A/N: So here we go again. This story is unrelated to the Nine Lives Universe. Although it's always possible Thor will make a Cameo appearance. I haven't settled on a season yet, only that Daniel is alive in the flesh, Janet's not dead, Sam's a Major, and Jack is still a Colonel in charge of SG-1 (I still can't make myself let go of the old dynamic and grasp the new one lol, and Sam was a Major when I started watching SG-1. So for now I'm gonna say we're set in either season five or seven pre Heroes. Will see what happens as the story progresses.

Anyway... Stargate is on my christmas list for this year so hopefully, the people tha own it now will see that I will take really good care of them and let me have them 'cos I been really good this past year. I swear.

Chapter One: An Unusual Toaster

The device sat on Major Samantha Carter's lab table, deep beneath the surface of the US Air Force's Cheyenne Mountain base. It was innocuous looking enough, small, gray and rectangular with no real markings on it. Well about as innocuous looking as a piece of alien technology could look sitting on a table in a top secret facility that most of the people of the planet Earth knew nothing about.

The tall blonde Major peered closely at the device again, before turning back to her laptop and typing a bit more, a frown creasing her usually smooth features and making her brow furrow as she was lost deep in thought.

"Hey, Carter! You figure out that alien toaster yet? It is a toaster right?" The sudden loud voice caused Major Carter's head to lift up quickly, and she turned to greet her superior officer.

"Sorry sir, I don't know what it is, although, I'm pretty sure it's not a toaster." The last she added with a duck of her head to hide the small smile that was teasing at the corners of her mouth.

Colonel Jack O'Neill's face fell. "It's not?"

Sam shook her head, still hiding her smile. "No sir, I'm not sure what it is, but I'm sure it's not a toaster."

"Well if you are sure." O'Neill stuffed his hands in his pockets and bounced up on the balls of his feet, then back down. "Sooo…. Lunch? I heard there's cake." He looked positively hopeful.

Sam couldn't hide her smile any more, and opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the arrival of Daniel and Teal'c.

"Greetings O'Neill, Major Carter." Teal'c inclined his head solemnly to the both of them, and stood by the doorway, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Hey Sam, Jack." Daniel Jackson entered the room behind the large, dark alien man and his eyes lit on Sam's lab bench. He frowned at the object, moving to stand next to her. "Is that…"

Knowing what he was asking, Sam finished his question, "The object that SG-9 brought back from P35-789? That's the one." She moved over a little bit giving him some space to take a better look.

"When they said no markings, they meant no markings didn't they?" Daniel leaned in, peering closely at the object in question. It was about the same size as a toaster, Sam had to give the Colonel that much, but there, the resemblance ended. The object was totally smooth. It was vaguely rectangular in shape, and nearly unblemished. It was completely lacking in any sort of opening, and there were no discernable levers, dials, knobs or buttons. In fact, Sam couldn't even see a seam on the thing. Even the edges were softly rounded, no evidence of having been joined together. She could see no way to even access any internal parts. That is if the object in question had any internal parts.

Scientist mode in full swing now, enhanced by the interest of her colleague and friend, Sam easily tuned out everything else in the room, up to and including her increasingly impatient CO and one passive Jaffa, skillfully hiding amusement. "Yes, that's what I thought too, but if you look here," and Carter deftly flipped the object holding it out to the archeologist, pointing to a small barely perceptible mark on what was otherwise an unmarred surface, "It looks like it's a scratch of some sort, but so far the material seem impervious to any attempt I've made at damaging it."

Daniel adjusted his glasses, still peering closely at the object. Despite the lack of some sort of alien text or symbols, or maybe it was in spite of the lack, Daniel was intrigued, and Sam's enthusiasm was always infections. "So that would mean that either the material is so strong, it took something of incredible force to mar it, or…"

"The scratch is intentional, I know." Sam finished Daniel's sentence again, and Daniel straightened to regard her. "After I've finished analyzing the object for energy readings and run a few metallurgical scans, I was going to try some high powered magnification to see if…" Sam trailed off as the object she still held suddenly moved, being lifted out of her grasp. Only one person would have the audacity to attempt such a maneuver, and Sam reflexively tightened her grip on her precious bit of alien… something.

"Sir!" Sam turned to her CO, who stood on the other side of the table from her and had reached across, holding firmly onto the other end of the object, a determined look on his face.

"Carter, it's time for lunch. Now put the doohickey down and come eat with us. You can play after you've eaten. Both of you." The Colonel turned his stern gaze to include the often-errant archeologist, who had the remorse to at least look sheepish. After all, the Colonel had enlisted the aid of the other two men in prying Carter away from her lab and her shiny new alien toys and doohickeys.

Unwilling to give up quite so easily, Sam gave the object an experimental little tug. "Sir, why don't you go on ahead, I'll be right there, just as soon as I finish this last scan…" She attempted.

The Colonel interrupted her stalling. "I don't think so Carter, last time I let you go on that excuse you still hadn't shown up an hour later. So this time, no buts." He gave the object a tug back in return, and was surprised when his Major tightened her grip and leveled her gaze at him.

"Look, Sir, I really meant to go last time but…"

"Ah ah, I said no buts Carter! Lunchtime. Now. That's an order." And he gave the object a rather forceful tug for emphasis.

Unfortunately, at that moment, Major Samantha Carter had realized she would get nowhere with her CO, and had decided to cut her losses. Perhaps she could eat quickly and return sooner than he expected. She certainly wasn't saving any time by standing here and arguing with her superior. With that thought in mind, Sam Carter let go of the object with a sigh. The next several moments seemed to happen in slow motion and were to be imprinted on her mind for quite some time.

Not expecting the Major to acquiesce quite so readily, let alone let go of one of her precious doohickeys, Colonel O'Neill had been distinctly unprepared for the sudden change in forces. So he was quite surprised when the tug he'd given, which would have been adequate had the other end had still been anchored, came back at him with much more force than he'd expected, causing the smooth object to slip out of his hands and fly through the air while he backpedaled wildly, trying to regain his sudden lost balance.

The look on the Colonel's face, while he lurched backwards, pin wheeling his arms, might have been comical, but for the fact that no one was watching the Colonel. Instead, all eyes turned to track the progress of a silvery metallic object, as it tumbled through the air, striking first the corner of the table, and then landing with a resounding clang on the floor.

In the silence that followed, the slight rustle of fabric as Teal'c stepped forward and steadied the Colonel could be heard, as well as his sharp intake of breath when his appointment between his rear end and the floor was canceled by the Jaffa's well-timed rescue. The breath Major Carter had been holding made a soft whoosh, clearly audible. After several moments of tense silence one other sound could be heard. One that suddenly made all other sounds irrelevant. The new sound was an alien one. A high-pitched whine, emanating from the small, silvery metallic and vaguely toaster shaped object. And it was rapidly building in intensity.

Even as the Colonel shouted for everyone to take cover, already moving while he spoke, the pitch changed. Barely had the words left his mouth, his body only in mid turn, with the rest of the room's occupants in similar stages of motion, when a bright blue white flash was released from the object. The force of the energy wave blasted over the room and it's human occupants.

Just as suddenly, the flash dissipated, and the noise cut off as if a switch had been pulled.

When the first of the airmen responded to check out the energy discharge reportedly located in Major Carter's lab, they found the room in chaos. Papers and small objects were scattered around the moderately sized space as if a strong wind had blown them outwards, chairs were tipped over, and there was a small innocuous looking toaster sized object on the floor in the center of it all. The room was also notably empty of any living beings; there was not a single sign of SG-1 or anything else to indicate that the room had been occupied mere moments before.