Alternate Politics

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Chapter Two

Lt. Claire Tobias smiled at Col. O'Neill's sarcastic comment to Daniel. He was such a handsome man, she found herself checking him out on more than one occasion. It was too bad, really, that he was her commanding officer because she would just love to….well never mind. Not really the place to discuss that. Claire looked around the commissary, 'yeah, not really the place to be having dirty thoughts about my commanding officer.'

Claire thought back to one of their first missions when they were infected by the Touched Virus. 'Man, I wish it would have been Colonel O'Neill who I jumped instead of Col. Makepeace. At least then I would know how good of a kisser he was,' she thought, unconsciously staring at Jack's lips. Unfortunately, it was Makepeace who she found in the locker room and jumped. Not that the man wasn't in top physical shape or anything, but he did restrain her and drag her to the infirmary. Tobias briefly wondered if Col. O'Neill would have been so quick to drag her to the infirmary or if he would have been willing to 'play' for awhile.

Claire was pulled from her thoughts by the klaxons going off and the "Off World Activation" sounding. Standing up with the rest of her team, Claire dumped her tray and followed her team to the control room.

"What's going on, sir?" O'Neill asked, leading the team into the control room and approaching General Hammond.

"I'm not sure, colonel. We just received SG-9's IDC but no one came through. Now we can't reach them," Hammond responded, looking at the stargate with concern.

Jack looked out the control room window to the stargate and then back to Hammond. "Permission to take my team to investigate, sir?"

"Granted, colonel. Gear up and be ready to head out in an hour. I want to know what the hell is going on."

Jack turned around to face his team. They had become quite close these last few months. Daniel was like an annoying little brother, Teal'c, well, Teal'c was like a pet, completely loyal and trustworthy, but still needing to be trained in normal, everyday earth things. And, Tobias, she was like a child. She was so young. Jack often wondered how a lieutenant with only an engineering degree ended up on the premiere team. He would have thought they wouldn't let anyone less than a captain on such an important team, at least someone with a little more field experience than Tobias. But, then again, they let Daniel on the team, and he was anything but military! Nevertheless, with Tobias being so young, Jack often felt like a dad to her, needing to keep a closer eye on her than what he normally would to his other men. He briefly wondered if she saw him as a father-figure, but quickly let the thought fade before reminding him of how old he was.

"Alright kids!" Jack exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "You heard the man, let's get ready," he told his team, ushering them out of the control room.

An hour later SG-1 was stepping through the gate to a wooded landscape. Tobias and Daniel immediately started applying sunblock. "Doesn't look like a radioactive planet," Jack commented sourly as he looked around at all the trees.

"Don't let the trees fool you, sir. From the first report we received from SG-9, the trees provide very minimal shade from the sun's rays. Apparently, most of the planet only comes out at night," Claire informed him while she rubbed sunblock on her face and arms.

"Peachy," Jack grumbled, scanning the area and motioning for his team to start off.

They only got a few feet from the stargate when Claire felt someone behind her grab her around the neck and press a gun to her head.

The noise was immediately heard by Jack and the rest of the team, and they swung around, guns aimed, at the man holding the lieutenant hostage.

A second later, Jack recognized the man and lowered his gun. "Connors! What the hell is going on here?" he yelled at the dark-skinned lieutenant.

Lt. Connors, finally noticing who the team was, let go of Claire and visibly relaxed. He told the tale of how Captain Hanson had gone crazy and convinced the inhabitants of the planet that he was their god.

Deciding to wait out the night before trying to infiltrate Hanson's domain, the group set up camp. Teal'c set up a security perimeter while Claire and Daniel pulled out MRE's, and Jack continued to question Connors on the last few days events.

It was hours later when the natives breached their perimeter. Lights and sirens went off and all of SG-1 and Lt. Connors jumped, grabbing their guns, to defend themselves.

With the lights and sirens, it was hard to see the natives and everything happened very quickly. As soon as the natives retreated, Jack quickly did a head-count and discovered everyone but Tobias was accounted for.

"Shit!" Jack grumbled after discovering his young lieutenant had been taken. "Pack it up, guys, we're going after her," he ordered, mad at himself for losing one of his subordinates.

Before long, daylight broke and the team came upon the mines the natives lived in. Jack pulled out his scope, scanning the area for any signs of his lieutenant. Not seeing her anywhere, Jack turned to look for a better vantage point and came face-to-face with an M-15.

"Col. O'Neill, so nice to see you," came the voice of one of the airmen under Hanson's command.

"Lieutenant, drop that gun and surrender and I will let the general know you were only following the orders of your commanding officer," Jack tried.

The man laughed, dryly. "I am under the orders from my god, I will not disobey his orders."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jack spat.

The airman responded by jabbing the M-15 into Jack's head.

The former lieutenant and several natives led the rest of SG-1 and Connors down the slope and towards Hanson's dwelling.

Meanwhile, inside Hanson's cave dwelling, Lt. Claire Tobias was looking over an alien device, trying to figure out how to make it work.

Unfortunately, the device was nothing like she'd ever seen before and she had no idea how to fix it. She switched different wires and crystals, but was having no luck

"I'm sorry, but I just don't know…I..I've never seen this kind of technology before.." Claire was stumbling over her words to Hanson.

"Bullshit, lieutenant!" Hanson screamed at her. "You're an engineer! You are on the premiere team! There must be something special about you to get that position."

Claire lowered her head, letting her body fill with guilt, not for the first time, for being on SG-1. She had wanted the position so bad. She fought so hard for it, pulling out all the stops, but it was times like this where she felt like she was way out of her league.

"This is goa'uld technology! I know you've been studying this technology, lieutenant!" Hanson barked, his fists clasped in anger.

"This is nothing like the staff weapons and other devices we've brought back through the gate. I've never seen anything this complex. I'm an engineer, not a genius! I need to know how things work before I can fix them, not the other way around," Claire tried to explain to the ferocious man.

Just then, the rest of SG-1 were shoved into Hanson's dwelling. "Ah, Colonel O'Neill," Hanson said in a voice that was a complete contradiction to his behavior towards Tobias. "You've arrived just in time to see my men escort Lt. Tobias here back to the stargate."

Tobias, Jack, and everyone else in the room looked at Hanson confused and shocked.

"You're letting her go, just like that?" Jack asked, unbelievingly.

"Of course, colonel. I'm not an evil god," Hanson replied, flipping his arm up in the air as if trying to be dramatic. "My men will take the young lieutenant here back to the stargate and allow her to go home with a message."

"A message?" Jack prompted.

"A message demanding that Captain Samantha Carter from the Pentagon be sent here, alone."

"Oh, there's not a chance in hell," Jack cut Hanson off.

"She has twenty-four hours to walk through the gate before I start killing hostages. Starting with Colonel O'Neill," Hanson finished, looking pointedly at O'Neill in defiance.

"Hanson, you know we don't negotiate with terrorists. There's no way they're going to let anyone walk through that gate," Jack tried to explain to the crazed man.

Hanson let an evil smirk overtake his face. "You'd be surprised, colonel. You see, my Sammie has a heart of gold and more than one general wrapped around her little fingers. If anyone can convince them to let her come through, it will be herself."

"What do you need Carter for?" Jack questioned, sure the man had done lost his mind.

"To be my goddess, of course," Hanson replied, evil smirk still on his face as he turned to his men to direct them in his scheme.

Tobias turned to get Jack's silent command on what she should do. He shook his head and then told her, "go with them, Claire, get outta here."

Lt. Tobias nodded her head lightly and started walking towards the door before the man behind her pushed her.

Once the men led Tobias out of the cave, Jack turned to Daniel and Teal'c, speaking low enough so Jonas couldn't hear him. "What could he want Captain Carter for? He's got to be up to something, we need to figure it out if we're going to get out of here alive."

"I don't know, Jack, I think it's personal," Daniel replied.

"What do you mean, personal?" Jack asked, indignantly, obviously not believing the archaeologist's conclusion.

"Captain Carter and Hanson were engaged. She broke it off. I don't think he took it well."

"You're telling me he set this whole thing up to get Captain Carter to come to another planet so he can get his revenge?"

"I don't know what he's planning, but I think getting Sam here is his way of finally getting control of her."

"Well, it's never going to happen," Jack retorted.

Daniel looked over at Jack in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"There's no way Hammond's gonna allow a green captain to come here alone."

"Green captain?" Daniel asked, impetuously

"Yes, Daniel, green, as in never been through the stargate before," Jack snapped back, getting irritated.

"Ah," Daniel responded, comprehending the man's lingo.

Teal'c watched the exchange between the two men in silence.

Just like he said, Hanson's men gave Tobias her GDO and allowed her to dial the gate and go home. As soon as she walked through the gate, General Hammond came rushing through the blast doors. "Lieutenant, where is the rest of your team?" he asked in concern.

"Sir, Hanson's gone mad!" she cried, now that she was finally in friendly territory, she let her walls down. "He's holding Lt. Connors and the rest of SG-1 hostage and demanding that you send through Captain Carter! If she's not through the gate in twenty-four hours he is going to kill Col. O'Neill and then another hostage every hour after that."

Hammond closed his eyes and sighed, worry spreading across his face.

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"Sir, I know him! I can get to him!" Sam argued with General Hammond in the briefing room.

"Captain, I cannot, in any right sense, send you through that stargate into an obvious trap," the general argued back

"But, doesn't knowing it's a trap, give me an advantage, sir?" Sam tried to argue back.

General Hammond shook his head, not believing this level-headed young lady just tried to pull a line he would have expected to hear from Colonel O'Neill.

"Sir, if your men are really being held like Lt. Tobias claimed, then they aren't going to have any opportunity to escape. Jonas was my fiancé, sir. I highly doubt he wants me to travel half-way across the galaxy just to kill me. His men will more than likely be watching the gate, but if you let me through, I can be a decoy to give SG-3 a couple seconds once they step through the gate."

"Captain, your plan is filled with flaws.." the general started.

"But, it's a plan, sir, and with all due respect to you and your men, none of you have come up with anything better."

Makepeace sighed heavily from his seat at the briefing table. "She has a point, sir. Without her, we have no chance at taking them at the gate.

Hammond looked around the table at Captain Carter and SG-3, doubt about this rescue mission swimming around in his head. He let out a deep sigh. "We'll send through the malp, if it looks like we can pull it off, you'll all go through, with Captain Carter a few seconds ahead. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," rang out around the table.

One Captain Samantha Carter tried not to smile under the dire circumstances, but she was finally getting to go through the stargate.

Twenty hours after Lt. Tobias burst through the stargate, the SGC dialed up the planet and sent through the malp. The screen showed a raggedy-looking airmen surrounded by what must be the native people of the planet. "Have you agreed to our god's demands?" the man spoke into the com. He obviously knew how to work all the equipment, but spoke as though he did not know the men on the other end.

"Captain Carter is preparing to step through the gate now. I want my men returned to me, including Captain Carter within three hours. If my men are not returned, we are prepared to take aggressive action."

"No need, general, your men will be returned to you," the former airmen replied, acknowledging the general for the first time.

Sam looked at the general who nodded at her. "Good luck, Captain," he told her before she turned and headed down to the stargate, the members of SG-3 right behind her.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and walked up the metal ramp. Under any other circumstances, she might have stopped and admired the fluxuations in the event horizon, but now was not the time for her mind to wander. She stepped through the gate and for a split second, felt as though her body took off without her before she emerged on the other side into a forest.

Feeling disoriented, a feeling she was not expecting, Sam tried to recompose herself and follow through with her mission. She scoped out the immediate vicinity, taking in the natives and the lieutenant holding a gun.

"You must be Captain Carter," the man acknowledged, walking towards her with his gun aimed at her chest.

Sam remembered SG-3 and started walking towards the man to get a little distance between them and the stargate. "I suppose you are going to take me to Jonas," she tried to start a conversation to distract the men.

"Not so fast, captain," the man announced, raising his gun slightly. "Stop right there so we can search you."

"Search me?" Sam questioned, acting confused and taking another step towards the man.

He cocked his gun, sending a message that she better stop advancing on him.

Figuring this was as far away from the gate as she was going to get him, she stopped and raised her hands. "Take it easy, lieutenant, I'm not going to do anything."

Just then, SG-3 came through the stargate and started firing on the native men. Sam knew she was in trouble. She was way too close to the bad lieutenant and knew she didn't have enough time to get away. The lieutenant reached out and grabbed Sam, pulling her to him and pressing his gun to her forehead. She kicked and squirmed, but it was no use, he had her good.

"Stop or I'll shoot her!" the lieutenant screamed.

Makepeace stopped firing and looked towards the scream. Seeing the captain being held with a gun to her head, he knew he couldn't let her get shot. "Great plan you had there, captain," he shot at her and signaled for his men to surrender.

The natives retrieved the men's weapons and led them back to the mines.

The last thing Jack was expecting was a pretty blonde and all of SG-3 to come walking into Hanson's cave.

Hanson laughed dryly as he took in the slumped shoulders of the marines. "Did you really think you could overpower me?" he laughed at the men as they were hit in the back of their legs with staffs and knocked to the ground.

Hanson turned his attention to Sam. "Sammie! Sweetheart, I knew you'd get them to let you through. Search her!" he snarled at his men.

"We already did, sir," came the reply from the airman.

"You already did?" Hanson asked, crinkling his forehead. "Tell me, what did you remove from her?"

"She had a standard-issue M-15 and a knife, sir."

Hanson laughed and looked at Sam. "Sammie, Sammie, Sammie," he sighed and then looked over at the lieutenant. "Her left ankle!" he barked.

The airman walked to Sam and knelt down to lift up her pants. Sure enough, attached to her left ankle was a large dagger. The airman removed it and set it on the table.

Hanson laughed. "Her left arm," he ordered next.

The airman pulled out another blade taped just above her elbow. He removed it and set it on the table with the other one.

"Her right thigh," he barked again.

The airman looked bemused, but then advanced on Sam.

"I don't think so," she announced, putting up her hands and backing away from the man.

"Remove it or I will have it removed!" Hanson told her.

Sam looked at Hanson, trying to figure out how far she would be able to push him. Sighing, she lifted her leg up on the table and hiked up her pants in order to reach the small pistol she had attached to her inside thigh.

Jack looked over at Daniel, raising his eyebrows, obviously impressed with the captain's hideouts.

"What do you want from me, Jonas?" Sam finally asked, getting irritated with his cockiness.

"To be my goddess," he replied just like he had earlier.

Sam gave him a look and he continued, gesturing for her to follow him to the other side of the cave. "This device is said to create a force shield that blocks out the sun's harmful rays. Unfortunately, these people have no idea how to activate it. It seems to be broken, your underling had no idea what to do with it."

"You brought me all the way here to fix a machine?" Sam asked, exasperated.

"Well, it is what you do, isn't it?"

"And if I don't?"

"Then we will watch as every last person on this planet dies, and then I will kill us both."

Sam looked at him, contemplating his threats in her head. "If I fix it, you have to let the rest of them go. All of them."

"Sammie, I am not a vengeful god. Of course they will be free to go."

Sam nodded her head. "Okay," she accepted and bent down to investigate the alien device.

Meanwhile, Jack was a little irritated with Daniel. "Daniel, why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what, Jack?" Daniel asked, smugly. The dumbfounded look Jack had made when he saw Sam and realized who she was did not go unnoticed by the observant archaeologist.

"Don't play coy, Daniel. Why didn't you tell me she looked like that?"

"Daniel crinkled his eyebrows. "Looked like what?"

Jack groaned at Daniel. "Hot, Daniel," he hissed. "Why didn't you tell me Captain Carter was hot?"

"Hot?" Daniel continued to play, enjoying this chance to frustrate Jack. "I guess I really didn't notice, her being a scientist and all."

Jack glared at the young linguist. Not knowing what to say to him without yelling. His anger building, he turned to Makepeace a short distance away. "Nice rescue, Makepeace!" he snapped. "What's with agreeing to his demands?"

Makepeace sighed. "It was her idea! We didn't see any other way of getting through the gate."

"Then you shouldn't have come!" Jack snapped back, his voice raising and arousing the attention of Jonas and Sam by the alien device.

Jonas sneered and then turned back to watch Sam.

Before long, Sam put the panel back on the device and flipped the switch. An orange beam shot up a few feet in the air. Sam grinned in pride at fixing the alien device.

Hanson was ecstatic. He knew she could fix it. Thrilled that Sam was able to fix the machine, he let his guard down for only a moment.

The moment was all Sam needed, and reaching in her shirt, she pulled out the knife she had hidden in her bra and lunged at Jonas.

Jonas, thinking he was clever enough to know all Sam's hiding places, was not expecting her to still have a knife. Being caught completely off-guard, Sam was able to get the upper hand and jab the knife into his body several times.

Bloodied and in pain, Jonas was easy to defeat, and she quickly tied him up and freed the others. Teal'c and SG-3 left the cave to surprise and overpower the rest of Jonas' men and Daniel and Jack secured the room while Sam applied first-aid to the bound Hanson.

"Good job, captain," Jack said softly, bending down to her level as she bandaged Jonas' arm.

Sam looked up at the colonel. "Thank you, sir," she replied, noticing for the first time, how handsome the colonel was. His gaze with those deep, dark eyes were warming her heart rapidly.

In a few hours, with Teal'c's help, Sam activated the second device and created the force shield to block out the sun's deadly rays. A clean-up crew was sent in to escort Hanson and his lieutenant back through the gate to a holding cell to await their court-martial and the natives were taught how to operate the device.

With one last look around, Sam walked up the stone steps and back through the stargate to earth.

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The briefing room was full with SG-1, SG-3, Lieutenant Connors, and Captain Carter. Each team gave their description of events leading up to and after the capture of Jonas Hanson.

Jack was sitting right across from Sam, unconsciously staring at her through most of the meeting. She had such beautiful eyes, he realized. He couldn't help but smile every time she started explaining something and they lit up.

The briefing was coming to a close when Daniel turned his attention to Sam. "So, Sam, your first trip through the gate exciting enough for you?"

Sam smiled at Daniel with a twinkle in her eye. "Ah, not too much out of the ordinary. Go on a mission, save everyone's collective asses and come home. It's what women do best," she replied, grinning widely.

Jack smiled at her and then turned to Hammond. "General, she's smart as a whip, one hell of a soldier, and a humor to boot, can we keep her?"

Sam grinned bigger and lowered her head in embarrassment.

General Hammond let out a small laugh at his colonel's plea. Then, with a sad voice, replied, "I'm afraid not, colonel. Captain Carter is due back at the Pentagon first thing in the morning."

"Too bad," Jack said, turning his attention to the flushed captain. 'Too bad, indeed,' he thought to himself as he continued to watch the pretty captain across the table.

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a/n: I'm not sure if this is any good or not. I'm not used to changing actual episodes around. It will soon be revealed how Tobias got on SG-1 instead of Sam. I know how it is being brought up, but I'm not sure how many chapters there are until then. Maybe one or two, I don't know.Please let me know how you felt about this chapter, it will help. Thanks!