captain Roberts. "It is beginning to turn serious- many of them have fever and are too sick to stand."

"Shit," Roberts muttered. She leaned against a post at the entrance to the temple. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"What are you thinking, Captain?"

"Biological warfare. That Prior brought something here. It's like an extortion racket. He infects them, they repent, he cures them. Then the world falls to Origin. Simple as that."

"What will we do?"

"Well, in regards to the Prior, we'll proceed as planned. In the meantime, I'll contact the SGC. They're probably going to send in medical teams. Let's just hope it's not too nasty a virus."

SFB Cheyenne Mountain

"Do I have to wear this?" Vala asked as she struggled with her heavy armour.

"Yes, Vala, you do," Sam replied, checking the joints on her own suit.

"But it's big, bulky and ugly! And it's putrid green!"

"It'll also absorb zat blasts, bullets, and staff hits, and increase your strength and speed. And all things considered, it's probably less restrictive than your previous outfits."

"You're completely missing the point! Can I at least not wear the helmet?"

"Only if you want to get your head blown off. So no." Satisfied with the condition of her armour, Colonel Samantha Carter began clipping a Tactical Load Carrier onto it. "Why are you complaining now? You've been training with it for the last two months."

"Yes, but this is the real deal! Actually going out into the galaxy, and I'm going to look like a combination of a six hundred pound gorilla and an AESF recruitment poster."

"Relax, it's not that bad." Finished with her TLC, Sam moved to help Vala with hers. "In fact, in terms of aesthetics, our old uniforms were a lot worse in my opinion."

"That's REALLY not saying much," Vala said cynically, hefting an already-loaded backpack onto her shoulders. With their armour in order and load-carrying gear attached, the two women headed toward the armoury.

It wasn't far away, and soon they were in a large room filled with racks of black-coloured rifles, shotguns, and submachine guns. Heavier weapons sat on different racks, along with pistols in cabinets. Ammunition was stored in large boxes. The guard saluted Carter and gave Vala an angry look as they entered.

Carter handed Vala a heavy assault rifle of medium length, with a smartlinked scope on a rail on top. "M-17 RAB. I love this gun."

"Why? It doesn't seem special to me at all?"

"Well, we used to use the SCAR-H, which was a lot longer. I'm not that tall, and it was kind of hard to hold, actually. The bullpup configuration of the RAB means it's a lot shorter, and much easier for the smaller people in the AESF to handle, and really everyone, especially in enclosed spaces."

"Um, okay," Vala acknowledged. She grabbed a dozen thirty-round magazines and stuffed them into pockets on her tactical vest. Then she opened one of the pistol cabinets and removed an M-57 pistol, which went into her hip holster. A zat was clipped to the other one.

"You done?" Vala nodded. "Well, Teal'c and Daniel are probably already at the gateroom. Let's go."

It was another short trip to the gateroom. Teal'c and Daniel stood at the base of the long, sloping ramp that led up to the stargate. It was raised about halfway- the ramp could go up or down to accommodate different vehicles.

"SG-55 reports that the package has been picked up," a voice boomed from overhead. It was General O'Neill over the intercom system. "Joop and Tenant should be there to meet you. Good luck."

The gate began to dial, a process much expedited by the new dialling interface. The seventh chevron locked, and the characteristic unstable vortex erupted from the centre of the ring. "Move out," Carter ordered, and they headed up the ramp and through the stargate.

July 5, 2005

P8X-412

"We must give in," Vachna groaned, clutching his stomach. His eyes were bloodshot, his face pale. "They are too powerful."

He was one of many. In the stone-walled room were dozens of bed, each with a very sick person in it. Medical personnel circulated among them, checking on their condition and maintaining IVs. What was once a throne room of a god became a hospital for the sick.

"No, they're not," Doctor Janet Fraiser told him, gently squeezing the man's hand. She smiled through the clear faceplate of her helmet. "We're hitting the disease with everything we've got. You're going to be fine, you just need to rest."

She stood up and headed over to Captain Roberts, who stood by the doorway. They stepped outside, out of earshot of the patients. There was good reason for that.

"How are they doing, doc?"

Janet sighed. "Not well, I'm afraid. I've ruled out a bacterial infection, and we're treating with antiviral drugs. So far, it hasn't done us any good. We lost our first patient an hour ago, and we're only going to lose more. Thirteen others are bedridden and we've got another thirty starting to show symptoms. Whatever it is, it's very contagious and very deadly. It would take a miracle to cure these people."

"A miracle only the Ori can provide," Roberts said cynically. "What about more exotic treatments? Alien medicine?"

"We can't bring any of the Asgard equipment here, and we certainly can't move any of the patients to Earth. We don't have anyone that can use goa'uld technology that isn't already busy. I have requested authorization to begin tretonin trials on some of the patients, though."

"That patient you were just treating, Vachna, he was-"

"Healed by a Prior when he was sick," Janet finished. "I know. That makes him a special case- he might even be case zero. Most likely he had some kind of infection common to these worlds, which the Prior cured. Except the Prior left something else in its stead."

"Can you confirm that?"

The doctor shook her head. "Blood work has been inconclusive so far."

She paused. "I did find something very interesting. The plague is quite similar to one myself and SG-1 was infected by a few years ago, one that we suspect wiped out the Ancients."

"The Ori were responsible?"

"It's a possibility, a strong one."

"Well, I'll let you get back to work," Roberts said, and headed off toward the sandy hills. Barely visible were two tanks, with camouflage netting being strung over the barrels. Sandbags blended into the terrain, and netting was thrown over the mounted weapons as well. The teams were busy, and she didn't disturb them. She let them dig their trenches, set up their weapons, and put down their sandbags.

Satisfied that the work was proceeding as expected, she headed back down to the village. Some of the tents had been taken down, and explosives were in the process of being laid. Roberts headed toward the third tent on the left and stepped inside. It was a typical habitation for primitive worlds, covered in rugs and with clay pots scattered everywhere.

She removed the lid of one of the clay pots and unslung her heavy backpack. From it she removed a grey cylinder, which she stuck in the pot and covered with rice.

"What are you doing?" She whirled around, facing Amanda, the reporter.

"Ummm..." Roberts began to reply awkwardly. "Why do you need to know?"

"I'm a reporter. I'm naturally inquisitive."

"I'm not supposed to tell you."

"Because it's a nuclear weapon?"

She let the question linger in the air for a moment, then said quietly. "You know that I know that if I open my mouth in the wrong spot, they'll shoot me."

"Alright, I'll admit it. It's a Mark Eleven miniature tactical warhead with a yield of ten kilotons. Happy?"

"Ten kilotons?" Amanda asked, shocked and horrified. "That'll wipe out the entire valley?"

"Without a doubt. It'll vaporize the village and reduce the pyramid to dust. The stargate should survive."

"When are we going to start moving the people out?"

"Never," Melissa said sadly, but resolutely. "They're infected with an unknown virus- we can't move them to any allied world, or any of our own. According to the SGC, there's literally nowhere we can take them. The villagers will be vaporized by the blast along with everything else."

"My god," Amanda whispered. "Why?"

"The Prior is to be killed at all costs," she replied. "Orders from the top. Look, I don't like it any more than you do- or for that matter, General O'Neill does."

"At all costs? But-"

"You're the reporter, you tell me."

"Perception," Amanda replied quietly. "Negotiations with the Ori broke down- by killing a Prior, it sends a message to the Ori. Classic battleship diplomacy. Either that or they want to prove to the greater galaxy that the Ori aren't invincible- but that's also perception. Strategically, eliminating one Prior does nothing."

"That's secondary, but you were right on with the first point. Look, I don't want to push the button. I won't push the button unless I absolutely have to. But," Melissa added, glancing behind her, "The way the plague is spreading, this might be the better way out. And this one action could save thousands of lives."

As the other woman left silently, she muttered, "Damn."

Pegasus Galaxy - Genii Prison World

It was a hopeless situation. For countless days, months, years, he had rotted in the cell. They kept him locked up tight, to protect themselves but also to protect him from himself. Occasionally they would bring in a person, kicking and screaming, presumably another prisoner. Whether he wanted to eat the person or not wasn't a question- primal urges took over and he feasted. It was just enough to stay alive, but sometimes he wondered if that was really what he should be doing.

Humanity. A word with many meanings. For better or for worse, he had developed something of it. Perhaps it was from being around humans too long. Perhaps it was from all the time he had to ponder his existence. Perhaps it was already there. Whatever the reason, he had begun to question, a very dangerous thing for a Wraith to do. But he could do no harm in the cell.

Was it really right to feed off of sentient beings, even to stay alive? Were they really just animals, or were they higher than that, maybe even equals to the Wraith?

He was a pragmatist, of course, but that only brought more questions. Was there another way? Did the Wraith really need to fight constantly among themselves? Could they coexist peacefully?

A sudden crackling noise brought the Wraith momentarily out of his constant philosophizing. It got louder and closer, until it seemed to be just outside the door to his prison. The door blew out, and the guards fell in splatters of red blood.

Several figures emerged through the door. Four of them were human, carrying what looked similar, but not identical to, Genii weapons. The last one appeared to be a Wraith, but even in his weakened state the prisoner could sense that something wasn't quite right with him.

He spoke with a strange, distorted voice. "I am Lord Ba'al. You will work for me, or you will die here."

With an eerie smirk, he added, "It's your choice."

Milky Way Galaxy - P3X-767

"Let's go over this one more time," Carter said to her team. She was lying prone between two bushes, blending in thanks to her active camo. She was on a slight hill, with a clearing below her. Teal'c was on the other side, also invisible. Daniel and Vala, on the other hand, were in the open, with a large metal case between them. They looked somewhat dirty and dishevelled, and Vala wasn't wearing her helmet. "Vala?"

"I was hired as a contractor by Earth," she rehearsed. "I didn't like it and realized I could do better if I left. But before I did, I took some nice shiny technology to sell on the black market."

"Daniel?"

"Uh, well, I got tired of looking at dusty old artifacts, and 'persuaded' by Vala to take some of the more significant ones and run with them."

"Good. Remember, don't shoot unless absolutely necessary. Do you remember the danger code?"

"My uncle Jack."

"All right, get in character. They're coming."

Two aliens stepped into the clearing. They had scaly, brownish skin with recognizable but oddly angular ears, noses and eyes. Two of what looked like some kind of snake or tentacle extended from the backs of their heads. Both were armed.

"You're late," Vala immediately told them.

"Late?" one of them asked. "We waited in the ship for an hour!"

"Jup," the other cautioned, then turned to Vala. "Who is this man? And why are you working with Earth?"

Vala sat on the crate and folded her legs. "Well, this is the great Daniel Jackson, archaeologist. He helped me quite a bit."

"Archaeologist? What could an archaeologist do for you?"

"Well," Daniel explained, surprised but relieved that they didn't know who he really was. "A lot of alien technology isn't recognized as such, or has cultural value in addition to it's value as technology. It passes through my department."

"And you convinced him to work with you?" Jup asked cynically.

"Believe me, it wasn't easy," Vala replied. "But I dusted off the old Mal Doran magic."

"You haven't answered my second question," Tenat grumbled. "Why are you working with Earth."

"Were working with Earth," Vala corrected. "After the whole Athena mess-"

"We still haven't got our-"

Vala picked up a chunk of weapons-grade naquadah in one hand and tossed it to the complaining Jup, who stumbled when he caught the heavy object. "Compensation. Anyway, they offered me a job. So I took it."

"What kind of-"

"Not a very nice one. Mostly really boring, feeding them information and all that. Don't worry, I didn't reveal anything important. So one day, I took all the fancy gadgets I could, and ran. Well, I mean there was a lot more planning to it than that, of course."

"Why should we trust you?" Tenat asked. "You may have payed us back for the last deal gone sour, but your reputation precedes you. How can we trust you after that?"

Vala hopped off the case and opened it, revealing all kinds of objects from a cell phone to an Ancient data tablet. "You can't. But aren't you willing to take the chance with a prize like this?"

"No," Tenat replied curtly, and drew his pistol. Beside him, Jup did the same. "We aren't."

"Stick to the plan," Carter urged as Vala and Daniel raised their hands into the air, dropping their weapons. "Don't blow our cover unless you absolutely have to. But if you do, don't hesitate."

"We're not giving you the refined naquadah," Tenat told them. "Now slide the case over. Slowly."

Vala pushed the case over, which slid on its wheels rather than rolling on them. With one hand, Jup took it, his other on his pistol. Beside him, Tenat tossed a small round ball into the clearing. "Pleasure doing business with you."

Covering her eyes, Vala collapsed to the ground. She was totally blinded and had a massive ringing in her ears. The pain was unbearable. As her vision began to clear, she noticed the two aliens running toward their cargo ship with the case.

"Don't go after them," Carter ordered. "And Vala, this is why you keep your helmet on at all times."

"Do you think they went for it?" Vala asked, slipping her helmet back on and feeling rather dumb.

Carter checked her tracker. "They're leaving. I can't be sure, but I think they bought it."

M4G-577

"Atlantis, this is Sheppard, I'm on approach to the gate." Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard slowly guided his puddle jumper toward the ring sitting stationary in orbit of the planet.

"Affirmative, we're opening the door for you," Brigadier General Weir replied from the other end.

"Got it. So, uh, how is Kingfish going?"

"Well, Lorne and Chadad's teams were picked up by the Daedalus a few hours ago. The mission was a partial success, with both hives destroyed."

"It is not my fault!" Dr. Rodney McKay protested from behind them. "My program was predicted to work given the available information! In fact, it would have worked if I had gone instead of that idiot Cadman. But somebody wanted to make a supply run!"

"It's your research outpost!" Sheppard pointed out.

"Yeah, and I'm sure the fact that it's on a tropical planet occupied by a tribe with, how do you put it- little or no social inhibitions has absolutely nothing to do with it."

"As a matter of fact, Rodney, the reason I took this mission was because it was the only mission involving flying that the good General would agree to give me."

"Well, it was that or the mainland run," Weir informed them. "I'm sorry that you couldn't be a part of Kingfish, but with Teyla busy on the mainland and still no replacement for Lieutenant Ford, I didn't exactly have a team to send."

"Well, that's all-" Something hit the jumper, an eerie bang echoing through the interior. The lights flickered, and Sheppard immediately brought up the sensor readout with just a thought. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" Weir asked, concerned.

"I think somebody just took a shot at me!"

"Sheppard, head for the gate!" Weir ordered. "Security teams on standby, we've got a jumper coming in hot."

"Contact, coming in fast!" Another impact jolted the small spacecraft. "The cloak isn't responding!"

"Is it Wraith?"

"I don't think so, but I can't be sure. Whatever they're shooting just shorted my systems. I can't get weapons online."

Another hit, and the cockpit went completely dark. "They just hit me again, and I think I just lost all power. No response from any of the controls. I'm dead in the water."

"We just lost jumper telemetry," Rodney said. "Comms have switched to your suit radio."

"Help is on the way," Weir assured him. "Just hold on. And if this is first contact, remember-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't trust them right away, but don't shoot them right away either."

There was a much harder jolt, and Sheppard could see through the window that he was in some kind of hangar bay. "I don't think your going to make it. They just picked me up."