When Jonas left his homeworld to join the Tau'ri, he wasn't entirely sure he was doing the right thing. He felt ashamed that his government was allowing Daniel Jackson to take the blame for the accident that left him dying of radiation sickness and caused the Tau'ri to withdraw from negotiations. When they left, a part of him left with them. The part of him that did the right thing and felt honorable. All that had remained was a shell of himself and all he wanted to be. All he was was a coward.

Jonas Quinn did not want to be a coward.

He sat in the chair in the control room with the rest of SG-1. They'd holed up there after taking their leave of the briefing room so General Hammond could discuss the plan with the Tok'ra Councilor in private. Teal'c, stoic and silent as ever, like a dome around the team trying to protect them from danger with just his presence as if the team, and even the General, were somehow his children and he was a tree shading them with his branches. Samantha Carter, at ease with the constant war between soldier and scientist, ghosting between two worlds effortlessly in the way only experience brings. Jonas studied each in turn, wondering just how accurate his impressions of them were and just how much history it took to cement them as a team. He felt like the addition onto a house that didn't have the same foundation. He was functional and attached to the team, but would he ever be a true part of the team? He shook his head, yanking the threads of thought that kept him pulled toward that line of thinking. It didn't matter. He was part of the team. He had to focus on the team's current mission.

They had to go after Colonel O'Neill. Jonas couldn't handle another time of not doing the right thing and of taking the cowardly way out when someone else hadn't. He couldn't imagine his new home, his new job, without the man and his willingness to give even Jonas half a chance to prove himself.

As he heard the booted footfalls on the steps, he leapt to his feet alongside Teal'c and Sam. Coincidence made the motion uniform with them.

"Councilor Thoran is threatening to end diplomatic relations," the general announced, the set of his mouth and jaw betraying the effort it took to focus on the needs of the greater good.

Jonas was fairly certain the pit in his stomach at those words was not the only one being felt in the room. Even the on-duty gate technicians in the room stiffened a little at the announcement.

"What did he say?" Sam asked, trying not to look at all guilty.

"Among other things that I won't mention, that this is precisely the reason they've been reluctant to share intelligence."

Teal'c stood next to the general and nodded stoically. "So be it."

Hammond glanced over at the warrior next to him and tried not to smile. "That's more or less what I said," he mentioned before turning back to Sam. "The Tok'ra need us right now, more than we need them. Do we expect any response from Lord Yu?"

Sam shook her head. "No, sir," she said quietly. "We know he received the plans to Ba'al's outpost and the message that went along with it, but we really have no way of knowing if he'll act on it."

"I believe he will." Teal'c said, so earnestly that Hammond turned to stare at him. "Ba'al has kept the existence of this outpost from the other system lords."

The others did not have the first-hand knowledge of the way a Goa'uld system lord would think and act. Teal'c did. He'd been in too many planning sessions in the neverending war. At least he could put that knowledge and insight to good use in a more direct way than he'd been able to previously. He did not miss being First Prime, but he did miss planning and leading battles. He missed the pride of winning. That General Hammond would consult with him was an honor, even if the very tiniest part of him balked at an inexperienced young Tau'ri leading the fight instead of him.

"I still don't understand how destroying the power generators first is going to help the Colonel," Jonas said, still trying to understand the intricacies of the plan.

Teal'c knew O'Neill better than most. He understood him on almost the molecular level. They were, as the Tau'ri saying went, two peas in a pod. Both were sharp edged blades, fully charged energy weapons, just waiting to be unleashed into battle with their loyal troops behind them. "It will give O'Neill a fighting chance. Nothing more." O'Neill needed nothing more.

Teal'c was sure of it.