A/Ramble: Early update; are Adi and I awesome or what? I'll be pushing this story along a little. I've already written a... we'll call it a 'wedding scene' but it's not quite what you'd think. I'm aiming for forty chapters, including alternate ending, original ending (both of which include an epilogue) and outtakes. Don't worry; there's a crap-load of stuff to cover before this ends. I'm thinking of renaming myself 'Cyber-Pinata'. YesSir knows why, LOL. Now, as always, Enjoy!

~ 26 ~

Somewhere in our Galaxy, but far, far away

The metal fingertips of the ribbon device clawed at the thick gold of his throne as he waited on the Pel'tak. As ordered, his First Prime promptly arrived and bowed before his God.

"Teal'c, what news of the Ashrak?" his thick, steely voice pierced the silence that usually followed him. Teal'c rose to his feet with a chord of clunking from his armour.

"We have lost track of him, my Lord. We have not received any of the promised information. We have been able to contact some of his associates and suppliers, but they have lost contact as well. I fear it is safe to assume the Ashrak is dead."

Klorel glared at his First Prime.

What enemy could be so powerful to destroy his father's ship and kill an Ashrak? He pushed off his throne and passed Teal'c to stare out into the cold darkness of space. First this race had killed his father's Jaffa. Upon this, his father had dispatched him with Teal'c to seek out this new enemy. He'd returned a few days later, after dispatching the Ashrak to retrieve information, to find Abydos and his father's ship, which had been stationed on the desert planet, absolutely decimated.

After his father's defeat of Ra, one of, if not the, most powerful system lords in this galaxy, Klorel was sure that his father was truly invincible. Apparently not. But it was humans that had infiltrate Ra's temple. How many planets inhabited by humans had advanced so far as to be able to destroy a Ha'tak?

Klorel would never admit to not knowing. A true God knows all. They would have to continue the search. He had one mission: avenge his father's death.

~ SJ ~

1141h
Friday 17th May, 1996
Jack's Office, SGA

Jack continued to frown at the symbols of P4X-228 in the data report on his desk. It was the latest address to be thrown out by Carter's computer program, but the symbols were eerily familiar. He was doing his best to occupy his time until lunch, because he was anxiously awaiting a phone call from the main gate to announce the arrival of Lieutenant General Barker. The General was supposedly bringing a small contingent with him, which included one Doctor Rodney McKay.

Of course, he's yet to tell Sam about McKay. He wasn't originally listed on the memo warning them of the immanent visit, but he'd apparently weaselled his way onto the detail at the last minute.

With his thoughts diverted from the symbols in front of him, Jack suddenly remembered where he'd seen them.

"Crap," he groaned and went to his filing cabinet, unlocking the bottom drawer. His office had a plethora of security measures installed, since the documents in the bottom drawer of his filing cabinet were probably the most classified on the base. Only Jack and a select few in Washington knew what they contained. Checking the short serial number on the folder, Jack pulled the file out and returned to his desk.

EYES ONLY.

He scanned over the detailed account of Doctor Langford and Ernest Littlefield's attempt to dial the Gate in 1945, until he reached the photocopy of Langford's personal report and, more specifically, the symbols that where dialled.

They matched the ones designated for P4X-228.

Jack immediately called Sam's lab and asked her to come down to his office. He didn't have to wait long to see her crossing the briefing room.

"General, you wanted to see me?" She stopped beyond the threshold as Jack shut the door behind her.

"Yeah. I'm gonna have to deny the mission to P4X-228." He slowly sat behind his desk, closing the two folders before him. It didn't take an educated man to guess her automatic reaction to this news. Just one who'd spent more than ten minutes in her company. Sam sat opposite him, clearly stunned by the announcement.

"May I ask why?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Jack weighed his options and decided to let Sam in on the secret.

"You need to understand that what I'm about to tell you is purely need-to-know."

Sam's eyebrows rose slightly. "Alright..."

"In 1945, Catherine's father, Paul Langford, along with Catherine's fiancé, Doctor Ernest Littlefield, worked with the military and managed to manually dial the Gate to P4X-228." Sam didn't react, but listened intently. "The operation was very poorly documented and abandoned after Littlefield travelled through the Gate and it shut down. He never returned from the planet. So, the Gate was packed into storage and the operation was never acknowledged."

Sam had the faintest grimace on her face.

"What?" He frowned.

"I already knew this. Of course I was told most of this verbally and the symbols were never discussed."

Jack stared at her.

"What!" He gaped at her, ready to ask her how the hell she already knew about the studies undertaken on the Gate in '45, when his phone rang. "O'Neill!" He snapped at the poor Airman calling from the main gates on the surface to inform him of General Barker's arrival. "Thank you."

He tried not to slam the phone down onto its cradle. "General Barker is here. We'll have to talk about this later." He stood, but clicked his fingers when he remembered McKay. "Also, I forgot to tell you that Rodney McKay is joining the General for the tour."

Sam literally blanched before him.

"I really do not want to see him," she warned him, her voice laden with dread and something darker, almost bitter. He didn't have time to work through whatever issues she had with McKay, but did the best he could to remind her why she was standing here, instead of the physicist in question.

"Look, Sam, you're the one that got offered this job. You're-"

"Jack... Do you remember when I told you I was previously engaged...?" Jack didn't seem to catch on fast enough. "To someone who was using my research for his own assignments..."

Jack clicked.

She was engaged to McKay? No wonder she loathed the idea of working with the man. She was certainly full of surprises today.

"Okay, look. They'll be here any minute. Just head down to the lab and I'll call ahead when we're headed your way." They pounced on the door and only made it a few feet into the briefing room when General Barker and Colonel Hammond emerged from the staircase, followed by almost a dozen other people eagerly engrossed in conversation.

Jack spared Sam and apologetic look before he left her to greet the General. Luckily Hammond left the two senior Officers to their pleasantries and took a vigil at Sam's side. She was immensely grateful; once Rodney spotted her on the other side of the room, he made his way through the chatting crowd towards her. Sam steeled herself for her first encounter with the man in nearly- what? Two years? Not long enough in Sam's good opinion.

"Doctor Carter," he greeted with a smirk. "It's been a while."

"Relatively speaking," she virtually snarled. Sam was never a bitchy person, but when it came to Rodney and their history, she wasn't in the mood to check her attitude.

"So... how you been?" His patronising tone was much easier to hear than she remembered. Sam looked around the room, catching Jack glance at her while he spoke to Barker.

"Very busy. We've been inundated with findings from the planets we've already visited."

"And that alien that infiltrated the base. He was stashing a lot of technology from what I heard. How's the research going on that?" He flicked a pointed finger towards her and she knew he didn't really care about their progress, but rather pointing out the fault in the Gate's security.

"Very well, thank you Doctor," George replied calmly.

"Well, The SGA gets a lot of help outside the program," Rodney directed this at Sam, a knowing glint in his eye. While she knew he was referring to his 'research' into wormhole theory, she had a long-practiced comeback to his smug remark.

"And of course you, of all people, are well versed in exploiting outside assistance. Aren't you, McKay?" This incited two reactions: Rodney instantly lost that arrogant smirk and George looked to her with clear surprise. McKay, however, was the first to recover. It didn't help her temper when he laughed and became overcome with a long-lost affection for her.

"See, I always loved that about you. So focussed on your research. It makes me miss you sometimes..."

Sam couldn't be gladder that it was George standing beside her; he was the only one, before Jack, that knew of her previous engagement to Rodney. And while Sam knew that George was aware about her relationship with Jack, he accepted the discretion they operated under and wouldn't be prepared for what she was about to say.

"It's a bit too late for that Rodney. I'm seeing someone." Although she didn't look, she noticed George tilt his head towards her.

"Oh? Another physicist?" McKay crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"Actually no. He's Air Force. One of the officers on this base." She schooled her expression to be completely neutral, but was warmed by the smile George sent her way. McKay looked around, his eyes drifting, and stopping, on Jack. She couldn't tell whether he'd worked it out and partly hoped he wouldn't. The man had a big mouth.

"Well, if you'll excuse me. I have to go mingle." Rodney quickly excused himself and left Sam to revel in her victory over the awful man. George leaned to her side and discreetly whispered in her ear.

"Nice work."

Sam was watching Jack, who'd witnessed parts of the exchange and sent her a reserved smile. "Thank you. I think some of Jack's habits are starting to wear off."

George chuckled and turned back to the room.

~ SJ ~

1657h,
Sam's Lab

"I think we were in the middle of something this morning." Jack's statement made Sam jump as she was losing her briefcase. She quickly did a one-eighty, almost losing her balance on her heels. Jack closed the door and came around her side of her workbench. "Something about knowing about the forty-five mission?"

"Um... yeah. Grab a seat." She pulled a stool out for Jack, which he obediently sat on, leaning an elbow on the bench. Sam took a deep breath, "When I finished my PhD, I met Rodney. He's four years older than me." Jack scrunched his nose a little at the mere mention of the man. "To be fair, Rodney is quite brilliant... in his own way. When he finished his studies, he did some work for the government and was working with a scientist by the name of Doctor Axon."

"Doctor Axon was recruited by the military to conduct studies into wormholes," Jack recalled.

Sam nodded. "Right. So when I went to the Department of Aerospace and met Rodney, they were already a few years into their research. In hindsight it was a stupid decision, but Rodney and I started dating. I had no idea what he was working on. Then we were at home one night and he'd brought some of his work from the office. He left it on the table, and it looked really interesting so I checked it out. I found a problem with one of his calculations and corrected it. After that, Rodney would ask me to look over some of the stuff he was working on.

"Eventually I got sick of helping him at home and hearing about his success at work. Honestly, he wasn't very open-minded. Once I put forth an idea and could come up with supporting evidence, he'd be able to work through it. It was about three years ago when I had enough I told him I'd tell his boss that I was assisting him if he didn't tell me what he was researching.

"He told me about the Stargate, although the details weren't very specific. He also told me about the forty-five experiments, the Giza dig... pretty much the Gate's history. So, really, I've been working on the Gate for eight years, and I know there was research into building a device to run the Gate prior to that." She breathed out after the lengthy monologue.

"Well, at least I don't need to explain everything."

"There's that."

"I don't want to send anyone to two-two-eight. For one, Doctor Littlefield never came back, so he's either dead or stranded. I don't want to have to explain to Catherine the truth of what happened to him."

"But if he is stranded, shouldn't we try and bring him home?"

His shoulders slumped under the weight of indecision. Everyone cared about Catherine, but the risk of finding something that would upset her may be too great.

"We'll send a probe. If it looks promising, we'll go through."

"Okay..." Sam nodded, lowering her gaze to the floor between them. Their knees where touching, although she'd yet to notice. Even now, these little touches made her tingle.

"Hey," Jack tapped a finger against her wrist, causing Sam lifted her chin again, "Peterson is holding a dining-in night and ball in August. NORAD and the SGA are invited to attend. Wanna go? It'd be a pretty good occasion to... you know..."

"Go public?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded playfully, gently bouncing on his chair. The prospect of coming out about thier relationship was encouraging. It meant Jack was making some progress with his recovery. Hey, the guy had had a rough couple of years. It also deepened her sense of security in their relationship. This was going somewhere.

"Sure."

As promised, a probe was sent to P4X-228. The video feed showed only a few seconds of water and bubbles before short-circuiting and it was concluded that whatever structure had once been holding the Gate, had fallen into a body of water. With no need to officially pursue the planet, the address was marked as 'Stargate buried' and easily forgotten, except by Sam and Jack.

~ SJ ~

Oh, I forgot to mention, I got my SG-1 patch, ordered from eBay, in the mail. Guess who had a good day! This is all I wanted to do for 'Torment of Tantalus', so I'm sorry if anyone is disappointed. It will be mentioned in the ending, of course. Reviews needed; where is everyone? That said, very humble and special thanks to those who leave their thoughts.