"So the plan is to rescue Cassie," Jack reminded Riley and Jesse, as they began to strap on their weapons, under their cloaks. "That's it. No heroics or other plans."

"Gotcha," Riley said, as they trotted down to the edge of the ramp, as the gate started to dial. "We'll take care of the guards."

"Guards?"

"Yeah, there about five to ten of them." The gate opened and Riley touched the device. "Okay, we're ready. We'll clear the way." They then blurred up the gate and were through to the other side. On the other side, they encountered fifteen armed Jaffa, but they easily took them out. "See, nothing to it."

"Yeah, show off," Jesse said, as they stood next to the D.H.D., waiting for O'Neill and Carter to come through the gate. "Are you sure that they were behind us?"

"Yeah." Just then Jack and Sam came through the gate. "See, I told ya. You didn't have to worry."

"I wasn't worrying."

"Yes, you were."

"Was not."

"Hey, stop arguing," Jack said, as they came up to them, and shot a glance around at the Jaffa. "Hmm, only five to ten?"

"Yeah, they put more guards on the gate since I've last been through."

"It looks like more than that," Carter said, as she pointed to the huge base not but ten clicks from the gate.

"Apophis," Jesse said, as she turned to look at them. "We are the only ones who can rescue Cassie. He's probably got her in a place surrounded by force fields. We can go through them without any trouble. We just need someone to watch the gate."

"That'll be us."

"Sorry, but this is the way it has to be." She and Riley then took off for the base.

"Okay."

Back on Earth, Ethan and Daniel were having a hard time keeping Katie occupied. She kept on looking for Jesse and Riley. They didn't dare tell her that they had gone to get Cassie and left her. In the end, Janet brought them a Barbie DVD for her to watch. Never knowing what or who Barbie was, Katie sat down to watch it and soon was addicted to it.

It didn't take long for Riley and Jesse to get into the base. They ducked behind a pillar as a squadron of Jaffa marched by. "We should find her quickly and get the hell out of here," Riley whispered to Jesse, as they peeked out to see if the coast was clear.

"Right," Jesse answered, as they pulled on their hoods and headed off down the corridor. "I hope this is the right way." Riley shot her a look that got her to smile. "Oh, course this is the right way. It's the way to Cassie. Now all we have to do is find her."

They slipped into a large chamber and came to a stop at the sight in front of them. Apophis stood in the middle of the chamber with Cassie in front of him on her knees. Riley grabbed Jesse's arm and pulled her behind a sarcophagus. "I am very upset with you," Apophis yelled at Cassie, as he raised up his hand to reveal a hand device. "You have betrayed me. Now is the time for you to suffer the punishment."

"I have not betrayed you, My Lord, " Amonet said, as she struggled to get out of the restraints that held her arms to her side. "I have always been loyal to you."

"You helped the Tau'ri escape. You have betrayed me." He then placed the hand device on her head and she let out a scream as he used it upon her.

"God, no!" Jesse cried out, and Riley quickly covered her mouth. Tears gathered in their eyes as they watched Cassie's life less body fall to the floor. "No." Jesse then buried her face into Riley's shoulder. "No."

"We have to go," Riley whispered to her, as he started to pull her towards the door.

"Stop!" Apophis ordered them. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing, My Lord," Riley answered, as Jesse kept her head down, as Apophis came up to them.

"Why are you here?"

"We came to see to Amonet, My Lord," Jesse said, as she looked over at Cassie.

"My Jaffa will take care of the body. You are dismissed."

"Yes, My Lord." They then turned and walked out of the chamber. As soon as they were out of his sight, they took off in a run. "Man, that was close."

"Yeah, a little too close," Riley said, as he stopped short and slipped into another cahmber.

"Riley?" Jesse followed him into what looked like a laboratory and she got chills. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna blow up their lab." He started mixing some of the liquids together and threw a vial of the orange serum at them. In seconds it caught on fire, and soon half the chamber was up in flames. "Okay, now would be a good time for us to go."

"Yeah." They then blurred out of the base, only to have Jesse stop at what looked like a rather large bonfire.

"Jesse? What is it?" Riley asked, as he came up to her side as she took a step towards the fire. "Jesse?"

Jesse shot a glance around and turned to face him. "Notice anything strange?" Riley looked around and then shrugged. "Where is everybody?"

"I don't know." Jesse then looked closer at the fire. "Jess?"

"Oh, my god. It's the slaves. They're burning the bodies."

"What?" Riley looked at the fire and saw the bodies that were in it. "You're right, they are burning the bodies. Probably getting rid of the evidence."

"I think they killed them off in trying to make the perfect host."

"Yeah. In trying to find the perfect host, they have annihilated the human race. Leaving them with no slaves at all." Jesse then turned to face Riley with tears in her eyes. "You could not have known this was gonna happen to them, pet. We don't have the time to moarn for them now. We have to go. Your mom and dad are waiting for us."

"I know." She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand, as she took one more glance at the fire. "But we will honor them."

"Yes, we well. Let's go." They then blurred off for the gate, leaving the fire behind them.

Jack and Carter looked up as Jesse and Riley rushed back to them with tears in their faces. "What's wrong?" Carter asked, as they bent to catch their breaths.

"Cassie's dead," Riley reported, as he shot a glance over their shoulder to see the base blow up. "We really should be going."

"Cassie's dead?" Jack asked, as they headed back towards the gate. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we're sure," Jesse said, as she blurred ahead to take out the armed guard on the gate. "Positive."

"How?"

"Apophis killed her."

"Okay." Riley touched the symbols on the device, and they went through.

The moment they were back on Earth, they were greeted by General Hammond, Daniel, Teal'c, Ethan, and Katie. Jesse blurred off as soon as her feet hit the ramp, leaving them behind to explain what had happened. "What happened?" Hammond asked them, as they walked down the ramp. Riley then took Katie from Ethan and she gave him a hug, as she told him what she did today.

"Cassie didn't make it," Riley whispered, only to have both Katie and Ethan break out into tears. "Ethan, why don't you take Katie . I need to talk to them about what happened."

"Okay, Riley," Ethan said, as he took Katie from him and they headed for the door. "Come on, Katie. Let's go watch some more of those DVDS."

"Okay," she whispered to him, as she buried her face in his shoulder. "I miss Cassie."

"Yeah, so do I."

"What are DVDs?" Riley asked Daniel and got a smile out of him. "Okay, back to the topic at hand. We were too late to rescue Cassie. Apophis killed her with a hand device right in front of us. We couldn't have done anything. We then blew up his base."

"Okay. There will be a debriefing in one hour." Hammond then left to go to his office.

"I'm gonna go find Jesse. She took this pretty hard." Riley then took off looking for her only to find her beating the tar out of the punching bag in the weight room. "Hey." She slammed her fist straight through the bag. "Are you okay?"

"No, Riley, I'm not." She then dropped to the floor as the tears began to fall and wrapped her arms around her knees. Riley sat down next to her and pulled her close. She laid her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "They didn't deserve to die. We saved them from death only to have them die at the hands of the Goa'uld. It's like what we did, doesn't matter. We failed, Riley. The four of us are probably the only humans left from our time. We have no place to go. We have no home."

"I know." He gently tightened his grip on her. "I'm sure there are other humans out there. We surely aren't the only ones who are left. I know that they were the ones we had saved before, but I think that they were grateful that we saved them when we did. We didn't have any idea that he would find them. We had thought that was a safe planet. They are in a better place right now."

"I know that." She looked up into his eyes and she smiled. "I want to ask the General if we can do a ceremony to honor them."

"You should. It sounds like a great idea." Riley then shot a glance over to the door to see Katie standing there. "Hello, little one." Katie shot him a smile as she ran over to their sides. "What happened to Ethan?"

"He fell asleep watching the DVD."

"Oh, so you left him?" Jesse asked her, as she climbed into her lap and curled up into her chest.

"Did Cassie suffer?"

"No, pet, she didn't suffer." Jesse tucked back a loose strand of her hair behind an ear. "No, she didn't suffer at all. She's in a better place."

"What will happen to us?"

"I don't know. We'll figure that out soon enough."

TBC