Chulak

Daniel and Teal'c had been on Chulak a week. Daniel was antsy. He wanted to get out there and find Jacob Carter, but Teal'c insisted they find as much information about the disappearing gates as possible. They were meeting in secret with two members of the jaffa resistance.

"I've heard a few stories. Apophis's jaffa almost always appear on the planets shortly before the gates are taken. They do not bother terrorizing the villages or taking any hosts," Tal'ak informed them.

"They have been spotted attaching small devices to the stargate then they leave. The stargate simply vanishes afterward," his friend Ja'el added.

"How did you get this information?" Teal'c asked.

"In a few rare instances, the gates disappeared from planets where someone had a tel'tak. If not for those who fled by ship, we would know nothing. Teal'c, Apophis has acquired some dangerous weapons since you left his service. We can not imagine his purpose in taking these gates, but we believe he needs them for a very aggressive plan. He only removes gates from planets where no goa'uld has interest or a rival has control," Ja'el added.

"It sounds like these devices they attach must somehow allow him to beam the gates onto his ship. As big as a mother ship is, it's certainly not big enough to store all those gates. He must be putting them somewhere," Daniel said with a frown. "We really need Sam."

"I agree, Daniel Jackson. We must acquire a ship capable of making the trip."

"It's a long trip even by ship," Daniel sighed.

"Perhaps, our best chance would be finding a tel'tak closer to where Major Carter and O'Neill's current location."

"You mean gate closer and hope someone has a spacecraft we can borrow? That's kind of a long shot isn't it?"

"Not if we choose our planet carefully," Teal'c said with a nod.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Daniel asked.

Atenos

Sam smiled as she opened her eyes. Waking up next to Jack was much nicer now that they weren't trying to keep their guards up constantly. It was a little odd how quickly they'd managed to accept their new predicament. Accident or not, they were married and Sam loved being married to Jack.

Lena had noticed the change in their relationship and casually mentioned how nice it was to see them openly showing affection. Her friend had been quite disappointed when Sam informed her they were not expecting. Of course, Sam didn't mention that there hadn't exactly been any possibility of a baby before that night.

Knowing Lena's family had once been part of a rebellion, Sam was extra careful what she said to her friend. She hated that Lena was still pressed into service because of her grandparents' attempt to make life better in the city. It was so wrong. Jack suggested they offer to take Byron, Lena, and Kira with them when they left for Cantor, but they couldn't make the offer until spring.

For now, it was best to just try and stay off Beyer's radar. Jack continued to plumb the houses, and Sam continued helping with baby Kira. Lena only had to work for Beyer a few hours a day since she was recovering from childbirth, so Sam happily cared for the baby while she was gone. It worried Sam that Beyer wouldn't even give Lena proper time to heal, but Lena constantly assured Sam she was being careful. Still, Lena's color worried Sam. She knew the signs of anemia well from her own experience, and she hated seeing her friend struggle.

"You're thinking too loud," Jack said without opening his eyes.

"Just worried about Lena," Sam said with a sigh.

"I know you want to help her. I wish we could do more," Jack said as he placed a kiss on her cheek. "Hopefully, we can all get a fresh start in Cantor." Sam frowned. She kind of wished he'd finished his sentence differently and mentioned home, but they both knew the likelihood of going home before spring was small.

"I guess we need to start our day," Sam said softly. "You're turn to make the coffee."

Jack blanched, "I really miss real coffee. This stuff is terrible."

Sam giggled. "Still your turn, Jack."

Tok'ra Base

"We must stop Apophis. If he completes the weapon, he will be able to easily subdue the other system lords," Malek said with a frown.

"It's worse than that, Malek. If Apophis manages to synchronize the stargates, he will have a super weapon capable of unleashing enough power across the galaxy to destroy entire star systems. Many could die. I suggest we make contact with SG1," Anise replied.

"I'll go," Jacob said. "We need all the help we can get and this affects Earth, too."

"It is the best logical course of action," Martouf agreed. "I will accompany you."

Malek sighed. "The stakes are high. Go and see if they will assist. Perhaps they know something we don't that could help us."

"We'll go now," Jacob said with a nod.

SGC

"Incoming wormhole. It's the Tok'ra, sir," Walter said.

"About time" Hammond replied. "Open the iris."

"George," Jacob said with a nod, "It's been awhile."

"Too long, Jacob, too long. If you gentleman would follow me, I think we need to talk."

"If SG1 are here, you might want to call them for this one, George. It's big."

Hammond frowned. He didn't want to have this discussion in the gate room. "They aren't here, Jacob. I'll explain in the briefing room."

Jacob nodded and they three men walked to the briefing room. Once they were seated, Jacob asked about his daughter again. "Where's Sam, George?"

"Over seven months ago, SG1 was on what should have been a simple visit to a planet. There were no known inhabitants near the stargate, and I honestly chose the mission for them because I expected it to be a bit of a cake walk. They'd had a rough few months, and they needed a little break. Things didn't go as planned. While they were exploring, Apophis's jaffa arrived. There was a firefight trying to take back the gate. Teal'c was shot. Jack ordered Daniel to bring him home. We tried to send reinforcements, but we weren't able to get a lock on the gate. We haven't heard from them since, Jacob."

"What?" Jacob asked. "Are you telling me my daughter is MIA?"

"I'm sorry, Jacob. We've tried to reach you, but your base had moved. Twenty-two other gates have been similarly compromised. We have two other teams stranded, and we can't reach the Alpha site. Things have gotten bad. If we had Sam, maybe we could have made progress, but-"

"She's not here. George, Martouf and I came to discuss this problem with you. By our calculations, at least twenty-five gates have been taken off of their planets by Apophis. He's building a very dangerous weapon. We came because we wanted SG1's help."

Hammond nodded. "We've had to suspend regular gate activity for the time being. Teal'c and Daniel left for Chulak last week. I don't know where they are now, but they were trying to find a tel'tak. Jack and Sam couldn't have gotten stranded further from home if they tried. Their team is desperate to get to them."

Jacob sighed. "Seven months and lost in a firefight. They could be gone. I need the coordinates of that planet, George. I have to see whether my little girl is alive or not. I have to try."

"I was hoping you'd say that," George replied. "I'd appreciate it if you'd stop by Chulak on your way. If Dr. Jackson and Teal'c are still there, they'll want to help."