Van Diemen's Land: part pende
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Jack stood in General Hammond's office, waiting for him to appear.

He'd come in late that morning, after waking up in Sam's chair at nine o'clock, finding her too asleep
on the couch. He'd said a whispered goodbye to her without waking her and hurried out after leaving
a message on the answering machine for her. He'd arrived very late, much to the amusement of Daniel,
who knew that he'd gone to Sam's and obviously jumped to the wrong conclusion.

"Colonel O'Neill." General Hammond walked in, closing the door behind him.

"General Hammond." Jack returned.

"Please sit down." General Hammond indicated the seat opposite him as he sat down.

"I'd rather not, thankyou, sir."

"Alright then, Colonel. I'll get straight down to business." He took a deep breath. "As you know, it's
very probable that Major Carter will never regain her sight." He paused and Jack nodded cautiously.
"Therefore, I've been given orders to send Major Carter her papers of dismissal."

"WHAT, SIR?!" Jack yelled.

"Colonel, calm down!"

"You're just going to throw her out?!"

"Colonel, I have my orders, it's not my decision."

"She's dedicated her life to the Air Force!" Jack felt him self grow angrier and angrier, his face getting
redder as he argued with the General. "And you're saying that because she's no longer...USEFUL...or
something...you're just gonna throw her out like some piece of trash?!"

"Colonel, I've told you, it's not up to me! I know as well as you do that Major Carter is an invaluable
part of the SGC, but the fact of it is, she's no longer able to carry out active duty."

"Without her, SG1 is finished!"

"I know it will seem like that, but we've already lined up a replacement."

"A replacement? You certainly didn't waste any time getting rid of her then, did you?"

"Colonel..." General Hammond began warningly, but Jack carried on,

"I suppose that was the first thing you did when we brought her back; no. 1)call Jacob, no. 2)get rid
of Sam!"

"Colonel, that is going too far!"

"Well quite frankly, SIR -" Jack was cut off mid-flow as the alarm sounded.

General Hammond got up and ran out, closely followed by Jack.

The Control Room
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General Hammond and Jack skidded to a halt in front of the glass. Daniel and Teal'c were both standing
watching the gate already.

"Seargeant, what's happening?" General Hammond asked while frowning at the gate.

"Unauthorised traveller, sir, incoming."

"Well close the iris."

"I've tried, sir. It won't."

"What's wrong with it?" Jack asked.

"It...isn't there anymore."

"What do you mean, seargeant?" General Hammond asked before Jack got a chance.

"It appears to have been vapourized, sir."

"So we're defenceless?"

"Yes, sir."

They stood and watched, tense, for something to emerge...

...A figure stepped out of the vertical water like substance and Daniel and Jack's jaws dropped open.

A young woman walked down the ramp. She had an olive complexion, dark but not tanned, and her
aquiline features were perfectly formed. Her hair was dark brown, almost black, and piled up onto her
head, curling down over her shoulders in messy yet elegant strands. Her body was lithe and also olive
coloured, and barely covered by a shift of white, composed of about ten percent linen and ninety
percent air. She had a simple gold necklace around her neck, and her arms were covered in gold
bangles and henna like tatoos which snaked up them like creeping flowers. A gold tiara-like crown
winked from under her hair and she wore nothing on her feet, except for the gold anklets around her
ankles. She didn't appear to be armed, and quite frankly, Jack didn't think she was wearing enough
clothes to hide any weapons in them.

Her large dark brown eyes stared up at the control room window, then snapped to the defence teams
gathered round the base of the ramps, all aiming at her, but all rather too busy staring at her from the
ample view they had to shoot her. She lifted her hand and made a sweeping motion across the room.
The guns of the defence teams bent in half in their hands, rendering them useless.

The woman walked down the ramp and said in a quiet, yet confident voice with an accent Daniel placed
as Greek,

"I am Helena. I come as an ambassador for my race, I belive you know of us. I am of the Ancients."



To be continued...

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