The control room was guarded by a team of Jaffa. The moment Jack saw them, he ushered his team straight past them into the corridor leading away from it. Once they reached a deserted portion of it, they all turned to face each other. "Thought you said it wouldn't be guarded!" Hailey snapped in a sibilant whisper. "Shut up!" Jack snapped back. "Nyan?" "Yes?" Nyan whispered in reply. "You worked with Daniel. do you remember any of the Goa'uld language?" Jack asked this with bad grace. Being forced first to think of Daniel and then to rely on something other than 'damn military efficiency' was not doing wonders for his state of mind. "I remember a little," Nyan said. "Why?" "Oh, yes, I could do with a tutorial." Off his blank look, Jack snapped, "What do you think? Get back there, give the Jaffa some message and get them all off running errands! Go!" Nyan acquiesced calmly. He had never been particularly affected by Colonel O'Neill, although he had wondered in the past just what Daniel saw in him. Walking with a calculated lethargy, characteristic of any slave, he went back to the entrance of the control room. As he stopped and faced them, the attention of the Jaffa was on him. "Jaffa, kree!" he said calmly. "How did I know he was going to say that?" Jack muttered to himself around the corner. He, Hailey and Sadurfield were hiding a little way along, to see but not to be seen. After the predictable opening, Nyan's voice dropped so the listeners could not make out any words. They could, however, hear that his tone was perfectly calm, almost aloof, and Jack made a mental note to commend him for it. He was regretting his earlier sarcasm. Nyan's voice rose in time for them to hear the word, "Kree!" again, and to Jack's astonishment, the four Jaffa marched off down the corridor. They were used to receiving slave messengers and went to do as they were bid. "How did you do that?" Hailey demanded as they caught up with him. "What did you say to them?" "I told them Osiris wanted to see them, and they'd better hurry up and see what she wanted," said Nyan reflectively. "You what?" Jack exclaimed. "Really, what did you say?" "That is what I said," Nyan protested. "I simply said she was waiting and they'd better hurry if they didn't want to face her wrath." Jack shook his head in disbelief. "They'll be back," he said. "The moment they find Osiris, wherever she is, they'll know. Therefore, we'd better get a move on. Hailey, Nyan, you know what to do? Sadurfield, you're with me." They all nodded, and Nyan and Hailey entered the control room. It was just as they remembered it. The dialling computers were ready and waiting under the pane of glass. "They must have left it here because they don't have a DHD," said Hailey shrewdly. "If they want to use our Gate, they have to use it on our terms." Nyan privately doubted this, but he said nothing and moved forward to sit at a computer. He looked down on the keys suspiciously. "I'll show you," said Hailey. "Here, this is what you do. oh, crap." "What?" "You need a code!" Hailey exclaimed, typing frantically. Every time she pressed a key, the computer spat out a 'Unauthorised command code' message at her. "There's got to be some way," she muttered to herself. "There's got to be, otherwise the Goa'uld wouldn't be using the Gate. they must have cracked it in some way." As she was talking, she was hurriedly trying every trick she knew, knowing all the while they wouldn't work. When it had been in operation, and even now, this had been the most secure computer system known to man. "Quickly!" Nyan urged her. "The Jaffa may be on their way back even now!" "I don't know how!" Hailey said desperately. "I'm not Major Carter!" Nyan chose to ignore that remark, and standing up, ran out into the corridor. "Nyan!" Hailey yelled the moment he had gone, but when he didn't reply she didn't go after him, continuing to tap furiously at the keys. "Colonel O'Neill! Jack!" Jack turned. "Nyan! What the hell is wrong with you? Didn't I tell you what you had to do?" "No time," Nyan said breathlessly. He'd gone some distance from the control room, and the Jaffa must be on their way. "I need your command codes for the dialling computer." Jack swore under his breath. "Why didn't we think of that? Nyan, the code's too long, you'll never remember it - I'll have to come back with you." "You can't do that!" Nyan told him. "We might make it back, but you'd never get out to the Gate in time." There was a pause. "Give me half of it to remember, and give Nyan the other half," Sadurfield suggested suddenly. Jack glanced at her. "You deserve an instant promotion," he told her. "Listen." He rattled off a string of numbers. After several repetitions, she said she'd got them. A minute later, Nyan had his half memorised, and the duo ran off in the direction of the control room. Hailey was waiting for them. "Nyan!" she began, but once again, Nyan said, "No time! We have a command code. listen." In turn, they recited their numbers. Hailey entered them in as fast as she knew how, and pressed enter. The computer whirred as it processed them. 'Code accepted.' "Yes!" Hailey exclaimed, and went straight to the dialling sequence. She had studied the seven symbols until she knew them better than Earth's address. One by one, the computer accepted the chevrons and down in the Gate room the Stargate began to spin. Jack could hear the Gate spinning. He breathed a tiny sigh of relief - they'd got this far. Sending a telepathic thumbs-up in the direction of the control room, he entered the Gate room just in time to see the seventh chevron lock. The wormhole roared into existence. Jack had not seen the Gate room since the Goa'uld had landed on Earth. It was both surprisingly familiar and frighteningly alien at the same time. The ramp was still there, and so was the window into the control room, but that seemed to be it. The uniform military grey was slowly being replaced by the ostentatious gold that made up the Goa'uld idea of interior decorating. At the base of the ramp were Jaffa, not humans, and they carried staff weapons, not 'projectile weapons.' The room reminded Jack briefly of the Stargate room on Apophis' mothership. But there was no time to stand and think. The Jaffa in the Gate room were already marshalling into action at the sight of the Stargate activating. Jack could see above to the control room, and could see Hailey aiming her staff weapon at the glass. Time to put part B of the plan in action, and run like hell! Jack ran. He ran blindly, trying not to think of anything but the fact he was saving the world, trying to think of nothing but the shining, shimmering wormhole that might shut down at any moment. The Jaffa had somewhat slow reaction times, especially as they were encumbered with the metal of their uniforms, but they had their staff weapons primed by the time Jack had sprinted past them. He was close enough to touch the event horizon now, just one more step, just one more step. "Stop!" Everything stopped. Jack stopped along with it. The moment he did, he knew it was a mistake, but he thought he knew that voice, harsh as it was. He turned round and he was right. Osiris was standing there, dressed completely in white, with her cloud of blonde curls tossed gracefully over her shoulders.