The next morning Rabb and the admiral stood in the control room with Clayton Webb and the two Air Force JAG's as Dr. Jackson and his team prepared to go through the Stargate on the first step of their mission.
"I can't believe you put a civilian in charge of this mission, General!" Moore complained loudly.
"Daniel is more than capable, General" Hammond assured the other man as he thought to himself, 'three star pain in the ass.'
"Indeed," Teal'c agreed as he too watched his teammate lead SG-3 through the 'Gate. "DanielJackson is a formidable warrior for such a man of peace."
"Please," Rivers snorted. "He's a geek!" Simmons seated at the controls to the Stargate couldn't quite control his own snort. "See. Your man agrees with me," Rivers said pointing to the technician.
"Ahh...no sir I don't" Simmons told the officer. "Daniel's...well there's just no describing Daniel."
Hammond chuckled. "Daniel is unique," he agreed.
"So tell me something that will make Rivers feel better," Chegwidden demanded.
Hammond thought hard for a minute before he began to relate stories of the exploits of SG-1. Teal'c and Simmons interjected comments occasionally as they all waited for Daniel to report.
"That's not possible," Webb refuted as Hammond described Daniel's trip through he Quantum Mirror.
"We've got security video of Dr. Carter and Colonel Kawalsky coming through it," Hammond told them as he explained their second experience with the Quantum Mirror.
"So where is this mirror now?" Chegwidden demanded.
"I ordered it destroyed," Hammond told them though he kept to himself the fact that the mirror hadn't been destroyed. After months of study, Carter had regretfully informed her superior officer that trying to destroy the mirror would be too dangerous. Hammond had been afraid of what havoc the NID could cause if they'd managed to get their hands on it. So it now rested in a storage room in the deepest parts of Cheyenne Mountain. He and SG-1 had personally welded an iris over the mirror before shutting it inside the storage room. They took turns checking on it so that hopefully no one would realize anyone regularly visited the storage room. "The danger was just too great to keep it around," Hammond told them.
Simmons attention was drawn back to his console as something changed on his screen. "Incoming wormhole," he informed them needlessly. "Receiving IDC. It's Dr. Jackson."
"Open the iris," Hammond ordered.
"General Hammond, we're good to go," Daniel reported via his radio.
"Very well," Hammond replied. "Secure the 'Gate, and you can expect Teal'c and his team shortly."
"I hope this works, General" Webb commented as he watched the gurneys arrive in the embarkation room.
"Why are they bundled up like that," Moore asked as he pointed to the where Dr. Frasier and her colleague Dr. Williams were preparing the two comatose officers for travel through the Stargate.
"Going through the Stargate compresses the molecules in the body," Hammond explained. "It gets damned cold. The thermal sleeping bags won't be able to prevent that, but it should help them warm up when they reach the other end." Hammond reached forward and keyed the microphone. "Dr. Frasier, are your patients ready for transport?"
"Yes, sir" she called up to the observation room. Hammond sighed. It was clear that she was more than a little disgruntled about being left behind. He had hoped Dr. Jackson had gotten through to her on that point at least. Hammond knew she and Sam were friends, but he couldn't in good conscience let a single mother volunteer for such a dangerous assignment. Especially knowing that if something went wrong she would become the sole guardian of J.D. and Gina as well.
"Good luck, Teal'c" Hammond told the jaffa. "Simmons, start dialing."
"Yes, sir" the chubby technician replied as the typed away at the keyboard in front of him. "Chevron one locked....chevron two....chevron three," he reported as the great stone ring whirled.
Teal'c bowed and led the two navy officers down the stairs into the embarkation room where the rest of their team waited. As they entered the room Dr. Frasier was giving last minute instructions to her subordinate.
"Chevron seven locked...wormhole engaged," Simmons reported through the PA.
Teal'c raised his staff in farewell to those watching before leading his team through the Stargate.
"Come on, sirs" Lieutenant Hailey encouraged the Rabb and Chegwidden as she adjusted the strap on one of the two P90's she carried. Rabb nodded and the three of them stepped through the Stargate last.
"Jesus Christ!" Rabb swore as he stumbled from the wormhole.
"Easy, sirs" Hailey told them as they stood bent over in front of the Stargate. "The nausea will pass. Just take deep breathes. It won't be as bad next time," she glibly lied to them.
Daniel walked back to the naval officers from where he and Teal'c had been in discussion with a group of the locals. "We're not taking the Stargate to the Asgard so you won't have to experience that again for a bit," he reassured them. "But we do need to move out."
Rabb nodded. As he straightened he prayed that the contents of his stomach would stay where they were. "You weren't kidding when you said it was worse than a ten G bombing run," he told the archaeologist.
Daniel smiled and gestured for them to walk with him.
"Where to now?" Chegwidden asked.
"Believe it or not, Admiral. We're headed for the village church," Daniel said. "There's an Asgard device hidden inside that will take us to their hall of wisdom. Thor will pick us up from there."
They followed the rest of the group into the church and watched as first Teal'c and Coburn touched the stone obelisk and disappeared followed by the rest in small groups. The soldiers carrying the stretchers discussed among themselves how best to make sure their charges went along with them for the ride before finally lifting the stretchers to rest on their shoulders and taking their patient's hand and touching the obelisk together.
"Our turn, sirs" Daniel told them as his hand hovered with Lieutenant Hailey's just above the alien device. Rabb and Chegwidden stepped forward and together the final four travelers touched the stone and were transported elsewhere.
"Wow!" Chegwidden whispered as he blinked to adjust his eyes to the darkness of the hall before him. He wandered forward into the hall behind Dr. Jackson until suddenly they were no longer in the darkened cave, but standing in front of a group of aliens that looked like they'd just stepped out of a Spielberg movie.
"It's a hologram," Hailey whispered to the navy men. "We're still in the cave right now."
"Greetings, Daniel Jackson" one of the small gray aliens greeted them. "You are ready?"
"Yes, Thor. We're ready" he answered.
No sooner had the words left his mouth then the entire group was engulfed in another flash of light.
"Now we're on Thor's ship," Hailey told them as the little gray alien bowed before the group.
"If you'll bring them this way," he said as he gestured down the corridor to their right with his spindly gray arm.
"He looks like a Roswell alien," Harm whispered.
"They keep an eye on Earth," Daniel told them. "The crash at Roswell was real, but there's nothing from it out at Area 51. They clean up after themselves pretty well. All the debris as well as the bodies were removed within five days. The government never found any trace of what happened to all of it. The cover up wasn't really about keeping the proof of aliens from the public. It was about not admitting to the public that they'd lost the proof," he explained.
Rabb allowed himself a small chuckle at that bit of irony. "The U.S. government is good at covering up things it's lost," he said with a trace of bitterness about his long search for his lost father.
"So what is out at Area 51?" Chegwidden asked. "If not alien artifacts."
"Oh there are alien artifacts out at Area 51," Daniel acknowledged. "Just not from the crash. The SGC has a research facility out there for the stuff we bring back. The original Stargate experiments were conducted there as well."
Their discussion ended as they entered a large chamber where several pods rested in a row along the wall.
"If you will disconnect them from your devices and place them each in a pod," Thor requested.
Teal'c nodded to Dr. Williams who knelt first next to Colonel O'Neill and disconnected the IV from his forearm. As soon as the IV was gone Williams nodded to Chavez and Granger who gently transferred their charge into the nearest pod. Dr. Williams then knelt next to Major Carter and repeated the procedure. Brooks and Schaefer lifted her into the pod next to the one in which Colonel O'Neill rested.
"Now what, Thor?" Daniel asked.
"Now we must wait, Dr. Jackson" the alien answered. "It will take several hours for their injuries to heal."
"Hours? But when you healed General Hammond in that alternate universe it took only seconds!" Daniel protested.
"I do not know of the incident of which you speak, Dr. Jackson" Thor told him. He listened patiently as Teal'c and Daniel told him of their mission through the Quantum Mirror. "This General Hammond's wounds were recent," Thor explained when they had finished their story. "Marjor Carter and O'Neill's wounds are several days old. It is much more difficult to repair injuries in this state."
"Anybody bring a deck of cards?" Coburn asked as he hunkered down along the wall to wait. Most of the others copied him
"What is our position in regards to the Replicators?" Teal'c asked.
"Follow me," Thor commanded.
Dr. Jackson, Jacob Carter, and Teal'c shared a look before Daniel nodded for Teal'c and Jacob to go without him. He would keep watch on Sam and Jack while they spoke with Thor. Jacob and Teal'c were the military tacticians after all. Teal'c bowed his head before following the small alien out the door. Jacob squeezed Daniel on the shoulder before following as well.
"Go with them, Commander Rabb" Daniel suggested. "You're a fighter pilot, after all. I think you'll find it interesting."
Rabb looked at the admiral for permission before jogging after the other two men. He followed the three into another chamber where a display showed the Asgard fleet in relation to the Replicator fleet.
"That's pretty close, Thor" Jacob commented.
"Yes, the information we were able to glean from the android SG-3 found has allowed us to develop a new weapon against the Replicators, but we must be very close for it to be effective," Thor explained. "We must draw very close to their ships before deploying the device. The fleet is currently in pursuit of this group of three Replicator ships." The display zoomed in to highlight the three ships in question. The Asgard fleet appeared to be closing quickly.
Teal'c nodded his understanding. "It is a dangerous tactic," he commented. "Will the Replicators not learn a counter tactic soon?"
"We fear so," Thor admitted. "That is one reason we have agreed to heal Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill. Major Carter's tactics have defeated the Replicators in the past. It is our hope that she will be able to help us again. The Replicators have already learned to keep enough distance from our ships to prevent the device from working."
"How close are we talking here?" Harm asked.
"Within 30,000 feet," Thor replied.
Jacob turned to Harm. "You've seen that movie 'Top Gun' haven't you, Commander?" he asked.
"I'm a naval aviator, sir" Harm answered with his trademark smirk. "It's required."
"Well in those terms, close enough to 'communicate'" Jacob explained.
They watched in silence as the Asgard armada played a methodical cat and mouse game with the three Replicator ships over the course of the next forty minutes. Finally the Replicator ships were forced close enough to Thor's ship for him to activate the new weapon. The effect was instantaneous as they were rocked by the explosion of the Replicator ships.
"Wow!" Jacob exclaimed. "That's some bug spray you've got there, Thor."
"Bug spray, General Carter?" Thor asked forcing Jacob to take several minutes to explain exactly what he had meant.
"Ummm....sir. What's that?" Rabb said as he pointed to a flashing portion of the display.