Another Way Home

Sam had stayed awake all night, not willing to sleep in case the Death Gliders reappeared or some wayward Jaffa showed up. She had fed the children the remaining food that didn't need to be cooked, too afraid to start a fire in case it was discovered from the air or the ground. There had been enough berries, edible plants, and one small loaf of bread left over. Sam had nibbled at a few berries and plants but left the majority of the food for the children. She sure couldn't wait to get back and have a nice hot meal! The children had settled into a restless sleep, unnerved by this new threat to their safety.

The sun was just starting to come up. Sam looked at her watch; it read 0830. She was quite glad that the two planets were pretty close to the same daily cycle. It made things easier on her as they traveled, as she could keep track of how long they were gone and what might be happening at the SGC. By her accounts, this was the beginning of the fourth day away from her team. She was pretty positive that her team hadn't come through the gate to attempt a rescue. She knew how General Hammond operated, and was certain he wouldn't send anyone through with the large contingent of Jaffa and weapons waiting at the gate.

Sam decided to take another look in the clearing and see if there was any sign of hostiles in the vicinity. She hasn't heard any more sounds from the air or the ground last night, or this morning, and kept her fingers crossed that there wouldn't be any activity today. She really needed to get the children down the ridge and find the cave with the second Stargate. Sam made her way cautiously to the clearing. There were no signs of anything amiss. She slowly crept to the edge of the ridge and looked down. Nothing. Sam waited several minutes, carefully observing her surroundings and where she would need to next take the children. Heaving a large sigh of relief at the inactivity, Sam made her way back to the children to rouse them from their sleep. Though she had grown to deeply care for each one of the children, she was hoping against hope that this would be the final leg of their journey together.

The children woke up slowly to the sound of Sam's voice. "Come on sleepy heads, time to get up! We're going to make our way down the ridge this morning and find the cave with the Stargate."

Sam only had the final few MRE meals but didn't want to start a fire this morning for safety reasons. She had picked some more berries in the wee hours of the morning, so fed the fruit to the children. She promised them when they got to Earth they would have a hot meal. And ice cream for dessert!

Sam re-bandaged her arm before getting ready to set off. It had started to bleed again after the mishap on the bridge with Bryson, so she had to clean it up again and put some more antibiotic ointment on it. She would have to check Bryson's scraps as well. He would not relinquish his hold on her long sleeved shirt last night. Sam smiled at the memory. It had been fairly warm so she didn't need the extra protection and if it gave the little boy some extra comfort, so be it.

Josef and Kiera picked up the few supplies they had at the camp and packed them away as Sam took the rope out and got the children ready for the descent to the bottom of the ridge. They had asked about the Death Gliders as they were eating their berries. Sam tried to reassure them that the Gliders would not be back, even though she was not positive about this herself. They would move as quickly as possible down the ridge, just in case.

They made their way to the edge of the clearing and looked down once again. It was about as steep as the climb up had been a few days ago. Going down might be a bit trickier. Sam would take the lead once again, with Josef bringing up the rear. They made their way at a diagonal as they had during the ascent to the forest. The children held onto their knots on the rope and carefully followed the trail that Sam made in the loose rocks. No one slipped this time around and the trip only took about 30 minutes.

Once they were safely at the bottom, Sam gathered up the rope and looked around. The base of the four great ridges was a lot larger than it looked from the top. It stretched about 30 meters in each direction. Sam could make out several caves carved into the base of the various ridges. She looked around for one that had the triangular boulder in the front that Josef had mentioned.

"Over there!" Josef exclaimed excitedly, pointing to a large, reddish triangular boulder sitting in front of a dark entrance at the base of the ridge, directly to the left of their position. "That has to be it. It's just as my father described!"

In his excitement to see if the second Stargate was really there, Josef hurried over to the cave and was about to enter it. Sam followed closely behind him, reached out and grabbed his arm just as he was about to enter the cave.

"Wait Josef. We can't go in there blindly; I need to make sure it is safe inside. I need you and the rest of the children to wait right here, behind the large boulder." Sam indicated the boulder to the left of the cave's entrance. She needed to make sure the cave was secure and also didn't want to risk the children being seen from above as they waited for her. The boulder would provide ample cover for the seven of them.

Josef looked disappointed but didn't argue with her. He trusted Major Sam implicitly and would do whatever she asked of him. He gathered the children with him behind the boulder and waited as Sam went into the cave, Zat gun at the ready and flashlight shining brightly.

Sam hugged the sides of the cave as she made her way inside. Her light showed the shiny walls of the cave, lined with some sort of mineral. She would love to stop and take a closer look but didn't have that luxury right now. The entrance of the tunnel was about 3 meters across and went back another 10 meters. Sam stayed close to the edge as she reached the end of the tunnel's entrance. She shined her light into the open expanse of the cave and gasped as her light caught the reflection of the Chevron's glowing in the darkness. It was actually here! Sam hadn't fully believed that she would find the second Stargate; it seemed beyond the realms of possibility. Of course, most of the last five years had found her discovering things way out of the ordinary; why should this be any different?

Sam continued to shine her light around the cavernous room. She wanted to make sure there were no unexpected surprises waiting for her. Her light caught the reflection of the red globe on top of the DHD. She heaved another sigh of relief. This just might work! Now all she had to do was hope that she could establish a connection with Earth and she would have the children home in no time! Feeling confident that things were as they should be, Sam made her way back to the entrance to collect the children.

"You can come out now," Sam announced to the children once she reappeared from the cave's entrance. She smiled brightly at them as they emerged from behind the boulder. "It's in there! Josef, your father was right; there is another Stargate!"

The children gave shouts of joy as Josef smiled in relief at Sam. He had been a bit worried that maybe he hadn't remembered the details of his father's story correctly and had taken them in the wrong direction.

Sam saw his look of relief and came over to gave him a big hug. "I couldn't have done this without you, you know. You make a great team mate! Your parents and my CO are going to be awfully proud of you, once I tell them all you did to help!"

Josef smiled shyly at her as he drew back from the hug. Her words of praise meant the world to him and would fill him with pride for many days to come.

"Let's go in and see if I can get this Stargate to work, shall we?" Sam asked the children. She handed Josef the flashlight and let him lead the way. He deserved it after all!

The children stared in awe at the Stargate. They had seen the one near their village of course, but this one seemed even grander. It was lit only by the flashlight, which made its symbols glow in the dimness of the cave. There were also no steps leading up to the gate, it just rested in the soft dirt of the cave's floor. The smaller children went right up to the Stargate and stared up at in wondrous silence. Sam chuckled at their reaction to the gate.

"Well, let's see if this is going to work." Sam announced to the little group as she made her way to the DHD. "I need all of you to stand back her by me OK?" They made there way back to her.

Sam looked over the symbols on the round structure, locating the familiar ones of Earth. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the first symbol; nothing happened. No sound of that Chevron being engaged, no light showing up on the DHD, nothing. Crap! Sam thought to herself. Just when I thought we were on our way home!

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A/N: Thanks for the continued great reviews. There should be one or two more chapters coming in this story. Hopefully I'll get them up before I leave for a brief vacation. ENJOY!