I know this chapter is short, but I swear I'm almost done. Hopefully the rest should be written and posted by Thursday, cos I'm going away for the weekend to the Red Dwarf Dimension Jump (for those of you who don't know, Red Dwarf is a hugely funny and clever British sci-fi sitcom).

Chapter 11

It had been easy, so easy. Shockingly so in fact. You'd have thought that computer as powerful as the SGCs' would have been impenetrable. Admittedly to most it would have been, but someone who knew it as well as Sam, hell she had actually been IN it. She doubted that anybody apart from General Hammond and a few at the Pentagon knew that the gate could be accessed from a remote terminal in an unused storeroom. Even she hadn't known about that little back up, presumably put in so the gate could still be controlled if the Control room was taken over or damaged. At least she hadn't until she had been there. Literally.

With her technical know-how it had been easy to override the control room and rig the gate to dial out and blast doors to close after a set time, once she knew the failsafe was there. Once she had reached the Land of Light she ran as fast as she could, grateful when she met Ry'ac since he could show her the quickest way to Dra'auc. She knew she had to be quick. Although she had set a lock on the computer system, she knew it wouldn't be long before one of the technicians cracked it. If she wanted to, she could have set a virus on them so no one could have ever got in until she got back, but that would have meant the iris would be locked either open or shut, and she couldn't risk putting either the SGC or any off world teams in that danger. So she ran.

Although Dra'uac had seemed confused with Sam's request, she had willingly complied, although she had seemed nervous when she took out the ribbon device. All in all, the trip had only taken her 15 minutes. As she neared the gate, it started to spin, chevrons locking. As the vortex formed she dived into a patch of thorny undergrowth. When SG3 stepped through she scrunched herself down, aware that her new clothes offered little camouflage, ignoring the scratches being gouged into her arms. However the team walked straight past her.

'Ok fan out. We'll check the woods on the way to the city. Somebody has to have seen her.'

'What if she went through the gate again?'

'Then we'll obviously not find her.'

The second speaker glared at his commanding officer before veering off to the right. Sam breathed in relief as they passed her hiding place, not realising that she had been holding it. Once she thought they were out of hearing range, she scrambled out of the brambles, pulling a rogue branch out of her hair as she stumbled towards the DHD.

As an after thought she pulled a small circular device out of the bag at her side, and slipped it onto her throat, rearranging her burnoose so that it was definitely covered. Then she held her head high and tried to look haughty as she stepped through the event horizon.

*~~***~~**~~***~~*

'Off world gate activation. Receiving SG1's GDO'

'Open the iris' General Hammond commanded as he walked down the stairs from his office. He hoped that his flagship team was going to come back in one piece. Dr Fraiser had told him about Major Carter's last vision and it worried him. If the good major had thought it worthwhile to risk court-martial then it must have been bad.

In a way reminiscent of their entrance a few days ago figures of SG1 careened through the gate. Hammond repressed a sigh of despair as he saw only the three men of SG1 land heavily on the ramp. If Major Carter hadn't found them, then where was she? It was a big universe out there. And how could she get through the iris? They had no idea if she had taken a GDO or not.

It was then he saw a bundle roll out from under Dr Jackson as he got to his knees. A distinctly human shaped bundle. With some suspiciously blood coloured stains bleaching part of the cloth.

He saw Daniel reach over and start to uncover the person, but Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill moving in around them blocked his view. He hurried out of the control room, down the stairs and bustled through the now open blast doors. He ground to a halt as he actually reached the edge of the ramp. By now all three men were crouched around what Hammond hoped wasn't what he thought it was.

'Medic! MEDIC!' Colonel O'Neill roared, before turning back to the still form. It was then it registered with the General that Daniel was giving mouth to mouth, while Teal'c performed chest compressions.

'Excuse me, sir.' Janet Fraiser weaved past the bodies now blocking the way to her would be patient in her normal efficient way. 'Oh crap.' He started at the Doctor's uncharacteristic swearing. He moved closer through the throng of people when Teal'c lifted the distinctly feminine form onto the proffered trolley. 'What happened?'

'She was hit twice with a zat.' He wasn't even sure from which member of SG1 that had come from. His premier team circled anxiously round, like moths with a flame.

'Tell them to have the crash cart ready! I want 10mg of adrenaline waiting for us. Go, GO!' Fraiser ended her orders shouting. She then swung herself onto the trolley so she could continue CPR while they headed towards the infirmary.

As the trolley passed Hammond he saw that his fear had been confirmed. Covered with scratches and minor contusions, along with a couple of ones that were not so minor, with a shoulder wound that looked distinctly like a staff blast, lay the pale and unresponsive form of one Major Doctor Samantha Carter, USAF.

*~~***~~**~~***~~*