"All rise," the officer of the court intoned. "This court is now in session. Colonel John Pierce presiding."

"Be seated," Pierce ordered absentmindedly as he sat down placing the folders he'd carried into the court room in front of him. He nodded to the officer of the court who read the charges against O'Neill and Carter. "General, your opening statement," he said to Moore.

"Your honor, before we begin, the prosecution and defense have a joint motion," Moore told him.

"Proceed," Colonel Pierce told him.

"The nature of the SGC is so far outside the norm that we feel it prudent to orient the members before proceeding further," Moore said. "To avoid confusion."

"You have a plan as to how to accomplish this?" Pierce asked.

"Yes, sir" Admiral Chegwidden answered. "We request that Doctor Jackson conduct the standard briefing given to new SGC recruits."

"Very well," Pierce decided. "Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel rose to his feet from where he'd been seated in the gallery behind the defense table. "Yes, sir" he said.

"Start your briefing, doctor" Pierce ordered.

"Yes, sir" he acknowledged. "Dim the lights, please" he requested as Commander Rabb helped him pull a cart on which a large monitor sat into the courtroom. Daniel picked up the remote control and hit play beginning his lecture.

When Daniel finished there was an uneasy quiet in the courtroom as those present who hadn't been aware of the SGC struggled to come to grips with what they'd just been told over the course of the previous ninety minutes. It wasn't easy for these military officers to learn that they were at war, and they hadn't even known. It sounded more like the plot from a bad science fiction movie than reality, but they had to accept it as fact. They were accustomed to 'need to know' but nothing could have prepared them for something of this magnitude.

"Thank you, Doctor Jackson," Pierce said. "We'll take a fifteen minute recess and then begin with the opening arguments," he ordered before bringing down his gavel adjourning the court. Everyone rose at the instruction of the officer of the court as the judge and members of the court filed out. A few minutes later everyone in the courtroom was back in their seats as General Moore began his opening arguments.

"The facts of this case are simple," General Moore began. "Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter have over the course of the last fifteen months had an inappropriate sexual relationship. The defense will argue that there were extenuating circumstances due to the nature of their mission, but the fact remains that these two officers deliberately chose to break regulations." Moore walked back to the prosecution table and picked up the journal that would be the center piece of his arguments. He brandished it in the air as he told the members of the court, "In Colonel O'Neill's own words they chose to 'fuck the regs.' We cannot contest the circumstances surrounding this decision were extreme, but the fact remains that they chose to break the regulations. Now they must accept the consequences of that choice." Moore returned to his seat.

Admiral Chegwidden pushed back his chair and stood, adjusting his uniform as he did so. "Colonel O'Neill is a friend of mine," A.J. told the court. "As his friend, I wish that the facts of this case were as simple as General Moore described, but you need only to look at Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter to get an inkling that this is not the case." As A.J. spoke he paced along in front of the jury box then over to stand behind O'Neill and Carter at the defense table. He paused waiting for the members of the court to take a good long look at the gaunt forms of the defendants. A week's worth of Dr. Frasier's careful diet had hardly made a difference in their appearance. The hastily altered uniforms only accentuated the weight they had lost. "The extenuating circumstances General Moore alluded to was their capture by the Goa'uld more than fifteen months ago. A little over two weeks ago, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter managed to escape their imprisonment and return to Earth. Yes, Colonel O'Neill did write 'fuck the regs.' in this journal," A.J. said as he lifted the notebook from the prosecution table, "but General Moore failed to read you the rest of that particular entry. He actually wrote 'Fuck the regs. They can court-martial me when we get back to Earth. I'm not going to let her die.'" Chegwidden read before laying the journal back down on the prosecution table. "There is a duty higher than rules and regulations placed on those in command. It is the duty to not waste the lives of the people entrusted to you needlessly. As soldiers, we all recognize we may be asked to give up our lives in defense of this country or in the case of the men and women of the SGC, this world, but we expect that if that sacrifice is asked of us that it mean something."

"Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter were not captured as prisoners of war. They were accidentally picked up in a slave raid," A.J. explained letting his disgust at the notion play across his face. "They followed procedure they'd established over five years of exploring primitive societies. They pretended Major Carter was Colonel O'Neill's wife to protect her from the roving gangs of other prisoners. However, they were not prisoners to the Goa'uld. They were livestock. I must beg my client's forgiveness for my bluntness, but a brood mare that does not reproduce has no value and will be 'put down.' To buy time to plan their escape, they were forced to make their pretense real. They did it right regardless of the regulations they broke. They came home alive," he argued placing forceful emphasis on the last word before sitting down signaling the end of his opening statement. As soon as he returned to his seat, he leaned over and murmured an apology for his blunt, but necessary, words to Sam who murmured the forgiveness he'd asked for with an understanding smile.

"General Moore, you may call your first witness," Pierce ordered.

"Prosecution calls Dr. Daniel Jackson," Colonel Rivers said. Janet squeezed his hand as Daniel once again rose from his seat in the gallery and took the stand. Rivers swore Daniel in as a witness then asked him to describe his last mission with the defendants. Next he questioned Daniel about the notebook that was obviously the center-piece of the prosecution's case. Daniel identified it as the notebook Sam had been carrying when she and O'Neill had been captured and confirmed that she'd handed it to him on their return through the Stargate. He was asked to confirm the handwriting was indeed that of O'Neill and Carter. The defense objected more out of form than anything else.

"Overruled," Pierce decided. "Dr. Jackson is certainly familiar with his teammates' handwriting."

"Dr. Jackson, please read the underlined passages," Rivers requested.

Daniel nodded as he adjusted his glasses to rest more comfortably on the bridge of his nose. He cleared his throat then began to read passages from the journal. The passages Colonel Rivers had marked for Daniel to read had obviously been carefully chosen to highlight the emotions of their relationship and not the reasons behind it. The final entry in the journal he had Daniel read was the letter of good bye his colleagues had left for him.

Dear Daniel,
There's a lot Jack and I want to tell you. The most important is thank you. Thank you for being our friend. You're enriched our lives so much over the years. You've made us better people. That's why if the twins survive and we don't, we want you and Janet to raise them. Jack doesn't have any close family, and well, you know how Mark feels about the military. We want them to be raised by people who knew both of us, and by someone who can tell them, if not how we died at least why. Why we chose to serve our country. You'll know what to say when they ask about us, Daniel. You usually do. You'll...

Daniel paused to clear his throat, but when he continued his voice was still clogged with emotion.

You'll make a wonderful father for J.D. and Gina.

Jack and I have one final order for you and Teal'c. Don't feel guilty about what's happened. We were doing our jobs. We knew the risk we were taking. It was the right decision, and you and Teal'c made the right decision in staying hidden. There was nothing you could have done to stop this. We regret nothing.

Sam and Jack

"Thank you, Doctor Jackson," Colonel Rivers said as he retrieved the journal from Daniel.

"Cross examination," the judge commanded.

There was an intense frown on his face as Admiral Chegwidden slowly stood. "Doctor Jackson," A.J. said addressing the younger man. "As their teammate, have you ever seen Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill act in a way that would indicate their feelings for one another were less more professional?"

Daniel took a deep breath before carefully answering, "Due to the nature of our work, our team has become very close. If you're asking if I've ever seen any indication of a sexual relationship between them before this, no. They're friendly colleagues. I know they work very hard to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

"Please describe the incident with the entity that invaded the base mainframe," A.J. requested. Through their discussions, the JAG lawyers had decided that this incident would be key in proving to the members of the court that prior to their captivity on Panersh, O'Neill and Carter had always behaved in a professional manner even under the most difficult of circumstances. It would also serve to show just how outside of the normal realm of military operations the SGC was. When Daniel ended his story with O'Neill shooting Carter with the zat twice, Chegwidden asked, "What is the significance of that, Doctor Jackson?"

"The first shot with a zat stuns. The second generally kills," he answered. "The third disintegrates."

"Major Carter survived," Chegwidden pointed out.

"Her body survived," Daniel dis agreed. "The consciousness inside, the entity, was destroyed. We...we thought she was brain dead. We were about to take her off life support when she somehow managed to communicate with us. It had put her inside the mainframe. We took her body down to the 'nest' and somehow she was able to put herself back into her body."

Daniel continued to answer questions posed by the admiral for several more hours before A.J. finally announced, "I have no further questions for this witness at this time."

Pierce checked his watch. "It's late," he declared. "We'll adjourn for the day and begin with the prosecution's next witness tomorrow morning at eight." With that pronouncement he banged his gavel and dismissed court for the day.