Wow! So sorry guys! All last week I was a camp counselor for church day camp and I had no time, and right after that until earlier today I was at a friend's house. I haven't had any time to type for like, almost two weeks until today. But I got this written, finally, so here it is. The next three weeks are absolutely empty though. So I'm happy. Please review and let me know what ya think so i know you're still here, lol. Excuse me for being paranoid chuckle Anyway, I hope you're all have a great summer!

Chapter 25

Cassie was just finishing jotting down her thoughts on a short passage in Isaiah when there was a knock on her bedroom door—which was what had once been the spare room in Sam's house.

"Come in," she called, looking up from her desk.

Sam looked in. "Hey." Cassie beckoned her inside, and she came, but she didn't sit down.

"What's up, Sam?" she asked curiously.

Her friend's arms were crossed. "Well…I need to talk to you about something."

Cassie frowned. "Okay…is something wrong?"

Sam shook her head. "Oh, no, nothing's wrong—except for the fact that Daniel's going to be out of commission for a few months with that broken leg. That leaves SG-1 with only two able-bodied members for a while. Vala and I can't go out by ourselves."

"And you need more people."

"At least one more, yeah. Basically."

Ah ok. So that was where this was going.

"And you want to know if I'm interested."

Sam nodded and sat down finally, on the edge of the bed. "Pretty much. I've already talked to Vala and Daniel and even Jack, and they all think it's a good idea. I think you'd make a great addition to the team. For a while. I mean, once Daniel's back on his feet you'd be welcome to stay, but you wouldn't have to. And of course, you don't have to do it at all if you don't want to."

Cassie looked at her for a moment. She thought about the children she took care of every weekday. Especially in the current world, she had to be extremely careful. She couldn't witness directly to them at the daycare center, but she could invite them and their parents to church. She had seen several of the children, and some of their parents too, accept Christ that way.

She loved her job. She loved the kids, and loved the opportunities to spread the news of Jesus how she could. She had always fantasized about being part of SG-1, since they had rescued her as a girl. But would she give up what she was doing now for that?

"Can I have some time to think about it?" she asked finally.

Sam nodded. "Of course. SG-1 will be on stand-down for another week." It had already been two weeks since…

Tomorrow Jack, Sara, and Gavin were leaving for New Babylon.

"So I have until then to deicide?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Cassie chewed on her lip. "Okay…thanks for asking. I'll let you know."

Sam smiled and stood. "Great. I'll let you continue what you were doing now." She left, and Cassie sat back in her chair and sighed.

What she needed to do now was pray. She knew her job was to witness for Christ. But it would all depend on whether he wanted her to do it on Earth…or out there.

"Well, we'll write a lot…and call and stuff…" Jack assured his friends awkwardly. They were all gathered at the airport to see him and his family off. It had been bad enough being in Washington, but now with the world hurdling into the remainder of the judgments of the Tribulation, and going so far…there was no guarantee that any of them would see each other again before the Glorious Appearing.

That was what made this harder.

"You'd better," Daniel said as he surrendered Gavin. Sara took the baby from him as a final round of hugs started.

"Take care of yourselves," Carter ordered. She was standing beside Simon; he was here too. Jack wondered what was going on there, if anything.

"We'll do our best," Sara agreed.

"Yeah…at least Carpathia doesn't know we're Christian. The same can't be said for Rayford. We all need to keep the Trib Force in our prayers," Jack added.

"Along with you guys, of course we will," Cassie smiled weakly. "We'll miss you."

Jack sighed and pulled her too him. "Just hang in there, Cas. I know all of this hard." The war, the death following in its wake…Teal'c, their leaving….She hugged back hard. That was all right with him. Since they'd found her twelve years ago, she'd been almost the daughter he'd never had. Hey, he'd even given her her first dog. She was about the same age Charlie would be if…

But there was no reason to think about that. He would see Charlie at the Glorious Appearing. Or in heaven, if he ended up there before then.

"As soon as we can check on them we'll let you know how the Tok'ra are doing," Carter said.

Jack nodded as he let go of Cassie and then glanced from Carter to Daniel and his bum leg. "And you keep me posted on the progress you're making with that," he said, motioning to the cast.

Daniel smirked and shifted on his crutches. "Yeah."

"I wish you the best—or the best that can be in this day's world," Simon smiled.

"Thank you; we'll keep in touch," Sara assured him.

That was when Gavin started crying—and the final call for their flight came over the speakers. Sara patted the baby on the back until he stopped sniffling, then put him back in his carrier and Jack picked it up.

"Well, that's us," he said.

"Really, Jack, Sara, be careful," Daniel reiterated in all seriousness.

"Count on it."

Jack dropped his bag from the flight on the bedroom floor. Sara did the same and came to stand next to him, holding Gavin on her hip as she surveyed the pre-furnished condominium that had been supplied for them by the Global Community. It was in a three-story building in the outskirts of the city of New Babylon, less than a mile from the offices of the Department of Homeworld Security. Yet even from this far out, they could easily see the center of the new capital of the world, with its monstrous GC building at its center—Carpathia's headquarters. It was visible through the bank of windows in the living room.

The condominium was twice the size of their apartment in Washington D.C., and the furniture was nicer as well. The only things that marred the sight were the stacks of boxes in almost every room. Thankfully, their apartment had not been too close to the center of the U.S. capital either, and had been spared too much damage. While they were still in Colorado, their things had been packed and moved for them.

"Well…it's certainly nicer than our apartment in Washington," Sara commented, trying to lift the mood that had dropped over her husband and stayed there since the plane had taken off from Colorado.

Jack shrugged. "Yeah, sure. But it's nowhere near our friends—and way too near to him."

Sara edged over to where he now stood near the living room windows and wrapped her free arm around him. "I know how you feel, Jack. But we pulled through in Washington, and we'll be all right here. We don't even know how long we'll be here. We just have to—"

"Trust in the Lord; I know," he interrupted, returning her half hug and holding it. "But that's not always the easiest thing to do."

"I know," she answered as he looked at her. She smiled slyly. "But that's why you have me to keep you in line."

"Good point." He kissed her, but after only a moment, Gavin made a sound that seemed like an 'ooo'".

Jack pulled back and chuckled at him. "You want one too?" he didn't wait for an answer before taking the baby from Sara's arms and attacking him with cheek kisses. Sara laughed and joined in.

In the end, Cassie agreed to join SG-1 at least until Daniel was able-bodied again. She would make no further commitment, but informed Sam that she felt it was what God wanted her to do for now. Sam was happy about that. She would have survived if she couldn't go off-world until Daniel was healed, but she felt much better knowing that she, Vala, Cassie would be getting out there.

Sam was already restless by the time their first scheduled mission came up about a week after the O'Neills had left. After everything that had happened….she would be all right, but she wanted nothing more than to get back out on the field and forget about a lot of it, anyway.

It was only a simple recon, and they didn't dare go anywhere else the first time out after the war, but it helped. Cassie handled well, and managed to enjoy herself being off world for the first time since she'd come to Earth when she was twelve.

On Earth, things got worse. Carpathia gave the illusion that it was better, that rebuilding of the places damaged after the war was moving forward well…but it wasn't. The potentate told everyone that as the world moved toward a more unified society, he was being tolerant of all views and religions, etc, etc…but he wasn't. Popular international news included the fact that Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah's family—his wife and two teenage children—had been murdered in the street. Supposedly no-one knew exactly who had done it, but the Trib Forces knew.

According to news from the Tribulation Force in the east, Buck had smuggled the Rabbi—who was now a good friend of his—out of Israel and brought him to the states. Apparently they had him holed up somewhere safe near them, and the Rabbi was now the official new spiritual leader of their group. But Buck and Tsion had barely made it out of Israel alive. GC peacekeeping forces had been chasing them all the way.

That wasn't all, either. More believers around the globe were being murdered for their faith. The fifth seal judgment was beginning. The martyrs. And it would continue until the end.

They waited until their third time out to check on the Tok'ra. Sam, as well as Daniel, Cassie, and Jack, had memorized the new address before she'd destroyed the piece of paper it had been given to her on. Sam punched in the symbols on the DHD of a randomly chosen planet. They'd already been through three other 'gates from the planet their mission was on. They had to take precautions—now even more than ever. They couldn't let anyone they couldn't trust know they were believers, or that they were in regular contact with the Christian Tok'ra.

The address they had took them to a desert-like world similar to the one where SG-1 had first encountered the Tok'ra. Except here the rings were easier to find, thank goodness. They were hidden in a stand of high desert grass next to the 'gate, but they weren't buried in the sand—at least not completely. They couldn't see far past the 'gate though. A rise of sand obscured the view.

The three women ringed down, and immediately several Tok'ra guarding the platform in the new underground shelter turned their zats on them. They lowered them when they saw who was there. One of them broke off and came back a moment later with Anise/Freya.

"Colonel Carter," Freya smiled. "It is good to see you. Are you well?"

Sam sighed and nodded minutely. "We're okay. Daniel's leg will take a little while to heal, and…other things…but we'll be all right."

The Tok'ra nodded in understanding. "Again, I am sorry. And who is this?" she asked, noticing Cassie.

"This is Cassandra Fraiser. Or Cassie. She's a believer, a friend of ours. She's helping us out until Daniel is back on his feet."

Freya nodded to the young woman, and when her head came back up Anise spoke. "Then it is a pleasure to meet you, sister."

"It's good to meet you too," Cassie smiled back.

"Yes yes, can we dispense with the niceties and get on with it? They're fine; let's go," Vala said impatiently.

Sam glared at her briefly. "Would you be patient? We haven't even asked if they're all right yet."

Freya returned, smiling slightly in amusement. "No, but she is correct. We are doing well. Though we do have many more to house than we originally planned."

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked curiously.

"Follow me." With that, Freya led them through the Tok'ra tunnels to the other side of the compound, and another set of rings. She herded them all on, and they were transported to the surface again.

Here, as well, sand rises blocked the far view, but here they were surrounded on all sides. It was a valley. That, however, was not what was so remarkable about the sight before them.

What made it more interesting was the sprawling tent city that sat in the valley.

Sam felt her mouth drop open.

"What the—" Vala exclaimed from behind her.

Cassie stared, wide-eyed. Sam was feeling an acute sense of déjà vu; she was certain she knew where she'd seen the style of many of these tent, but it didn't make much sense for them to be here. Several homespun-robe and simple white shift-wearing individuals went about their way. "How…?"

"They arrived here only hours after we did," was the only explanation Freya gave.

It was then that another brown robed, dreadlocked figure ducked out of a tent and caught sight of them. Immediately the young man grinned and waved, before loping toward them.

"Samantha Carter, it is good to see you again," he said smilingly when he reached them. "And you as well, Cassandra."

"Skaara. Wow. This is…I mean, it's nice to see you too, but this is definitely a surprise…" Sam stammered in confusion.

The young Abydonian sighed. "Yes, I am sorry for that, but I am also afraid that it is a complicated story. The simplest way to explain why we are here—"

"Who is 'we', exactly?"

"And who is he?" Vala butted in.

"Daniel's brother-in-law," Sam answered over her shoulder.

"His what? Oh…" Vala looked at Skaara. "Was Sha're your sister?"

Vala knew about Sha're? Nevermind. It was Daniel's business to tell her if he wanted to. Sam just hadn't known he had.

Skaara nodded. "Yes. She was my sister. Where is Danyer?"

"Healing," Sam winced. She explained briefly, making sure she mentioned more than once that he would be fine, though of course that didn't keep Skaara from being concerned. After that, he wanted to know who the other woman with them was.

"Sorry, uhm, this is Vala MalDoran. She was the newest member of SG-1 before Cassie started helping us out, though the story of how that came about is pretty long and…"

"Do not worry, Samantha, I know. It is difficult to remember all of the things I learned from watching my friends while I was still ascended, as I am limited again to a human mind, but I do remember enough. I knew I had seen you before, Miss MalDoran, but I could not place you at first."

Vala shrugged. "It's all right. Nice to meet you too."

Skaara smiled politely and nodded, while Sam tried to get back to the original subject. "Yes, Skaara, about the fact that you're apparently no longer ascended…and who that 'we' is?"

"Oh! Yes, excuse me again. We are all still trying to reorganize our thoughts and memories in human brains again. It can be confusing. We, Samantha, is the believing population of the ascended plane as of several of your Earth 'weeks' ago, I believe. There was war there just as there was war here in the physical plane. You knew that, but what you did not know is that it ended badly for us."

"You lost?" Vala questioned.

Skaara shrugged. "In a manner of speaking, yes. We were all forced out of the ascended plane, but we are alive. We can still do as we may here. We have victory in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Vala just blinked at him. "Right."

"So why did you end up here?" was Cassie's next question. She beat Sam to it.

"We knew conditions on Earth with your government was such that it would be difficult for us to get off of your planet if we had taken O'Neill's offer of sanctuary. He did not know there were so many of us, either. Most of my people, several previous Ancients--as your people call them--as well as many ascended from various other worlds are in our number. The Tok'ra offered us safe haven. And we knew from observing SG-1's recent association with them that they could be trusted."

Anise cut in then. "As Freya pointed out, this does leave us with many more to house than originally planned. They will remain here, relatively safe, until enough extra tunnels are grown for them to live in. It will take only a few more days."

Skaara nodded. "And again we thank you."

Anise nodded respectfully, then Freya took over. "It is a pleasure to aid fellow brothers and sisters."

Skaara might have been about to say something else, but another new voice called out from the direction of the camp. Sam looked up to see a small robed man making his way toward them.

"Kasuf!" Sam called, waving.

Skaara's father drew up beside him and smiled. "Welcome, Samantha Carter, Freya of the Tok'ra." He glanced around. "Where is my son?"

That took a second for Sam to figure out. Obviously he didn't mean Skaara, because he was standing right there…oh. Right. Get with the program, Sam.

"Daniel was injured, so he's not with us today, but he'll be all right." When Kasuf seemed worried she ran through the quick, reassuring explanation she'd given Skaara again. When she was finished he nodded.

"Very well then. Pass on our regards and tell him to heal soon. It has been long since we have seen him."

"I will," Sam promised.

"So they're all okay?" he asked again.

"They're fine, Daniel," Sam sighed, leaning against his desk. "They're safe where they are now, and they'll all be even safe once the Tok'ra can get them all down in the tunnels."

Daniel sighed. "Sorry…it's just that, if they're not ascended anymore…well, I haven't had to worry about them for a while. Now that's changed; I can't be absolutely sure anymore."

Sam smiled knowingly. "A lot of things have changed since the rapture, Daniel. There are a lot of things that aren't as 'safe' anymore."

"And that's just going to get worse, and worse….yeah." But he was glad anyway that his Abydonian family was all right, as well as the rest of the ascended believers.

Sam nodded and shrugged, then gave him a brief pat on the back and picked up her jacket. "They'll be all right. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get going."

He raised an eyebrow. "Going where?"

She shrugged. "Just going. I've got plans."

"Plans?"

Sam crossed her arms. "Daniel, stop it."

"Okay, sorry," he smirked. She rolled her eye back at him good-naturedly and went, leaving Daniel sitting at his desk with a translation. He couldn't drive, but Vala or Cassie would run him home later.

Trying to take a break to rest his eyes, he flipped on the radio, but that proved to be the worst thing he could have done. More and more reports of murders and other violence toward Christian believers pour in from around the globe, and the SGC knew from off world reports that it wasn't just on Earth.

Maybe third and fourth horsemen were beginning to slow in their movement, but the fifth judgment was well on its way.

And the sixth was coming.