A/N: I want to apologize in advance for not getting this chapter up for the longest time…but thank you all for being so patient. My internet was down due to stupidity from my server, but it is once more being cooperative. :D You've all been so great, reviewing and all. Keep up the awesome work!

And now: The Final Chapter

CHAPTER FIVE

Razik found Sam staring at the Stargate. Two days had passed and she was still stranded. They had been working on the tablet, but today Samantha had lost control of her emotions and wanted to be alone. He found her sitting beside the DHD.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" His quiet voice was gentle.

Sam straightened self-consciously and wiped the tears that had been gathering in her eyes. "It's just that I know how to get back home…I just…can't." She said miserably. "I can try to go through, but I'll probably end up on the wrong side of the iris, or I may get through, in which case I'll have a dozen bullet holes in me. That, or I'll be court-martialed the minute I step through." Sam lowered her face into her hands, missing the look of sympathy that Razik directed towards her.

"Gash'rak wants to know if there is somewhere else you could go that would help you get home. Perhaps these other Tok-ra you spoke about. They have a GDO?" Sam felt her mind cranking away.

"Gate to another planet, then home?" She muttered to herself. A thought came to her, but she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go through with it. She was going, after all, home to a court-martial. "Why don't we finish the translation?" She responded instead. Razik helped her up from where she sat and the two walked back to the 'house' where Razik lived.

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Sam picked up the tablet and stared at it for a moment, squinting as she fought to figure out whether a scratch was merely a scratch, or part of a rune.

"Razik, what is this?" She turned to Razik who took the tablet from her and looked at it carefully.

"I believe that is another symbol, but the scratch may be there for the purposes of decoding." At Sam's incredulous stare, he chuckled. "In other words, it is there to throw off anyone who is trying to translate it. Fortunately," he muttered, "I know how to translate it."

The two worked hard on translating the tablet, and at last, they were finished as the suns began to set. Razik lifted the tablet and then their translation and began to skim through it. He whistled appreciatively.

"This is…like nothing I have ever seen before." Razik's voice held such awe, that Sam reached over to read it for herself:

The Chosen One for whom this tablet was made for, will be marked with an illusionary wound, one that may appear physically disabling and convincing to others, while bearing no ill-effect upon the Chosen One. With the glowing of the Tablet, comes wisdom not unknown. To open this gate, you have had the experience of a symbiote to show you how. The Goa'uld are collecting their forces, massing to attack a planet far away. You have proven yourselves worthy with this translation, and here is the next place where you must go:

Sam looked at the six symbols and sighed. It seemed her work was not yet done. But more of the translation continued.

…The other, with whom you received help, shall continue this journey, whilst you prepare yourself for a trip home. The Goa'uld are coming, and there is no escape. Make your way back before trouble begins.

The tablet ended just as briefly and Sam sighed. It was nothing more than a nature hunt, going to find a clue before the plot can be revealed. She sighed and then recognized a familiar sound.

"Razik, has the Stargate been activated?" the man looked up and frowned.

"Not that I know of – why?"

"Because I hear staff weapons and zats being fired." With that being said, Sam dashed out of his house and towards the Stargate.

Sure enough she saw the Wormhole vanish and with it the scene of Jaffa firing upon Razik's people. Sam sought cover in the grass, discovering how tall it really was, and made her way over to a staff weapon lying uselessly beside its fallen wielder. Sam paused a moment, closing the man's eyes as he stared blankly in death.

The sound of resuming blasts brought her back to herself with a jolt. Now she was armed, and despite the fact that it wasn't her usual P90, she swung it up and around and began to fire at the Jaffa. This was part of the dream she had had back in the infirmary – the part about being surrounded by Jaffa. Her blood was up – adrenalin surging throughout her body as she fired and one by one the enemy dropped. Until at last there were none left.

She put down the weapon, sighing in relief after lifting the heavy weapon. It wasn't very wieldy and that Teal'c had mastered it, gave her a new respect for him.

"Thank you," a feminine voice said near to Carter. She looked up and around expectantly but found no one. In fact, it seemed that everyone had disappeared. Suddenly, Sam felt very alone and cold. The suns had set and the moon had risen. The feminine voice whispered urgently, "Go home."

She thought about going back to check on Razik and how everyone was, but the thought of home enticed her greatly. She picked up a nearby Zat gun and with it in hand, approached the DHD. She thought for a moment before punching in the symbols.

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Colonel Jack O'Neill had all but given up hope for his 2IC. Without the GDO, there was no hope of getting back. The Stargate hadn't even been activated off-schedule, and no unrecognized travelers had come through. He sighed as the Stargate activated and SG-2 came back from their scheduled mission.

The leader looked up and shook his head, a silent testament that Carter still hadn't been found. It had been three days and O'Neill was losing his patience. Either she was dead, or missing in action, but he refused the latter and flat out denied the former.

"It's always a hard thing to lose a teammate," Hammond approached the Colonel. Both passed looks of sorrow as they saw the other's hope diminishing. "I had hoped she might dial back here."

"Sir, it's not your fault, it's this stupid mess. That stupid tablet thing Daniel found. If he hadn't given it to Carter, she wouldn't be off world facing a court-martial when she got back." Jack sighed. He hated playing by the rules, but being a Colonel in the US Air Force meant he had to – regardless of the scenarios. He had come too close to being court-martialed too many times before, and he had vowed never to do it again.

"Carter is smart, if she wants to get home she'll know how: GDO or no." Neither of them spoke about the fact that Carter may not come home. They didn't even know if she was alive, much less able to return home on her own. "Good luck, Colonel." Hammond left, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts, staring at the Stargate.

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Armed with a Zat gun and a staff weapon, Sam walked through the Event Horizon…

…and ended up on the Alpha Site.

She had to give the guys credit for securing the place, not to mention their vigilance as she came through and found a dozen flashlights pointing at her. She hadn't realized it would still be dark here.

"Don't shoot," she called out, as she dropped the Zat and staff weapon. "I'm Captain Samantha Carter of SG-1. I need to get back to the SGC, but I've lost my GDO."

"Well why didn't you say so?" The flashlight beams flickered away, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't riddled with bullets just yet. The man in command of the Alpha site, appeared before her. "Interesting weapons." He raised an eyebrow and Sam flushed.

"Now how was it you've lost your GDO?"

"I never picked one up, sir. Did General Hammond contact you about my being absent on base?" Sam wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer, but she had to for the time being.

"No, he did not, Captain, but I'm sure you were doing something…constructive." His voice dripped with sarcasm, but Sam didn't really care. She just wanted to get home after being off world for three days.

"I was, sir, I had to get a tablet translated for Dr. Jackson." She hoped he would buy it.

"And you just happened to forget the GDO…" Sam nodded. "Captain, don't make a habit of doing this ever again. Here's a GDO, take it and Gate back home." The Colonel turned and ordered the dialing of the SGC. It was done promptly and Sam watched as the wormhole established.

"Thanks, colonel," Sam told him, just before she entered the Event Horizon.

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Just like the last 72 hours, Jack stayed awake, every muscle tense and his ears straining to pick up the sounds of the klaxons. He was keyed up, alert, and exhausted, all at the same time. He hadn't slept, instead lying awake praying that Sam would be okay and would come home. His nerves couldn't take it anymore – which was why he was on base in one of the VIP rooms.

Suddenly he bolted upright. The klaxons were going off, the alarms ringing: all testaments to the Stargate being activated. He dashed all the way to the Control Room and found Teal'c and Daniel there as well. They looked at each other sheepishly, but crossed their fingers silently.

"Unscheduled Off-world Activation!" one of the men said into the microphone. The guards had already entered the embarkation room and were holding their guns up.

"Who is it?" General Hammond entered the scene, weary but filled with the same desperate hope that the three remaining members of SG-1 had.

"Sir, we're receiving the IDC from the Alpha Site; I'm opening the Iris." The Iris opened and O'Neill, Teal'c, Daniel, and General Hammond waited to see who would come out of the Stargate.

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Sam crossed her fingers before jumping through, but stumbled when her feet hit the ramp. She knew she was home and relief hit her – hard. She had been so close to stranded on that Isadora planet, but to actually make it home. To her horror, she began to feel tears dripping down her face.

"Sam!" She looked up to find Colonel O'Neill rushing towards her. He stopped a pace from her, but that was too much for her. She closed the space between them and hung onto him for dear life, sobbing into his shirt.

O'Neill looked down at his 2IC and felt his heart melting. He had loved her ever since he had met her, but now was not the time. He looked up to meet General Hammond's eyes and saw him hiding a smile.

"It's okay, Sam," his gentle voice did what medicine could not, it healed her heart and helped her to realized that she was making a fool of herself. She swallowed hard, wiped her eyes, and then let Janet come and take her to the infirmary.

"Well, Sam, you seem to be okay, and that gash on your leg is no more." Janet frowned, remembering how deep it had seemed. "Don't ask me how it did when you were bouncing from planet to planet, but you're 100 percent okay."

"Thanks, Janet." Sam tried to smile at the doctor, but she was too tired.

"Here, lay down and relax, I'm sure it's been very stressful on you." Sam didn't object, as she lay back and fell asleep.

"How is she Janet?" the doctor turned to find Jack looking at Sam in concern.

"She's had a stressful three days and needs to sleep, otherwise she's fine. Now you, Colonel, look like you could use some sleep as well." Jack smiled slightly, exhaustion plain on his face, but he shook his head.

"No, I'll be okay," he said, "now that she's back."

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Captain Samantha Carter awoke to find that she was alone in the infirmary and she wondered whether she was permitted to walk around the base after her earlier 'incident'. She sat up and rubbed her face, feeling where the tears had dried and how sore her eyes were. She found a tray of food beside her and wolfed it down. Janet appeared when she finished.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor took her patient's pulse.

"Better," Sam said, before blurting out "what are they going to do with me?"

"Do with you?" Janet's concern was cut off by General Hammond entering the infirmary. Sam snapped to attention, knowing that this could very well be her last day in the SGC.

"I have decided to drop any court-martial offenses, because we figured out that you were under the influence of the tablet." At Carter's puzzled look, Hammond explained, "Dr. Jackson contacted the Tok-ra who explained the meaning of the tablet. There are more of them out there, but they only work on a few. It seems that after having solved this one tablet you've ended up putting a series of events into play that we can't even begin to speculate on. Captain, your charges have been dropped, and you're welcome to continue with SG-1."

"Thank you, sir," she said, saluting him. She relaxed seeing him smile. "I'll do my best not to let what I read influence what I do in the future, sir." General Hammond chuckled, and she smiled.

"You may inform SG-1 that they have two days of vacation to relax and catch up on sleep. I don't want to see you around this base for 48 hours, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" General Hammond smiled as he watched Sam rush off to tell the others; it was good to have the team back together again – especially since it included a very intelligent astrophysicist.

THE END

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I'd like to thank all my faithful reviewers who stuck with me, through the good – and not so good – chapters. You've all been wonderful and I've really enjoyed completing my first story since signing onto Fanfiction. You've all been wonderfully supportive and have given me many ideas to continue with. Despite the fact that this is the final chapter, I do hope that you still leave a Review, if anything to tell me whether you liked it or not, or if there's something else I could write about. Thank you all, once again, you've been most kind and supportive. : D

Vale

001ElvenWarrior