Within the Serpent's Grasp

With each mission they learned something new. The hard lesson Jack O'Neill was learning was they didn't have a chance in hell of fighting a galactic war with what they were currently equipped with. He probably had a better chance of winning the lottery. He had great faith in his team and in his country's military but shutting down this amazing portal to other worlds was fool hardy.

Jack wasn't convinced of Daniel's foray into another reality but it didn't matter. What if Daniel was right? Going to the address he found would be the only way to save the Earth and that was Jack's first loyalty. Before the first mission through the Stargate and for his entire military career Jack O'Neill's first loyalty was to the United States but his vision had expanded. When faced with an entire galaxy verses his own tiny planet, he would protect Earth with all that he was.

As Jack wandered the now almost deserted hallways of the SGC he bumped into Carter.

"Have you any idea where you are going Sir, or any of us? I suppose I'll be stationed back in DC" She looked rather dismayed.

"I need to go talk to Hammond. Maybe we can still keep this thing going."

"Without any funds, Sir?"

Jack just shrugged.

"Let me know what you find out."

"Sure thing Carter."

Somewhere in the back of his mind there were so many other thing he wanted to say to that lovely woman but he was still her commanding officer, at least for another day or two and of course there was the possibly they were all facing total annihilation. Maybe next week if they were still alive.

The next person he ran into was Walter with mountains of papers bound for the shredder.

Jack found Hammond in his office who continued to pack a few belongings and shred top secret papers. He knew it was a losing battle but he encouraged the general to fight for them. General Hammond believed in the mission of the SGC and he fought for his men. Hammond had already tried everything he think of, called everyone he knew. He fought the good fight and accepted defeat. Jack – not so much.

Jack only recourse seemed to be to sit around waiting for new orders to come in - a reassignment to god knows where. This was the wildest ride he had ever been on. What did he have to go back to – sitting around recounting past sins until he was ready once more to blow his brains out figuratively or literally.

Damn Kinsey, Jack thought. He had a few things pinging around in his mind. First off he didn't want to lose his fucking job. It was fun, exciting, occasionally boring and many times a total adrenaline rush. It kept him from dwelling on things better left forgotten. He'd miss the gang here and if he were honest with himself he sure miss Carter. With his luck she'd be posted to DC and he'd wind up in Antarctica.

They needed to keep going out there, to look for allies, weapons to defend themselves and find things they yet could not imagine. Wasn't that what exploration was all about? And the one thing he kept wanting to ignore but had kept him up at night was – What if Daniel was right.

SG-1 met together overlooking the Stargate that had been the center of their lives this past year. All of them wondering what the future had in store for them individually as well as the Earth herself. And what were they prepared to do to defend her.

Strangely enough everyone on the team made the decision to ignore direct orders, gate to a dark unknown location and attempt to save Earth. Foolhardy perhaps, willing to risk court martial if they succeeded or certain death if they failed but courageous and brave nonetheless. They felt compelled beyond good sense to fight for their home.

Little did they know Ferretti and the troops would have been on their heels to help if they only could. The link was broken for them too at this remote site, they had no means of gating back home. They were stuck on an enemy battleship, bent of Earth's destruction, filled with incredibly destructive energy weapons and battalions of Jaffa, speeding toward that little blue dot, faster than the speed of light. All they had was their wits, three allies among the ranks of the Jaffa, their projectile weapons and C4. Worse comes to worse they'll blow this mother to hell.