Marines clattered across the floor in a mad scramble to cover the stargate entrance with enough firepower to puree anything that had the cheek to come through the portal unauthorised.

Telemetry suggested it was SG-1 that had activated the iris. They had been due back on Earth, almost a full day earlier. Their late return had prompted General Hammond to begin planning a rescue mission, and SG-4 team was due to depart as soon as day shift kicked off.

The iris covering the portal mouth dilated, exposing the vertical pool lookalike surface of the event horizon.

The last time this had occurred they were left with four basket cases and he held out little hope of a better result this time. The night shift medical team was on stand-by. They normally had little to do with gate operations and were not prepared for genuine emergencies. Their anxiety was palpable.

The blood-spattered figure that burst through the stargate portal was not recognisable on first inspection. A squad of marines ringed the portal with their guns raised.

"It is me!" shouted Teal'c. "Hold the gate open." There was a great deal of questioning babble from the control room.

Teal'c dragged the bodies of O'Neill, Carter and Jackson through the gate, one after another, returning through the gate each time to gather the next one.

"I have another one," Teal'c called up to the operations centre. Colonel Makepeace stayed the closure of the gate and the iris long enough for Teal'c to make one more passage through the worm hole. He returned dragging a man by the arms. The body seemed to have a tree branch growing from his chest.

It caught everyone's attention. "Medic," cried the marine squad leader in the gate-room. Although what use a medic would be to a guy with a tree growing out of him was any body's guess. Overhead in the mezzanine floor operations room, the mission monitoring technician already had the phone resting on his ear and his fingers were dialing the number of General Hammond's home.

*

"That's all of it?" General Hammond asked Teal'c.

"Yes. The rest you already know." He waved to indicate the infirmary and all of it's activity. "I had to restrain the Count, and the branch that Daniel Jackson brought down when the tree hit his head was the only piece of timber available."

"Thank you for that."

Janet Fraiser stepped slowly out of the emergency room. Her expression was extremely grave.

General Hammond dreaded the answer almost before he asked. "What is going on?" he asked her.

She was distracted, and barely registered his question. "I lost him," she said softly. "I can't believe it. I actually lost him."

General Hammond had a sinking feeling in his gut. It was the worst possible news. He had been told already that Daniel Jackson was still in danger and he had heard no news of Jack O'Neill at all.

It was obviously one of those two; there were no other SGC teams in the infirmary at that moment.

The procedure for notification of family after a death among his staff ran through his head unheeded. He knew what he had to do, he had done it often enough. Life expectancy among the less experienced teams was not long enough to satisfy General Hammond's perfectionist attitudes.

But he had begun to think his more experienced crews were beyond that kind of danger, were better able to look after themselves when things got tough on the other side of the worm hole.

"Give it too me straight," he said bravely. "Who are we talking about?"

"Daniel Jackson," Janet said. Her face remained grave. The shock was visible for all to see in the way her eyes refused to meet General Hammond's. He had seen people go like that in times like these. These stressful and grief-filled times before acceptance of the loss.

"What happened?" Teal'c asked.

"I can't find him anywhere," Janet said softly. Her eyes continued to track up and down the corridor searching for answers.

"I'll look after the arrangements," General Hammond said, and then he added. "What?"

"I told them to take him to the recovery ward and he's not there," she said. "I don't know where he is."

General Hammond blinked, and then again. There didn't appear to be a lot to say in the aftermath of that one. "Then they're all OK?" he managed finally.

"Oh yeah. Sam and Jack are being fed whole blood now. Daniel should be OK too. If I can just find him. I'll give you a ring as soon as I find out where the med-tech team hid him."

She marched off purposefully.

*

General Hammond called the meeting to order. The members of SG-1 looked much more dapper than the last time General Hammond had set eyes on them. They still looked weak and it would be a few more days before they were sent out on a challenging mission again, but it was pleasing to see them all back on deck. They sprawled around the conference table in their usual eclectic manner, somehow managing to look collectively attentive and distracted at the same time.

"I'm pleased to see you all back in one piece," General Hammond said. He folded his hands in front of him. "SG-6 have gone through the gate behind you and confirmed much of the conjecture regarding the nature of the Goa'uld there and the nature of their mutation. They gathered enough data to give us pretty much the same story that you conjectured when you came through the gate. That was good work by the way, although it all sounds just a trifle hard to swallow. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes…"

Jack O'Neill dropped his feet onto the conference room table and crossed them at the ankles. "Has the tactical nuke been sent through?" O'Neill asked.

Beside him Samantha Carter nodded enthusiastically.

"We should have authorisation within the next few days," Hammond answered. "I think we can safely say that the threat to that human colony will be over then."

"That's a relief," commented Jackson. "Let's hope that's the last we ever hear of them then."

Teal'c raised one ironic eyebrow. "All of them Daniel Jackson?"

Jackson had the good grace to blush.

*

"OH YES, VERY NEARY," said a voice that sounded pretty much how you would image two tombstones might sound if they were rubbing together. The voice seemed to issue from within the confines of a hooded black robe surrounding a figure seated on a pale horse. The hooded head turned toward you and revealed a face that most people would be happy not to have seen, ever.

Its death's head grin might have been just a consequence of the fact that it's skull was fleshless, but then again it might just have been caused by that same entity being happy to be there. He turned to his horse and patted it's neck. It nickered once and waited for the skeletal giant to signal it to move forward. "COME ON BINKY," Death said to his horse. Yes we know it's a stupid name for such a spectacular horse, but the horse is stuck with it, and frankly whose going to argue. "WE HAVE LOTS OF WORK TO DO HERE."

*

Beneath the vivid orange glow that painted the sky at sunset, Heidi Pravda stepped out from the shade of the wagon and joined her parents while they watched the Count's castle, from a long way away. They were following the directions they had been given by the last team from the SGC to the letter. It had been quite specific regarding the precautions that they needed to take if you set of a tactical nuke. Distance was the primary requirement. The SGC team were concerned that the villagers wanted to watch the blast, it seemed a needless risk, but they were adamant.

Daniel Jackson had come over with the SGC team, acting as interpreter. He and Heidi had taken many long absences from the discussions and the preparations, and no one tried very hard to find them. Both teams, SGC and villagers, saved themselves the embarrassment of what they might find if they did.

For the small crowd that had gathered on the top of the hill, watching the blast was not going to be fun exactly, but there were a lot of satisfied expressions worn on the Villager's faces when the sky was lit by a glow that was brighter than the sun for a while. As forecast, the ground rumbled soon afterward, shaking the trees and setting all the wildlife to flight. The noise that came a long time afterwards was like the sky had split in two, more deafening than any peel of thunder they had ever heard.

"So why didn't you go through to that other place with them?" Magda asked Heidi. "You had two chances. Their offer would have been very tempting to a girl in your position."

"I think I'm more of a home girl," Heidi said and shrugged. "Besides, he was married before you know. I spoke to Teal'c a bit about him and…I thought to myself, no, not second hand goods. I'll look around here for a bit longer." She paused for a moment and then added, "Besides, I know where he is and how to get there." She smiled secretly, "And he knows where I am and how to get here too. Think of our separation as a test."

Magda exchanged a look with her husband that said, 'go figure.'

The sky was filled with a cloud the likes of which the villagers had never seen before.