Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts~
-Arnold Bennett
Chapter Twenty-Six
A Big Change
After the time traveling incident things really began to change. Jack retired and was now working somewhere in Washington. Sam had gone to work at Area 51, Daniel was going to Atlantis, Teal'c had gone to Dakara to become apart of the free Jaffa high counsel, and Katelyn was offered a job as the head of the medical staff at the SGC. She took it because she wanted to stay at the SGC. The SGC got a new commander named General Hank Landry.
By a weird twist of fate, Lt. Colonel Mitchell came to the SGC. Jack gave him the choice of any assignment he wanted after his crash in Antarctica. Cameron chose to be the leader of SG-1. He didn't know he would be choosing a new SG-1. When he arrived at Cheyenne Mountain, Katelyn was in Daniel's office. "You have to go to Atlantis?" Katelyn asked as Daniel packed. "I'm sorry Katelyn. I want to go. I wish you could come with me." Katelyn smiled slightly. "Daniel, I don't know if I can handle seeing this office being turned into someone else's again." Daniel hugged Katelyn. "I'm so sorry." Katelyn started to cry. "I know. I hope you have fun in Atlantis and I'll visit when I can." Daniel laughed. "I'll be looking forward to your visits." Katelyn laughed with him.
Katelyn left to go to the infirmary. A few minutes after Katelyn left Cameron walked in. "Dr. Jackson, I heard you were leaving SG-1." Daniel looked up. "Yeah, I'm off to Atlantis in about twelve hours." Daniel replied looking at his watch. Cameron looked around. "Is there any way I can convince you to stay?" Daniel smiled. "No, I didn't even stay for Katelyn." Cameron smiled. "Dr. Warner's here?" Daniel smiled. "Yeah, she's in the infirmary." Cameron smiled again and walked out. He walked to the infirmary and looked down from the observation box. Katelyn was giving someone some painkillers. Cameron smiled as he watched her work. Katelyn didn't notice anyone in the observation box.
When she left, Cameron left too. "Dr. Warner?" Katelyn turned around and smiled at whom she saw. "Colonel Mitchell, how are you?" Cameron smiled. "I'm good, but I've become leader of SG-1 and I recently found out that the original team was being split apart. Where are you going?" Katelyn smiled. "I'm staying here. I'll be working in the infirmary as head of the medical team. I mean Sam is in Area 51, Daniel's going to Atlantis, and Teal'c is on Dakara. I didn't want to be on an SG-1 that didn't have them anymore. I couldn't leave the SGC though so here I am." Cameron smiled. "I would love if you were to rejoin SG-1." Katelyn smiled again. "Are you offering me a position?" Cameron was still smiling. "I am if you'll take it." Katelyn laughed. "I would love to rejoin the team. Are you going to try to get Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c to rejoin the team?" Katelyn asked. Cameron smiled. "Great and yes, but so far, no dice. Oh and thanks, I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for you." Katelyn smiled. "You're welcome. If you get them back, it would be more than I could ever do. It was great seeing you Colonel Mitchell." Cameron left to talk to Sam. Sam declined the offer and so did Teal'c.
By another twist of fate, a woman Daniel once met came walking through the Stargate. Vala Mal Doran walked into Daniel's office. Vala was a very pretty woman. She had black hair and gray blue eyes. She had a childish personality that she hid behind, but no one knew that. "Hello Daniel." Daniel looked up with a puzzled look on his face. Katelyn and Cameron stood at the door laughing. "Vala? What are you doing here?" Vala smiled. "I found something that could reveal treasure to us." Daniel looked at her. "That's nice. What's it got to do with me?" Vala smiled again. "You're going to help me find it." Daniel shook his head. "No, I'm not." Vala shook her head. "Yes, you are." She said and slapped a bracelet on him. "Oh, but you have to." Vala whined. Daniel looked at her. "I'm not helping you."
Vala gave Daniel a dirty look and left the SGC through the Stargate. About ten minutes later Daniel collapsed. Daniel woke up in the infirmary with Katelyn by his side. "Hey, Daniel." Katelyn said unsure of his reaction. "What happened?" He asked. Katelyn paused and then spoke. "After Vala left you passed out and now you're awake." Katelyn was waiting for his reaction. "Is Vala here?" Katelyn nodded. "That's why you're awake." Daniel laid his head back on his pillow. "What do you mean?" Vala sat up a little. "Did I forget to mention if we are too far apart for too long, we both get sick and die?" Daniel glared at her. "Yeah, that little tidbit of information would have been nice to have. How many hours was I out?" Daniel asked. Katelyn hesitated. "About fourteen." Daniel was furious. "I missed the Atlantis flight because of you!" Daniel yelled at Vala. "You wouldn't help me any other way." Daniel groaned and threw a pillow at Vala.
Teal'c decided to come back to help them find the treasure Vala was on about, but after that he was going back to Dakara. Daniel was staying at the SGC so he decided to rejoin SG-1. Cameron was happy he was getting the team back even if it was a slow process. Katelyn was happy Daniel was staying with her. All they needed was Sam to come back and they would be complete again. They had gotten used to Jack on going on missions with them, but it would have been too much to have to learn to trust a completely new team to watch their backs.
Soon, Daniel finished translating the tablet Vala had brought him and concluded that the treasure was on Earth, Avalon. A King Arthur reference led them to conclude the treasure would be in England. They were taken up by the Odyssey. They stood in the front of the ship with Colonel Pendergass. They took the rings down to a dome in England. They were out of radio contact because of the rocks surrounding them so they were on their own. Cameron, Daniel, Katelyn, Vala, and Teal'c were in an empty cavern. All that was in it was a stone with a sword in it. Cameron walked over to it. "The Sword in the Stone." He said. "Excalibur and King Arthur." He smiled. Cameron tried pulling the sword out of the stone, but it was no use. Suddenly, an old man appeared before them and began speaking. "Those only true of heart and wise can pull the sword from the stone and reveal my treasure." The man repeated himself.
"It's a hologram of Merlin." Daniel said awed. They walked on to the other side of the cavern where it split into two tunnels. Cameron, Teal'c, and Katelyn went through one while Daniel and Vala went through the other. Daniel and Vala found a room. They walked into it and torches sparked to life. In the middle stood a consol with two pots on top, one gold and one silver. Ancient writing stood at the base of each pot. Daniel read the writing under the pots. "Alright, this one says the Universe is infinite and the other one says the gold is in this pot." Daniel said. Vala reached for the silver pot. Daniel grabbed her hand. "No, it has to be some kind of riddle." Daniel sat for a moment. "The writing says the gold is in this pot so it must be in this one." Vala said opening the lid to the silver pot. "They lied to us." Vala said disappointed when there was no gold in the pot. Just then, the door closed and the ceiling began descending upon Vala and Daniel. Daniel had to think quick or the ceiling would crush them. "Is this a bad time to mention I don't like closed spaces?" Vala said. Daniel groaned.
"Proverbs state that there is only one truth and that is that the Universe is infinite so if that is the only truth then this one must be a lie and the gold has to be in this pot!" Daniel spoke quickly then opened the gold pot. Inside sat a gold coin. The ceiling stopped descending upon them and began lifting again. "Good thing you know your proverbs." Vala said. "Let's go. We need to find Mitchell, Katelyn, and Teal'c." Daniel said leaving. Vala followed him came to another room just like the one they were in before. The door was shut and the sound of the ceiling coming down could be heard. "Katelyn, Mitchell? Are you in there?" Daniel asked. "Yes!" Katelyn shouted. "There is a consol with eight blocks and some Ancient writing! I can't read it!" Katelyn shouted. "Describe it to me!" Daniel shouted back. Katelyn began describing the writing. "Reflect! It means reflect!" Daniel said. Katelyn looked at the tiles. Reflect? She asked herself. She looked at the tiles and saw that they were symmetric. She took what she learned in tenth grade Geometry and put one hand over one side. "Numbers, they're numbers." She told Cameron and Teal'c who were trying to hold up the ceiling. Katelyn put the tiles in numeric order and soon the door opened and the ceiling ascended back to the top of the room.
"That was great timing." Cameron said as they walked out of the room. They walked back to the empty cavern. He tried pulling the sword from the stone once more. This time it came out. The moment he pulled it out a knight appeared before them. Cameron held the sword unsure of what to do. The knight came at him and hit him in the arm with the sword. It didn't cut him, but it hurt like hell. Cameron began swinging back. He was getting his butt kicked. Teal'c tried to help, but Cameron was the only person who could hold the sword. The knight was killing Cameron, but he got up from the dirt remembering his crash. If he survived that he could survive anything, or so he told himself. He almost couldn't walk after that crash, but like he was doing then, he didn't give up. With that memory strong in his mind, he collected strength and hit the knight fatally and it disappeared.
Right after the knight vanished, the cavern began to shake. "It said only those true of heart…" Daniel began. He looked at Vala. "What did you take?" He asked her. She looked at him. "Why do you think I stole something?" She asked. Daniel looked at her insistently. She sighed and pulled out the gold coin from her bra. Daniel handed it to Cameron. Daniel, Katelyn, Vala, and Teal'c ringed back up to the Odyssey. Cameron ran to the room Daniel and Vala were in earlier. He looked at the two pots. "Ah…" He groaned putting it in the gold one hoping it was right. The cavern stopped shaking. He smiled to himself. When he got back to the cavern, it was still empty. He looked over at the sword and smiled. Cameron slowly put the sword back into the stone. Once he did that Merlin's treasure was revealed to him. He smiled and ringed back up. "The treasure, it's there." Cameron said to them.
Vala smiled and was the first to the ring platform. They ringed back down and Vala threw herself onto the piles and piles of precious treasure. Cameron, Katelyn, Teal'c, and Daniel began looking through it. Katelyn sat looking through the treasure along with the rest of them. She looked at each person and smiled. She felt her life might actually be going right again, even though it wasn't the way she had originally thought.