"You know what? I really miss Mac; you think we could call and see if she can talk?" Danni questioned looking at the duo in front of her. Sighing they shrugged.
"I don't think so Dan, you heard what Jack said." Ange mumbled. "He said that she'll be unreachable, and if she wasn't, the call would be rejected. To give her time to adjust to her new life, and all that bullshit! I mean why did they have to take her and Sarah back there, this is where she belongs! This is her home, this is her life, and we're her family!" She huffed.
"Do you think that's what Pete meant when he told you that 'she belongs with her family'?" Stoney questioned, with a slight frown.
"Maybe I don't know, and right now all I want is to see my best friend and her daughter again!" Ange whispered as a tear dribbled slowly down onto her cheek, like a snowflake floating softly and gently to the ground.
"Me too," Danni stated, sighing wrapping her arm around Ange.
"Me three," Stoney mumbled. "But we can't do anything about it, I mean even if we went back to America, and wanted to see her, we'd be lucky to find her let alone get some time with her to just see how she's going,"
"We're aware of that Oscar, but we can't just sit here all day and do nothing! It's only been what a week since Pete's funeral, and just under that since she left again, but this time we knew she wasn't coming back. And you know what I highly doubt that she was meant to let us know that she wasn't coming back. I mean did you see the looks we got from Jack? It was like he knew she told us something, but he had no proof and wasn't going to test the waters while Mac was the mess that she was!" Danni stated, bowing her head, before looking up at them.
"I've gotta go," Ange whispered standing.
"What? Where?"
"Just… Don't worry I'll be in touch,"
"Ange if you're thinking about going to America to see if you can find Mac, you can't! And if you say you can, then we're coming with you! There is no way I'm letting you walk about some foreign place without back up!" Oscar stated watching her. Sniffling she shrugged, before heading to her car.
"So, this 'mission' is it like when Jack, Daniel, Roberts and I went through to save your ass?" Mac questioned. Laughing Sam nodded.
"Yeah something like that. But this time it's just you, me, Daniel, and the Colonel." Sam smiled, gently. "As well as SG2 actually." She added as an after thought.
"Sam why do you call him, 'Colonel' or 'Sir' all the time? Why don't you just say 'hey Jack come over here! There's this really cool rock thing that I need to take back'?" She questioned. Smiling Sam shook her head. "Why not?"
"We're in the military Ellie, its respect for not only a fellow officer, but for a superior officer."
"Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda… Sam I was in the police force remembers? Anyway, stuff all that shit! Make a move before it's too late! I've only seen you two around each other for a few weeks now, but you two dance around each other, and flirt like mad, but you stay in the boundaries of the regulations, and what the military code is!"
"Ellie…"
"Sam you know I love you, and I know that you're unhappy! Please do something to help yourself! I know you love him, and I can see he love's you as well… Don't throw this away because of the regulations, or because your scared about loosing your career!" Mac stated looking into the blue depths of her younger sister's eyes. Sighing Sam knew when she was defeated and when not to continue with something she wasn't ever going to win.
As the two stepped into the 'gate-room Ellen's eyes widened even further then what they did the first time she set her eyes on the Stargate. Smiling at her Sam took her hand in hers and squeezed it gently. Looking in wonder and true amazement from Sam to the Stargate Ellen couldn't help the grin that was now seeping from a small infectious smile from her younger sister, into the biggest grin of excitement and adventure.
"Ok kids, let's move out!" Jack called out to his team. As the four of them moved through the room, and up the ramp the Generals voice filtered through the room.
"Colonel O'Neill, you know your objectives. If you do not make contact with us in the allotted time your codes will be locked out of the system, and the iris will be closed permanently."
"Understood General! Lets move out!" As they walked through the Stargate, Ellen clutched Sam's hand tightly. As they came out the other side she inhaled deeply and shivered slightly.
"Damn its cold!"
"You're telling me!"
"Come on kids, no time to play battle of the sexes, SG-2 stay and look after the 'gate. SG-1 lets move out!"
"So what's this place called?"
"Ah… We code all of the destinations that the computer spits out, so this one is P3X…"
"Get down!" Jack's whispered hiss came running through their minds, as everyone went for cover. As the group of people started getting closer Daniel stepped out moving to talk to them, which got the other three out of the bushes. "Daniel, get them to take us to the nearest city," Jack stated with a sigh. Before anyone knew what was happening, they were surrounded by several other people, holding weapons at them.
"Well this is a cliché!"
"Drop your weapons!"
"I don't think so…"
"Kree!"
"Shel Kree!"
"Shol'vah!"
"Re'nuk'tok…"
"What do you want?"
"Drop your weapons!"
"No! What do you want?"
"If you do not do as I say you will be put in front of your god and be punished!"
"Our god is in the heavens above us!" Ellen retorted quickly. Before anyone knew what was happening they heard a clicking noise seconds before a bright light appeared and they were all knocked out.
"Colonel?"
"Here Carter,"
"Ellie?"
"Sam? I can't see anything, where are we?"
"Not sure, I can't see anything either, Colonel?"
"Ah, we're in a prison," Daniel stated.
"A what?" Ellen questioned, before her vision started to blur in front of her. "Oh, wait I think I can see something,"
"Yeah me too, it's all a bit blurry though."
"Sir?"
"Yeah it's all coming around…" He mumbled.
"Ah this isn't a good sign," Mac said gently.
"Ya think?" Jack snapped, pulling himself up off the floor.
"No you don't understand! This REALLY isn't a good sign!"
"Why?" Daniel questioned walking over to the trio.
"Because we'll be here until this place is full! If Sam and I don't get taken away first, this room will be filled within the next couple of weeks, and then the 'gods'" she mocked rolling her eyes. "Will come in here and choose who will be their children, I mean…"
"They'll take them, and put a symbiote in them!" Daniel stated.
"Ah yeah something like that," she mumbled.
"And if you and Carter get taken first? What did you mean by that?"
"Um, well… The queen of the god of this land, um…"
"The symbiote needs a new human host,"
"Yeah," she whispered, swallowing and nodding.
"Over my dead body!" Jack snapped.
"It just might be," Mac stated getting to her feet quickly as the doors opened, and several of the same kind of people walked in, holding weapons. "Ok I take it that their, the infamous staff weapons, but who are they?"
"They look like jaffa,"
"I should have known that right?"
"No, not necessarily." Sam put in quickly. Swallowing Mac nodded.
"Shel Kree! Greshtah, it is now time!"
"Time?" Daniel whispered.
"What's he saying?" Jack mumbled.
"He said shut up, then called us outcasts,"
"You have to prove if you are kek! Before coroshi'nai and jomo'sequ!"
"Ellen?" Jack questioned.
"We have to prove if we are weak before they let us go and have right to leadership, basically… It's a rough translation, because it can't be translated, and make sense." She whispered, watching as the one jaffa moved towards her. Swallowing she took a step back.
"Ha'shak, Shol'vah!"
"We know the Goa'uld's aren't real gods, help us," she whispered watching him, as he continued to advance. Moving quickly Jack stepped between them.
"Hey how about you hit me instead!"
"What you speak is false, and you will pay for your insolence!"
"Jaffa, Teal'c…"
"If you know my name…"
"I know you fled here to Chulak because Chronis killed your father for retreating from a battle that could not be won. I know that you promised your self that you would become the best jaffa, the strongest jaffa, and you pledged your allegiance's to Apophis! If you help us…"
"Stop this! You know nothing!"
"We can not stay here, I know you are smart enough to realise that you have never encountered a race of people such as us before. You are young for a jaffa! And we are young as a race. But if we work together we can be strong and defeat the Goa'uld!"
"Where are you from?" He questioned through seething teeth.
"Earth…"
"Your words mean nothing to me!"
"Ah, excuse me," Daniel stated, before crouching down, and drawing the earth symbol. "This is where we're from," looking from Daniel to the symbol, he drew a line through it, smudging it, before looking at Mac.
"Who are you?"
"Help us and I'll let you know,"
"What you ask is impossible! Apophis will know I've been talking to you, and he will call for my death!"
"No he won't! He is NOT a god!" She seethed in return, which got him to turn on his heals and leave the cell.
"Way to go Ellen!" Jack sighed. "I thought you were trying to get him to help us, not to turn his back on us and leave us here for…"
"Jack…" She said gently, looking at him, as he turned to her. "Just bloody SHUT THE HELL UP!" And with that Ellen moved across the large cell to slump against the furthest wall.
It had been several days since their first and last encounter with Teal'c. No one had entered the cell since. They were still the only four people in the large cell.
"You know I thought you said that within a few DAYS this place would be full, and we could get out of here!" Jack snapped, getting sick and tired of sitting around doing nothing, to save him self, and those in his company.
"Yeah well, I'm not sure if you noticed, but after all I had no idea that who we encountered was jaffa until I was told! Just because I can speak and understand the language does NOT mean I bloody know every FUCKING THING!" Ellen yelled from across the room.
"Hey! Just because you screwed up…"
"Just because you're so fucking useless, doesn't give you reason to blame me! I said what I had to say! If he doesn't trust us or if we end up being Goa'uld hosts it's NOT my fault!"
"ENOUGH!" Sam yelled, getting up, looking at the duo. "If you want to yell at each other get closer so we don't have to hear everything! We are all in this together, and it's all our faults! Its Daniel's for talking to those priests, the colonel for not letting us drop our weapons, Ellie's for talking to that jaffa, and mine because I believed it would be best if we came here! So try and get over the fact that we're stuck here!" She snapped. Sighing Mac glared at Jack, before looking away.
"Sorry Sammie," Mac said gently, but kept her gaze away from Jack.
"It's not me you should be apologising to, Ellen,"
"He doesn't deserve it!" She huffed.
"Well that statements mutual!" Jack retorted. Just before the doors opened. Looking up they saw Teal'c standing there watching us. "What?"
"Colonel!"
"Don't 'Colonel' me Carter! I'm not in the mood!" Jack snapped. As Teal'c looked around he saw Mac sitting on the opposite side of the cell, and moved across to her. Watching Sam jumped up and went to move but Daniel stopped her.
"Just wait a minute," he whispered, which got Jack standing with the duo.
"You say you know me?" He whispered looking down upon her. Shrugging she kept her eyes fixed on the opened door of the cell. "Why are you here?"
"Ask them" she mumbled.
"You understand Goa'uld; it is you to whom I will speak!"
"Well then you're wasting your breath!"
"Shel Kree!"
"No!" She snapped getting up, and glaring at him. "Kill us if you must, if that's what you're here for, but remember this! Our Calak's, we Shakka Mel!" She hissed.
"Ha'taka! Your kek will please!"
"Our Kek will bring us to Kelmah!"
"Do you kids think you can speak in English?" Jack called as they moved closer.
"If you are here to kill us jaffa do it, don't procrastinate, and drag out the inevitable!"
"Did you just give him permission to kill us?" Jack questioned.
"If you are who you say you are, then I will help you, but I can not help you escape!"
"Then get our vests, the guns, get us what we had with us when we were brought here," she said gently, watching him. Inclining his head slightly, he turned and left the room.
"Okay, so what did we just work out?"
"He's going to get us our vest, guns and stuff. He said he'll help us, but will not help us escape."
"Great!" Jack grinned.
"Hmmm," Mac mumbled, before sitting back on the ground.
"You're not happy at the prospect of going home? Going back to Sarah?" Jack frowned.
"I'm not happy at the prospect that we could get caught, and that so will he and we won't be able to get out alive, or at all, without becoming Goa'uld hosts!" She sighed, looking at her hands. "And I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say I'd rather die then become a host!" She stated which got three nods.
"Colonel, what the hell is going on? And who is that? Do you know what he is?!"
"Yes sir! This man saved our lives, he helped us escape!"
"General, we were taken prisoners over a week ago, Teal'c helped us in breaking out and getting back home," Mac stated looking at him as Sarah tared into the room, and ran up the ramp.
"MUMMY!" She squealed. Smiling Mac crouched down grabbing the child into a tight hug.
"Hey," she whispered holding her tightly. "Have you been a good girl?" She mumbled against Sarah's hair. Nodding she pulled back.
"Yes! Mummy, I did nothing Cruvis, Janet let me Dormata in the infirmary, and we talked and she took me outside when there was Ventio, and we had a really good time!" She grinned. "My Fron doesn't hurt anymore, and I don't get Laccon easily anymore either!" She grinned, to which Mac smiled and nodded.
"That's good to hear!"
"You understood all that?" Hammond and Daniel questioned simultaneously. Looking up at them, before she stood picking Sarah up, she nodded.
"Yep!"
"What did she say?" Daniel asked. "All I got was she did nothing wrong and something about her head…" He frowned. Smiling she nodded.
"Yeah, um she said she did nothing wrong, Janet let her sleep in the infirmary. Um… Janet took her outside when it was windy. Her head doesn't hurt anymore and she doesn't get lost easily anymore." Mac relayed gently.
"Oh well then, that's great to hear Sarz!" Daniel smiled. Nodding she grinned at him.
"Alright SG-1 and 2, go shower and get checked out. Airman take Mr Teal'c to the holding rooms."
As the days rolled into weeks, and the weeks slowly rolled into months Sarah and Ellen had seen and heard things that no one ever thought possible. They were both now members of the SCG and Ellen was teamed not only with Sam for the research on the devices that were brought back, but she was also teamed with Daniel to help with the translations of several worlds they came across. In amongst all this General Hammond took it upon himself to make her the fifth person in SG-1.
Thus making the front line team with the most members. While the other SG teams still had their four members stance, Hammond saw it as a great advantage to have someone who could understand and speak both Goa'uld and ancient fluently, without having to refer to any books or notes that may or may not be at the SCG.
"So… How does it feel to be Earth's frontline of defence?" Jack asked as they walked through the dense bush land of P4X 55A.
"Well it's not that bad, considering I once thought I was going to end up in a psych institution." She smiled at him. Laughing he nodded.
"Yeah well you still might end up there, I mean you've been to one haven't ya Danny boy!" Jack called over his shoulder to which Daniel sunk slightly. Smiling she watched him.
"That was utterly cruel, Colonel!" Ellen huffed, at which he shrugged.
"So, Ellen? Or do you prefer… What was it? Mac?" He frowned. Smiling at him she nodded.
"Yeah Mac, and I don't mind, working in the police force, my unit had a habit of shortening everyone's names or giving them a nickname within their first two shifts, but then you had to be you outside the unit. So I'm used to both."
"Oh ok, sounds like Jack was working with you then," he mumbled.
"Yeah I suppose, Daniel. But Peter was the one that came up with it somehow, and he changed everyone's names in one way or another," she smiled slightly. Nodding he watched her, as the smile faded, and he saw a slight glimpse of hurt flash across her face.
"Um, I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"
"It's alright, it's been six months and Sarah and I are better off here anyway, I think. There's too much back in Australia that would remind us everyday. While here it's like some things remind me, especially Sarz, but when you weigh everything up I think that the heartache is over the worst part of it." She smiled at him and Sam wrapped an arm around her.
"Hold up kids." Jack stated looking around the deserted area.
"Sir?" Sam questioned moving up to stand by his side as she also took in the surroundings. "I thought that this…"
"Yup!" he stated turning back to the trio behind them. "Time to go, kids. Back home and report," he stated walking through them, as they moved out of his way.
"Sam?" Mac frowned.
"The place is deserted. This was supposed to be the beta site, only the Colonel, myself and General Hammond knew that it was here. Obviously so did the personnel here, but no one else, and…"
"Carter's! Daniel! And T lets go!" Jack yelled.
"Ok there's something I'm not getting used to," Mac smiled.
"Give it time Ellie, give it time." Sam smiled. Before they walked off after Jack.