Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing SG1 and their world, not for profit.

Summary: This is a team action/adventure, hopefully with humour and possibly some SJ UST.

Rating: T (There won't be anything explicit, maybe a little violence and some cussing.)

Part Two: Aftermath

General Hammond reluctantly released his hands from his ears and surveyed the mess in the control room, his head still ringing with the disturbing noise that had just screamed through the Stargate. Sergeant Harriman was sitting stiff in his seat, staring in stunned silence at the shattered glass around him and the wide, open frame where the window pane looking down into the gate room once was. Below them, in the gate room, one airman was down and the others were either bent over in agony or gazing at each other with blank expressions of shock, a couple of them bleeding from the ear.

Every direction he turned, Hammond saw the incomprehensible effects of the sound. He needed to know the full extent of the situation, but by god, his head was hurting. Taking in a deep breath and trying to ignore the pain, Hammond stepped up to the main control board and placed a hand on Harriman's shoulder. Slowly but surely, soft background noises began to filter in. Suddenly, it occurred to him that the wormhole had disengaged.

'Sergeant, tell me that SG-13 made it home before the gate de-activated.' Hammond could barely make out the sound of his own voice.

It took Harriman a second to register, but when he finally turned and looked up to the General his expression was grave. 'Negative, sir,' he replied.

Hammond's hearing was gradually coming back to him, but his head still ached and probably would for a long time. However, it was all in a day's work and he had learned to expect the unexpected, although he had to admit, even this was a little out of the ordinary. What on earth was that noise and where the hell were his people? Could he risk dialling P3X-981 to find out what had happened to them?

'I want a full damage assessment. And get a recording of that sound,' he commanded, moving towards the red phone on the wall.

Just as Hammond hung up the receiver after requesting the assistance of a medical team, Colonel O'Neill entered the control room; his eyes narrow under a furrowed forehead and scrunched eyebrows. Teal'c, Major Carter and Jonas Quinn followed immediately. The latter two stopped on entering, examining the change in their surroundings as if they had just gated onto an alien planet. O'Neill, however, strode right up to the empty window pane and looked down at the Stargate, perched innocently in its usual position. That thing was the bane of his existence.

'How's your head, Walter?' he muttered, patting the Sergeant lightly on the shoulder before turning to the General. Luckily for Harriman, the bullet-proof window had shattered, not blown. If the opposite were true he would be holed up in the infirmary with much more than just a migraine the size of Minnesota.

Carter and Jonas were filling Hammond in on what they had discovered on their way to the control room. The entire base had been compromised. The sound had penetrated the mountain from top to bottom, the intensity decreasing in distance from the Stargate.

'What was it sir?' Carter asked, moving towards the control board.

'You tell me, Major,' Hammond stepped up to stand beside her. 'A few minutes ago we received an incoming wormhole from P3X-981 with SG-13's IDC.'

'I thought they weren't supposed to report for another two hours, sir' Carter had been looking forward to SG-13's full assessment of the planet. Initial mineral readings had picked up traces of Naquadah in the soil.

'They weren't,' Hammond replied.

O'Neill was peering down into the gateroom. 'So… where are they sir?'

'Colonel?'

'You said you received SG-13's IDC. So where are they?'

'They didn't make it through the gate, Jack. The wormhole shut down right after the noise came through.'

'Carter?' O'Neill turned to his 2IC. 'Tell me they're not trapped in that thing.'

Carter placed her hands on her hips, took a deep breath and looked from the Stargate, to the Colonel to General Hammond. 'It's more likely they're trapped on P3X-981, sir. That said, we don't know what prompted them to report two hours early, they could be in any kind of danger…'

'Permission to take a rescue team to 981, sir?' Jack interrupted, not wanting to hear another word.

'In good time, Colonel,' Hammond decreed. 'Right now we need to assess the situation thoroughly, before even dialling the gate and attempting communication,' Hammond turned his eyes to Carter. 'Major, is it likely that sound will return if we open a wormhole from our end and try to contact Dixon and his crew?'

'As far as we can tell sir, sound, like matter, only travels one way through a wormhole, but it all depends on what the sound is and where it's coming from. Of course, as you know, anything's possible with the Stargate,' Carter massaged her own temples.

'Of course,' O'Neill parroted dryly.

'There is a chance that the noise could have been a distorted radio transmission from SG-13,' Carter added. 'If I can get a reading of the sound waves, I can de-fragment the frequencies and…'

'As soon as you've all been confirmed fit for duty by Dr Frasier, you have my authority to do whatever it takes, Major, to figure out what the hell just happened and report back to me ASAP.'

'What about SG-13?' O'Neill was looking down at the gate again; his eyes squinted in concentration and an effort to ignore the pain shooting through his skull.

'Once I've received a full report from Siler and the technicians, and assuming all is well, we'll dial the gate and try to communicate. However, until you and your team are cleared by the Doctor, Colonel, I do not want to see any of you in this control room. Understood?'

Carter dipped her head in agreement, and to avoid the disgruntled look in O'Neill's eyes. He couldn't stand having teams stranded helpless off world when he was stuck in the infirmary with Doc Fraiser's penlight assaulting his pupils. Not that Hammond enjoyed giving such orders. It was simply common sense to get them cleared first, rather than suffering the consequences later, when one of them became ineffective due to an injury. O'Neill knew this, but grunted with disapproval anyway. He was good at letting the world know when he was not a happy camper.

AN: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I have gone over and over this story trying to get it right, but I'm still a little unsure as to where I'm headed. However I got to the point where I thought – just post it – for cryin' out loud!

Have redone itsy bitsy bits of this chapter and added number three. Hope it all still fits. If anything doesn't make sense please let me know. I'm very pedantic about plot.

Other than that… enjoy. Hopefully I will work on this more now that (I think) I have things a little more under control. Funny how a story can get away on you… I don't even think about logic when I write – I just write. Cheers.