Author's Reply to Reviews:

LadyMo - Thank you ma'am.

Entropic Cascade - No no no. You just have to wait til...well now, today. The next chapter is the last one. So, as Daniel once said, "Don't eyeball me." So glad you liked Rodney's freak out. I really enjoyed writing it. And I hear the voices too. So if it's a bad thing...which it probably is, I'm right there with you. And Jack/Sam - do you see how many characters I'm dealing with? I mean seriously, I can't focus on Jack and Sam every single chapter. There's no way. Especially with them all split up.

Harm Marie - Why, thank you very much.

AT Fan - Ronan didn't get knocked out because I remembered the episode with Todd I think it was, yeah, Todd and all Todd's Wraith buddies stunned everybody and they said they had to stun Ronan like four times or something outrageous like that so I figured he could take more. And if you notice on the show, zats have varied degrees of efficiency depending on what the writers need. Sometimes one zat will knock somebody out for hours, sometimes they just have accute pain. So I went with acute pain for Ronan and Daniel. Cuz I mean, Daniel's been zatted how many times over the years? I figured he could handle it without getting knocked out too. lol.

PatriciaS - It's always drama drama drama with that bunch, I agree. Unfortunately my story is coming to a close and my brain is officially fried as of the time being. It's kind of a working vacation I'm going on so I don't know how relaxed I'll be when I come back but maybe I'll think of a new story to start soon enough. Or maybe I'll get cracking on the mind numbingly LONG story that I tell everyone I'll never finish. lol.

HAZMOT - Hey, don't forget about Teal'c. He's not with them either! lol

gater62 - Hurrying!

pain in the mikta - I happen to think I'm a very regular poster. lol

VinterNatt - To the very happy girl, you're welcome! I've really liked the pacing that I've gotten to do on the chapters where everyone is in different places. I like cutting back and forth between what's going on with each group cuz you're right, it's like an episode and it helps keep the pace quick and more intense. At least in my opinion.

not a zatarc - I'm really excited to see their episodes together this season of Atlantis.

Nessie1701 - Thank you.

sg1star - Yes, you just have to love Rodney and his obnoxiousness (is that a word? lol).

atlantisbabe34 - :)

Liery - Thanks!


"Oh. My. God."

"Wow!," Rodney exclaimed. "I wish I had a lab like this. I am so unappreciated."

The lab was massive. Tables upon tables with alien technology scattered in different stages of disarray. Rodney was in heaven. Now if only he could figure out how to take as much of it as possible with them.

Teyla saw the thoughts passing through Rodney's mind. "Rodney, we have very little time before the ship explodes. We must hurry and find the ZPM's and meet the others. There is no time for the rest of these things."

His widened eyes and quick nodding told her that her goal was accomplished. Rodney could stay on task very well with the threat of impending doom.


Ronon and John turned down the second set of hallways. Clank. Clank. Clank. Jaffa really did have the stupidest armor. How they ever conquered the Milky Way Galaxy was beyond John's understanding.

The teammates quickly diverted down a hallway to their left to avoid meeting up with the Jaffa patrol headed their way. The longer they could withhold their escape being known, the better. Ronon led down the new pathway while John guarded his six. They had to hurry and find another hall to go down or the Jaffa would see them in a matter of seconds. Ronon stopped, which was completely not part of the plan and John, who had been walking backwards, ran into his back. The sound of Ronon's blaster meant more Jaffa in front of them. Which was just great because now the Jaffa on their six were coming to see what all the hoopla was about.

Ronon grabbed the back of John's vest, pulling him into a new hallway to where the Jaffa wouldn't have a clear shot at them.

"How many on your side?," John asked as he shot one of his own down.

Ronon shot one square in the chest, felling him. "Five."

"I got about eight. Seven," he amended, taking another down.

Three brave or stupid Jaffa tried to barrel right up to their position and John had to quickly round out a slew of shots. Ronon leapt up from his position, aiming in both directions. When the smoke cleared, so to speak, all the Jaffa were down.

John stood up next to his friend. "Show off."

Ronon smirked.


"Found one!", Rodney called from his side of the lab.

"Just one?" Daniel's disembodied voiced asked from another section of the lab.

"No. Both. I just felt like saying one just because."

Daniel's head popped up from under a lab table for the sole purpose of glaring at McKay.

Teyla, in a third area of the lab, glanced upon a table with bindings for a humans arms and legs. Reminded of her experience with Michael, Teyla shuddered and quickly looked back at the table. In a glass cabinet, she could just make out what could be the other ZPM. Teyla broke open the glass on finding the cabinet was locked, and pulled out the crystal object.

"I have found the other ZPM," she called to the others.

Daniel hit his head on the bottom of the desk he was under. Rising from the floor rubbing the back of his head, he asked, "How much time do we have left?"

Rodney looked at his watch. "Seventeen minutes."


John and Ronon ran down another hallway.

"Okay. I'm officially lost," the latter admitted.

"Yeah." John glared at the gold inlaid walls. "All these damn hallways look alike. Let's try this way," he suggested, pointing down a hallway to their right with the tip of his P90.

Three more wrong turns and they finally agreed that they were headed the right direction. A sound of a staff weapon opening sounded behind them. Ronon was the first to react, whipping around so fast his dreadlocks twirled in the air. Even still, the staff fired before he could shoot his weapon. The hit shot him directly in the chest.

John shot down the Jaffa before the guard could shoot off another staff blast. Ronon staggered forward, his chest burning in pain. Three more Jaffa rounded the corner and John shoved Ronon against the wall and out of the way as he quickly finished off the others. Ronon's weapon fired again and John spun on his heels, seeing three more Jaffa behind him, one already on the ground from Ronon's hit. John took out the other two.

"Damn. These guys are like rats pouring out of a sewer," John muttered as he helped Ronon to his feet.

The big man staggered again, shaking his head to try and focus. He coughed, blood spraying into the air and coloring his lips.

"Oh, that's not good," John couldn't stop himself from saying out loud. "Come on, one more corner and then we're there."

Ronon shook John off of him. "I'm fine."

They rounded the corner together, taking out the Jaffa guarding the cells.

Five bodies fallen to the floor, Vala stood and wrapped her arms around the bars of her cell. "It's about time you boys showed up."

John opened the cell door.

Ronon looked over the three in the cell. Mitchell, Teal'c, and Vala. "Where's Colonel Carter?"

Teal'c stepped out of the prison, picking up a fallen staff. "Ba'al has her."

John handed weapons to Mitchell and Vala. "We need to find her fast. Rodney rigged a bomb to go off in," he looked at his watch, "about fifteen minutes."

Ronon coughed again violently, spewing more blood on his clothes. Teal'c eyed him in concern. "You must get to a sarcophagus."

"A what?", he rasped out.

John reloaded his weapon. "Talk on the way. Where would Ba'al have the Colonel?"

"This way," Teal'c directed, taking the lead.


Sam opened her eyes blearily against the light. Someone loomed over her but their face was obscured by darkness. Her mind tried to figure out where she was and then she remembered. Right as she was about to strike at her assailant, he spoke and he sounded remarkably like Daniel.

"Sam!", he shouted loudly, making her wonder how many times he'd said her name already.

Daniel physically heaved her out of the sarcophagus with his hands under her arms. Once standing, if you could call Daniel holding her up standing, Sam saw that all of the SG1/SGA1 team was together.

"You must enter the sarcophagus," Teal'c directed Ronon, moving the taller man forward.

Ronon planted his feet firmly where he stood. "I'm not getting in that thing."

His refusal was futile as he promptly lost control of his legs and passed out. Teal'c quickly grabbed for him before Ronon could hit the floor. With Mitchell's assistance, they lifted him into the sarcophagus and closed it.

John fidgeted restlessly on his feet. "How long will this take?"

"That is dependant on the severity of his internal injury," Teal'c replied, moving to guard the door with Cameron.

"How much time do we have left?" Daniel asked, still holding Sam up with his arm around her shoulders.

"Seven minutes," John and Rodney answered simultaneously.

Starting to come around, Sam asked, "Seven minutes til what?"

"The ship explodes."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Who's idea was that?"

Daniel released her, allowing her to stand on her own two feet and allowing him distance if he needed to escape a furious Carter.

"Mine. McKay implemented it though."

Sam looked at Rodney whose jaw dropped at the tattle. "And I gave us thirty minutes to get off the ship. Conan here," he gestured furiously at the sarcophagus, "wasn't supposed to get shot."

Everyone could see through the jibe that Rodney had been worried about his Satedan friend.

Alarms sounded throughout the ship.

"Shit," John swore.

"Looks like the rest of the calvery's realized we're not where we're supposed to be," Mitchell added needlessly.

The sarcophagus opened, a groggy eyed Ronon sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

John grabbed under Ronon's arm with one hand, prompting the man to quickly get out of the sarcophagus.

"C'mon. Gotta go. Time?," he called loudly to the others.

Rodney looked at his watch. "Uh, four minutes."

"Peachy," Sam muttered, taking the 9mm handed to her.

Handing Ronon back his blaster, John asked Daniel, "Didn't you say the beaming tech was on the other side of the ship?"

"Indeed," Teal'c answered for him, stepping out into the hall.

"So ...running would be good then."

Running while shooting, John clarified mentally as Jaffa rounded the corner. With nine people armed and ready, the Jaffa didn't stand a chance. The main thing they had to worry about was getting in each others way.

They got all the way to the last corridor before the room of their destination. Cam rounded the corner and whipped back so fast, he ran straight into Ronon's chest. A huge staff blast hit the far wall of the corridor Mitchell had just been in.

The following domino effect of people running into each other almost pushed Mitchell back in the open hallway. If it hadn't been for Ronon grabbing his shirt, he would have.

"Mounted staff gun, two side guards," Cam said in explanation to the askance looks from the team.

John and Ronon shared something silent between them and then they both nodded. John took a sliding dive out into the hallway while Ronon fired the Jaffa at the gun. John took out the two guards on either side and stood up, wincing as he grabbed his shoulder.

"Ya know, you make that look easy," he complained to Ronon as they made their way to the room.

"45 seconds," Rodney shouted as he entered the door, first of the group.

Cam and John took up weapons fire, covering the others as more Jaffa tried to take them out.

"We're in! Move it," someone shouted.

John and Mitchell covered McKay as he entered the code to activate the beam, all three diving in before it went off.

The extreme heat of the planet at first made John think that somehow they'd cut it too close and he was about to be incinerated. When that didn't happen, John opened his eyes and just caught the beginning of the explosion in space.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Vala said, looking skyward.

"Of course it worked," McKay replied a little indignantly. "Oh, and Dr. Jackson?"

"Yes?"

"Hazelnut."

Daniel raised his eyebrows in confusion and then remembered. Ah. Coffee. He smirked and nodded.

Sam was weary. The adrenaline from the escape drained out of her body to be replaced with bone tiredness and an emotional pit of pain. She stared at the crater where her husband had given up his life a little too long and then said quietly, "Let's go home."