"Melony?"

"Hmmm?"

"Wake up."

"Daniel, go back to sleep."

Daniel hadn't been sleeping; he'd been taking watch on the bridge, monitoring their progress, which had been good. Even in a ship like Fugly, though, you didn't cross the universe in a day.

"The ship is getting close to its destination and is going to drop out of hyperspace in a few minutes. You should probably be awake to greet the system lords."

Mitchell opened her eyes, looking over at him. Daniel was crouched down next to her bed so he was eye to eye with her, and his blue eyes looked just a little scared, even though the words he'd spoken had been calm enough. She reached out sleepily, and touched his cheek.

"It'll be okay."

"I know." He forced a smiled. "Wake up, though, okay? I don't speak Goa'uld all that well."

She nodded, and sat up, rubbing her face tiredly.

"How long?"

"About 6 minutes."

She nodded, and stood up, stretching to get the kinks out of her shoulders and neck. God, soon it'd be over and she could sleep in her own real bed, again!

[Or we'll be dead]

At least my back won't hurt, anymore.

[Baby]

She smiled and felt Talon working on the aches in her neck, and by the time she'd joined Daniel out on the bridge of the ship, she felt a lot better.

"We sent a message, right?"

"Yeah."

The SGC knew they were arriving at the ambush – er, meeting – sight, and would know to keep the area in the gate room closed off to all personnel.

"We should see Jack and the others in just a little while, then."

"Can't wait."

She smiled, and touched a panel on her command chair, bringing up the heads-up display.

"You should go to the back of the ship, Daniel. Get ready to activate the device."

He nodded.

"When I give you the word, I want you to go through it, no matter what else you see or hear. Understood?"

"But-"

"We're going to be using the explosion caused by the ship blowing up to power the device," she reminded him. "It's going to be close already. If you're not through and out of the way, there's a good chance the two of us will merge in the device and come out looking like some nasty inside out goo. So you need to be clear before I can go through, and that means going when I say to."

Daniel frowned, and yeah, he looked a bit pale – but he hadn't had a lot of sun lately, so that was part of it. She hoped.

"Just do it, Daniel. Okay?"

He nodded.

"You can count on me, Colonel Mitchell."

"I know."

She did know, too. He'd proven himself to be a lot more determined than she'd ever have expected him to be. And a far better companion.

"Good luck, Daniel."

"Back atya."

The archeologist stood up and headed for the back of the ship, putting on a headset so he could communicate with Mitchell. Yelling back and forth was another option, but this would be easier.

"Time to switch to German," she told him, switching from English to German easily. "Just in case they hear something while all the shields are down. We don't want them to know what's happening until it's too late for them to react."

"But they won't be able to listen in on the ship's communications," Daniel disagreed, also speaking German easily.

"They shouldn't be able to. But better safe than sorry. I don't want anyone to escape."

The ambush was about to start, but it wasn't the system lords doing the ambushing, no matter what they thought.

Daniel stood next to the device he was going to be triggering, looking at the large door-looking thing with no little trepidation. It was experimental. It hadn't been tested, and he was going to be the first one to go through it. Joy.

"Ready?"

He nodded, even though she couldn't see it.

"Yeah."

"We're dropping out of hyperspace... now."

................

"Are we ready, people?"

Hammond's voice broke through the soft murmuring that had filled the embarkation room. All eyes turned to him and most of the people there nodded.

"Everyone but the security teams are to fall back to a position right outside the door." Hammond ordered.

He watched as almost everyone obeyed him. Jack O'Neill, Brad Anderson, Teal'c and Samantha Carter being the exceptions. A moment later, Janet Fraiser came into the room, wearing a medical jacket and looking tense.

"Doctor, you should be in the hallway," Hammond said, ignoring Jack and the others for the moment.

"It's possible they'll be hurt, General," Fraiser said. "If they are, I'll be needed immediately, and won't be able to get through the crowd at the doorway to get to them."

Hammond frowned, but he nodded, and gestured to a spot by the wall that was well clear of the area that Mitchell had taped off on the floor, and was also behind the security team.

"Have one team of medics there, Doctor. There isn't room for any more than that."

She nodded, and gestured for her trauma team to come into the room, and positioned them in the place Hammond had designated as hers.

Hammond turned to Jack and the others.

"You're not staying there, Colonel."

"I need to be close, Sir. Just in case."

"In case of what?" Hammond asked, trying to be understanding, but unable to see what Jack could do to help. "If they're hurt, you'll just be in the way. If they're not hurt, you're still going to have to wait to see them until the doctors make sure they're all right."

"But I-"

"Stand by the wall, Colonel – all of you." Hammond said. He was too anxious to argue. He looked over at Jacob Carter and saw the Tok'ra looked just as worried as everyone else in the room. It was a great idea, but God, he hated the danger involved. Not to mention, he didn't like having the iris open. It could be closed, however, if someone actually tried to activate the Stargate. They knew Daniel Jackson and Colonel Mitchell weren't coming through the gate, after all.

"On your toes, people." Hammond said. "When it happens, it'll probably be without much warning."

Guns were raised, and the medics all tensed. They were set.

Jack frowned, his eyes on the area that had been taped off. He didn't know what to expect any more than anyone else did. All he knew was that Mitchell had sent him a message, telling him they were on their last jump and it'd all come to a head in about three hours. That had been about three hours ago.

"They'll be fine," Sam said, reaching out and taking Brad's hand and squeezing it, reassuringly.

He nodded, but he didn't say anything. He was as pale as Jack felt.