Jonas saw the team off so it wasn't hard for Jack to catch up with him. The colonel took him aside and asked, "So, why don't you want to go?"

The other man shrugged and gave a fairly weak smile. "The major is new to the X-33 and it's systems.. If trouble arises, she won't know what to do."

Jack smiled back but his was of the smug variety. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." he replied and started to walk off but then stopped and turned back. "On second thought, that's exactly what you should do."

When the team arrived in a deserted section of Loki's ship, Sam established an open comm link with Heimdall. There had been some debate about which ship to do this with but, in the end, the team agreed that the Asgard would have a better chance of rescuing them if it came to that and would have a better idea where Thor and the others were being kept in any case. Jack and Oz were armed with P-90's while Sam and Teal'c were carrying zats. Each team member also possessed an assortment of grenades: flash, smoke, and explosive charge. Sam also carrying a packet of C-4.

Jack motioned with his hand for the team to follow him down the corridor. When they reached a fork, Heimdall informed Sam to take a left. "There are Asgard life signs 2.5 meters down this corridor on the left." she added.

"Are there any Jaffa in the area?" Teal'c asked. Though always vigilant, the former First Prime of Apophis seemed to become more so as they neared the door.

"Sensors detect two Jaffa at the door itself and two more another five meters down the corridor and approaching." Heimdall responded.

As expected they saw two Jaffa just before they reached the door. Oz rolled a smoke grenade at them which detonated right on cue. "Alright!" he whispered as the Jaffa began to cough. Jack and Teal'c used the confusion to take them out.

"Two Jaffa are approaching your position." Heimdall reported over the radio.

Jack motioned for Sam to open the door and for the other two men to cover her.

The major was still working on it when, sure enough, two Jaffa came within view.

Teal'c wasted no time pulling the pin on an explosive grenade and tossing overhand right at them. As soon as the explosive knocked the guards off balance, Teal'c blasted them with his zat.

Alarms began to sound all around them. "Several Jaffa readings approaching your position." Heimdall reported. This brought a goofy expression to Jack's face but he said nothing. Because she didn't have a visual the Asgard continued, "The nearest to are 4.7 meters to your northwest. I estimate your position will be compromised in 5 minutes."

Loki must have been screwing with the sensors again because Jaffa appeared much sooner than that. In fact, not two minutes later, the team was surrounded with three Jaffa on either side of the corridor.

One of the Jaffa that had come up behind them fired his staff weapon. Oz couldn't react quick enough and was hit in the chest near his left shoulder. The blast detonated one of Oz's flash grenades he had strapped near it. The flash blinded not only Oz but Jack and two of the Jaffa as well.

Teal'c shot the two blinded Jaffa but was shot himself from the other side.

While her teammates were falling like flies all around her, Sam managed to open the door. Thor emerged into the chaos of the corridor followed by 3 other Asgard Sam had never met.

"Heimdall, we need emergency beam up now!" Sam yelled as she watched Jack, still blinded from the flash, hurl a explosive grenade before taking a staff weapon blast in the lower back.

The explosion took out one and distracted another enough for Sam to blast him but there was still one Jaffa on either side of them. "Major Carter, I can't beam you out while the shields are up."

Sam rolled her eyes. Of course not. She pondered just surrendering but she was distracted by Thor giving one of the other Asgard a signal and that one rubbing two of his fingers together.

Less then two seconds later, the alarms got louder and were accompanied by sweeping red beams of light. "The shields just dropped! Beaming you all up now!" Heimdall exclaimed rather excitedly.

The team and the Asgard that were formerly held prisoner were all enveloped in a beam of light.

Jack awoke in a strange bed. It was clearly a medical facility but but it wasn't at the SGC and that wasn't Janet Fraiser over in the corner unless she was now several inches shorter and had shaved her head. Carter was sitting at his side. "Good morning, sir." she greeted warmly.

"Carter, I'm guessing I'm in an infirmary on an Asgard vessel. Why? The last thing I remember was being blind and getting shot in the back."

Sam smiled. "The Asgard were able to repair the damage to your optic nerve caused by the flash and obviously healed your wound."

"Teal'c and Oz?"

"Teal'c has recovered from getting shot himself thanks to his symbiote and has returned to the Prometheus."

"And Oz?" Jack asked again.

Sam hesitated. "Oz's wound has been healed but, because he was closer to the flash than you were, he..he's still blind sir."

"Explain."

"His optic nerve was too badly damaged to fix."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Major, but can't the Asgard clone him a new optic nerve?"

Sam shook her head. "In order to get a proper scan for the cloning process, they tell me they'd have to remove a healthy one from one of us and then put it back. None of the medical staff here has preformed that kind of surgery on one of their own species let alone a human and, therefore, confident they can pull that off. Sir."

Jack laid back on his pillow and blinked. "How did we get off that ship, Carter?"

Sam had been expecting that question but didn't have an answer. "Somehow, Thor set off some kind of explosive that blew up the shield generator but he won't tell me how he set it off or why he didn't just do that earlier." Jack looked like he needed to sleep so she told him so and got up to leave.

"Oh, Carter!" He called after her. "Is Loki still out there?"

The last thing he heard before he drifted off to sleep was Carter saying, "Yes he is, sir."

Jack was released from the infirmary a couple hours later and returned to the Prometheus. He had wanted to talk to Thor but Freyr old him that his Supreme Commander was unavailable at the time but would get in touch with him as soon as he was able.

The bridge was as he left it with the exception that Jonas had moved to the helm station in Oz's absence.

As he sat down in the command chair a hologram of Thor appeared. "O'Neill. On behalf of the Asgard High Council we would like to thank you for your assistance in helping us deal with Loki."

"Isn't he still out there?"

Thor nodded. "This is true but we have another vessel arriving in a few minutes to help us. Your task was to delay Loki until we arrived. You have done so and more. We thank you."

Jack gave in. As much as he liked to argue, it seemed pointless to continue this discussion.

Before Thor left, he said one more thing. "We have given you some medical information that may help your Dr. Fraiser treat your friend. Until we meet again, Take care O'Neill." With that, the hologram vanished.