A/N: I'VE FINISHED MY THESIS AND HANDED IT IN!

You have no idea how wonderful this feels… that damned thing ruled my life for the past 9 months and now it's all over! Très mucho molto exciting! (needed three languages to express it – it's so exciting!)
Hopefully I'll be able to post more often, and since I'm getting near then end now I'm really exciting about writing it – it's all planned out! Mind you, not all my course work is finished… I've got an essay due tomorrow, a 30 minute presentation in 10 days and a 5000 word essay due in a month… but hey, if I can do a thesis, I can do anything, right?

Thank you ALL for the wonderful reviews! I'm so glad you liked my action packed double-post! Thanks especially to those who reviewed both chapters individually, very cool!

Ok, on with the show… thanks to BookWorm who helped with an issue in this chapter. Oh, final thing: I think I've worked all the kinks out, but if some of the expression or sentence structure seems weird, I've been reading/writing in French all day. So when it came to write this, I was a bit linguistically confused and my English suffered – I think it's ok though!

Chapter XXII – Cover story

The remaining members of SG1 and assorted SGC personnel had all been waiting somewhat impatiently with their Australian counterparts for any news of Jack and Sam. General Marty had been in the communication tent, but was now taking purposeful strides back up the couple of hundred metres to the transportation site, satellite phone in his hand. Everyone turned to look at him expectantly as his strained breathing brought them out of their thoughts.

"Mr Teal'c," he said somewhat warily, holding the phone out as far as his arm would let him. "Your General Hammond would like a word."

If Teal'c was surprised, or even amused, by the strange appellation, he didn't show it. He did, however, share a quick glance with Jonas. "General Hammond," he had managed to take the phone from General Marty's shaking hand and was now concentrating intently on the fuzzy connection provided by Earth's primitive technology.

"Teal'c, it's Jacob."

"Jacob Carter, I hope you are well." Teal'c bowed subconsciously, even though he was talking on the phone and Jacob certainly couldn't see the gest. He listened to the Tok'ra's concerned voice for a couple of seconds before interrupting. "Indeed we have successfully contained Turramulli and expect to see both Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter shortly."

At that very moment, Jack's voice boomed out of the Tok'ra communication device. "Helloooo? You guys all still there?"

Jonas scrambled to respond quickly. "Yes Colonel," he was looking at Teal'c, trying to catch the gist of what Sam's dad was saying through the jaffa's responses. "Teal'c?" he finally realised that Jack had asked him a question. "Uh, he's talking to Sam's dad… yeah, he's at the SGC… I dunno, hang on." Jonas let his hand fall slightly as he looked to Teal'c. "What's Jacob doing here?"

Before Teal'c could answer, there was the rushing noise of wind and a strange funnel of air seemed to come up from the ground, accompanied by a bright blue light. Where there had been nothing before, Sam and Jack now appeared, both looking somewhat the worse for wear, but happy to see the outside world again.

"Gimme that. This whole relaying of messages is ridiculous…" Jack snatched the phone out of Teal'c's hands. "Dad! Nice you could make it to the party! You missed the show though – Carter took on the big bad wolf and won…"

Sam stood next to Jack patiently as he joked around with her father, only realising after a good couple of minutes that they were still holding hands. Abruptly, she pulled hers away, instantly missing the reassuring feel of his fingers. She looked furtively around the group to see if anyone had noticed, and blushed as she saw Jonas looking at her quizzically. Jack had decided to leave the cave so abruptly they hadn't even had a chance to talk about… them. It was all so confusing, and now they were amongst their friends and colleagues again, having not really settled any of the tension that had been so apparent as the mission began.

Feeling the need to re-take control of her life – or the situation at least – she reached out, asking Jack silently for the phone. He caught her eye and winked at her before wrapping up his witty repartee with Jacob and offering it to her.

Jonas again found himself wondering about Jack and Sam as he watched them. It looked like they'd been through hell, but the relaxed stance they both adopted, and the way Sam had seemed so comfortable, her hand within Jack's clasp, suggested that in fact they were now in a better way than they had been before becoming trapped in the cavern. Seeing Jack look at him warningly, he snapped out of his musings and returned to business.

"Colonel," he began, "this is General Marty, you've already spoken."

Jack rolled his eyes so imperceptibly that only Sam would have been able to detect it, before saluting to the General. "Good to finally meet you sir," he said automatically, already thinking of something else.

"That it is Colonel." General Marty replied gravely. "Good work down there. I understand it the situation is now under control?"

"Yeah, piece o' cake." Jack cast his eye off to the distance and saw the myriad of lights emanating off the desert floor. "Sheesh – couldn't really say the same for you, eh? What's going on down there?" Jack stood in awe of the apparent chaos that covered much of the desert. He suddenly gained new appreciation for the General's difficult position and understood the reasoning behind the caustic tone of voice he had adopted while speaking to them through the Tok'ra communicator.

General Marty turned around and sighed audibly. "That, Colonel," he began slowly, "is possibly an even bigger problem than your 'gould' thingies." He motioned to different areas of the disparate blanket of lights covering the desert. "Over there are most of the general public, tourists, people from the Alice, etc. Over there," he pointed to a new batch of lights, "that's the pack of bikers – no idea what they're doing here… but hey." He shrugged tiredly. "And last, but oh so definitely not least," he pointed to the most intense placement of lights, "that's the media circus – so named for good reason. Since the little light show you put on while getting Turramulli back in his cave, they've all been talking to the conspiracy theorists – apparently the general consensus is that aliens have invaded the Earth."

Jack let a smile tug at his lips before he remembered why the situation was possibly not that good. "What have you told them?"

"For the moment we're still sticking to the 'tourist accident' story – but it's not looking to credible considering the entire rock just glowed a couple of different colours before flashing a bright white light." General Marty smiled at the look of surprise on Jack's face at this news.

"You're telling me all this glowed different colours?" he looked around him in the dark, barely able to make out the difference between the rock and the air in the blackness of night.

"Not only that, but there was an almighty earthquake and some god-awful thunder-like roar – I'm guessing that was our monster." He added.

"So what are you going to tell them?" Jack asked, wondering how in the hell they were ever going to explain the mountainous national icon's disco tendencies.

"No idea." The Aussie stated soberly. "You can't have made things better with your bright blue arrival either…" he paused, before smiling at Jack. "At least I'm getting used to this sudden appearance and disappearance of people – if you'd done that to me a couple of hours ago I probably would've fallen off the side of the rock."

"Yeah," Jack nodded as he held his gaze, watching the blinking lights of the media activity. He was growing to like the General – who was after all just an old dog who had needed time to get used to the idea of little green – or grey – men. "You wait 'til they start beaming you places without even asking…" He added mischievously. "One minute you're happily standing there, having a conversation with someone, and then baff," he clicked his fingers, "you're on a freaky alien vessel trying to shoot an army of robotic spiders."

Jack looked back towards Sam as he thought of their experience on Thor's ship a couple of years earlier. He had been trying in vain to get her to go fishing with him, but being Carter, she'd preferred to stay at the SGC. He wondered if she'd make the same decision now. They hadn't had a chance to really think about the future… he was just as lost as he'd ever been on that front. He subconsciously rubbed his empty hand against the fabric of his jacket. He already missed the touch of her skin against his – it had been almost painful when she'd hastily drawn her hand away. Sighing inwardly, he made a resolution to follow her lead for the moment, and turned his attention back to his conversation with the austere Australian standing next to him.

General Marty tried to keep his balance as he felt the blood drain out of his face. The thought of actually using any of the alien technology, let alone fighting robotic spiders, was still really too much for him to bear.

Jack saw the older man's reaction to his comments and chuckled slightly before rescuing him from having to respond. "So, we need a cover story for the public then?" He was relieved to see the Aussie General recover enough to nod. "No idea."

"Actually Sir, uh, Sirs," Stacey had been listening in on the conversation and now moved closer to Jack and General Marty, waiting for the permission to speak. They both directed their attention to her and she continued. "I think I've come up with a way to at least get the media off the conspiracy theories…" She fiddled uncertainly before continuing, not entirely comfortable with the idea.

"Captain?" Jack asked expectantly.

"Well," Stacey hesitated again, seeing that she had the full attention of most people present. "I know that it's a bit of an unlikely idea, but what if we attributed the heavy military presence to a severe terrorist threat?" She flinched slightly, expecting some kind of reaction. Most people just seemed not to understand, however, and waited for her to continue. "It's not that far-fetched," she continued, gaining momentum, "this is, after all, one of Australia's most recognised landmarks – and it carries a great deal of loaded cultural heritage as well, both of the colonial population and the aborigines."

"Um… and the lights?" Jack had a feeling that Stacey was not that unlike Sam, maybe even Daniel. He had a feeling she was going somewhere with her suggestion, but much like with Sam's ideas, he was hopeless to make the connection himself.

"Well, this is where it gets a bit iffy," Stacey admitted, "but from what I know about Major Carter, I think we'll be able to figure something out…" The continuing blank look on Jack – and everyone else's faces – spurred her to continue. Only Sgt Siler seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Out of the corner of her eye, Stacey saw him motion to Sam to come over. "I don't know a lot about science," she looked nervously at Sam, knowing the approaching woman was an expert on almost anything scientific, "but I do seem to remember that when burned, different chemicals can give off different colours." She saw Sam nod quickly in confirmation. "So if there was, theoretically, an advanced terrorist bomb – or series of bombs – somewhere in or around Uluru, then we could postulate that their explosion would cause a light show similar to the one we've seen. Oh!" Something else occurred to her. "And the bolts of lightening could be something to do with a funky electro-magnetic field… and the earthquakes just explosions. So," she concluded, now looking around fearfully to see what everyone's reaction would be, "We could say that we've been diffusing terrorist devices – it's hopefully at least plausible enough that most people will discount the conspiracy theories as lunacy."

Jack tried to digest everything that Stacey had just said. For all he knew, what she was describing could actually happen. As he usually did, he turned to Sam for help. "Is what she said plausible?" He tried to keep his voice normal, but noticed a slight softness to it, just because he was talking to her especially. Somewhere in his mind, he hoped no-one noticed.

"Scientifically? Not really…" Sam seemed to be pondering all the possibilities very carefully. "There's no way a bomb – or even a series of bombs – could cause Uluru to glow."

"You might know that Carter, and a couple of scientists might no that," Jack rolled his eyes, "But me and every other mug out there would probably believe it!"

"You should give yourself more credit sir," Sam smiled at Jack, "but in general, I think you're probably right – we could get some of the team back at the SGC to come up with something a little more specific and concrete."

"Um Major?" Stacey's voice squeaked out timidly. "I know this was my idea, but I actually feel a bit uncomfortable about the ethics involved."

"Ethics?" Jack didn't protest rudely, but was still intrigued by the promising Australian's statement. "You really are like Daniel," he added under his breath. He felt Sam brush her hand against the back of his arm as he said this and caught her eye – she had apparently been thinking the same thing.

"Yes sir, ethics." Stacey said more firmly, sure that she had to make this point. "I don't think it's morally right to invoke insecurity and terrorism for any political cause…" she glanced at General Marty nervously, wondering if she was going to get in trouble for essentially espousing a point of view that was contrary to the government's demonstrated practices. "And quite frankly," she continued nevertheless, "I feel uncomfortable crying wolf."

"I do not believe your proposed course of action involved wild canine creatures, Captain Hindmarsh." Teal'c spoke before Sam, Jack or Jonas had a chance to translate for him.

"I mean pretend," Stacey responded without batting an eyelid. "It's a figure of speech based on a popular fable."

This off the bat response caused Jack to look at her thoughtfully. First showing innovation not unlike Sam and Daniel, now speaking to Teal'c as if he just any other person – she hadn't even smiled at the amusing comment – it occurred to him that she would be a good addition to the SGC.

"I understand your point of view," Sam glanced at Jack as she spoke, pre-empting any comment he would be apt to make about priorities. "But I honestly don't think we have a choice – unless we want to go for full disclosure. From what Dad and General Hammond have been telling me, everything that's happening is being transmitted all over the world."

"Ah yes," Jack took the opportunity to change the subject, reorienting them back to the task at hand. They could leave the media circus to someone else from here on. "What did Jacob have to say?"

"He's got word from Tok'ra sources in both Anubis and Baal's ranks." Sam readopted her businesslike demeanour. "Apparently Baal is somewhat subordinate to Anubis-"

"Well that's worrying…" Jack mused, interrupting her.

"Actually sir, they're not getting on too well at the moment." Sam rectified, her voice somewhat brighter with this news. "Apparently Baal went behind Anubis' back in his quest for the naquada – and now that Thor is 'escorting' Baal into Anubis' territory, there's probably going to be some kind of reprisal."

"So where does that leave us?" General Marty butted in, trying his best to ignore the worrying mention of strangely-named aliens.

"For the moment sir," Sam continued what she was going to say, "Earth is safe. But," she added reluctantly, turning back to Jack, as this concerned the SGC more than it did the Australians. "The Tok'ra spies are pretty sure that Anubis is currently planning something big – they just don't know what."

"Bah…" Jack waved his arm lazily in the air. "What's new?"

General Marty sensed the conversation had ventured into territory that didn't concern him – and quite frankly, he would be entirely happy not knowing about it. "Colonel, Major," he nodded to both Sam and Jack expectantly. "About the men down in the cavern…"

"Oh yeah!" Jonas suddenly became enthused, remembering all the inscriptions Jack had described on the cavern walls. "Can we go down and have a look? What about Fodor? D'you know how the-d"

"A-ah!" Jack held his hand up, bringing a halt to the flurry of questions. "Yes, yes, yes." He looked to Sam, suddenly realising something. "We didn't even tell Fodor we were leaving… we should get back down there I guess."

They all walked to wards the transportation site, Stacey and Sam talking animatedly as they led the way.

"You should get in contact with Dr. Lee back at the SGC," Sam was saying, "And I know a couple of other people who could help manufacture something credible. Will you be dealing with this?"

"Oh no," Stacey began, "we've got guys in…" she trailed off from what she was saying, suddenly feeling a strange buzzing sensation from below her. They're reached the transportation site. It was actually the first time she had walked within the circle, as it had previously been cordoned off.

She was so stunned by the sensation that the walkie-talkie she had got out of her vest to talk to the communications tent slipped from her fingers and to the ground. Warily, spooked by the strange sensation now encompassing her entire body, she bent down to pick it up. When her hand was almost level from the ground, she felt a strange desire to push it into the earth, to press it as far into the coarse gravel that covered Uluru as was possible. The last thing she heard before the roaring wind filled her ears and the blinding iridescent blue invaded her vision, was the surprised exclamations of both Sam and Jack, who had jumped back with shock as the ground had, yet again, begun to shake.

TBC

A/N: Ok… so it's not really a cliff-hanger, cos I reckon you're all clued-in as to what's going on… but we still haven't found the naquada… just something to ponder.

I can't believe I'm up to chapter 22… I just checked the word-count on this – it's insane! The thing is, I know what's going on, but to write it down comprehensively always requires more space than I think! This chap, for example, I thought would constitute only a half-chapter… and yet it's sitting at five and a half word pages – craziness

Please review! You all know how much I love it!