A/N: The characters in this story do not belong to me, no infringement was intended. This story was written for the Sam Carter fanficathon on Live Journal. Prompts were: Offworld assignment, some humor, and Sam in charge. Many thanks to PHDelicious for the wonderful beta, and to MandySG1 for the support.

Only the warning klaxon and Walter's voice over the base PA announcing an unscheduled off-world activation was able to rouse one Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter from her work. She sighed as she looked up to the flashing red light, reluctantly setting her wrench back into her tool kit. Once she hit the door she was already jogging to the control room, arriving just moments ahead of Daniel and Teal'c. "Walter? What have we got?"

Before the gate tech could answer her, General O'Neill bounded down the steps, flashing a quick grin to his former team. "You should hear how twitchy the president gets when he hears those alarms over the phone. What have we got, Kids?"

Walter half-turned in his chair to address both superior officers, "Tok'ra IDC Sir. Ma'am."

"Great! Open the Iris, Colonel." Jack grinned down at SG1's leader as she pressed her palm into the iris key, "Maybe Dad can pry you out of your lab for a few hours."

"Sir…" The General's latest attempt to get Sam to reduce her work hours had involved his yo-yo and several attempts at a 'round the world' trick that had nearly decimated her workbench. She'd slipped his yo-yo into her pocket after his third unsuccessful try. His mumblings of "insubordination to a superior officer's personal distraction device" had been met with only a chirped "Yes sir!" before Sam's full attention was back on her work. Shaking the memory from her head, she glanced up at her CO, "I…"

"O'Neill…" Teal'c's interruption spared Sam from coming up with a response, she looked up in time to see an unfamiliar woman striding down the ramp. She turned to the General, a frown forming on her face.

"That's not Dad."

Jack lifted a brow as he watched the SFs raise their weapons to greet the newcomer, "No, it isn't. I thought the rest of them weren't speaking to us anymore Carter?"

After a pause Sam shrugged, her eyes darting back to the woman now standing facing several automatic weapons. "Not in any meaningful way, they're not, Sir. Not since Delek ended our alliance with them."

"Maybe they want to discuss re-negotiating, Jack?"

"Sure Daniel, and I'm the new owner of the Minnesota Wild hockey franchise." He leaned into the microphone, addressing the troops in the gate room below, "Stand down." Turning, he shrugged to SG1, "Let's go see what she wants. Bet they need something."

"Jack!"

"Daniel."

Sam rolled her eyes at their bickering as she and Teal'c followed them into the gate room. Jack and SG1 moved in front of the line security guards to greet the woman, "So," Jack drew out the last syllable of the word, lifting his arms in greeting as he addressed the woman. "The Tok'ra. Long time, no see. To be honest, when we got your call, we were expecting Jacob and Selmak."

The Tok'ra woman stood at the foot of the ramp, hands folded over her stomach. The monotonous tan of her long garment did little to hide tension in her stance, or the way her hazel eyes darted about the room, seeming to take in each person, weapon, and block of gray concrete in turn.

"General O'Neill, Colonel Carter," the women held Sam's eyes for a moment, "Selmak and Jacob had duties with the council, or I'm sure they would have preferred to be here in my place." When Sam nodded, the woman continued, "Dr. Jackson. Teal'c. I am Belda; I have come to request your aid."

"Of course you have!"

Sam frowned at the General just as Daniel mumbled a reprimand under his breath, though neither had much effect on Jack who just swept his arm toward the stairs to the briefing room, "After you. Carter, you and the boys might as well sit in on this too."

Jack sat at the head of the briefing table, Sam and Teal'c on one side of him, Daniel and Belda on the other. Jack's fingers moved slowly over the varnished surface before he smirked up at the group. "Look at this. Just like old times. So, Belda, what can we do for you?"

"I require your assistance in locating a missing Tok'ra. His name is Regarus, he was last on Lemnos, a planet once held by the Goa'uld Hephaestus."

Sam frowned as she turned to the woman, "That's not a Goa'uld we've heard of. He isn't a System Lord. Daniel?"

The team's archeologist shook his head, "No. I haven't heard of him. Not as a Goa'uld, anyway. There was a Greek god Hephaestus. He was patron to smiths and an inventor. Interestingly, he was the only physically imperfect god. He was lame, and unattractive. And cast out of Olympus because of it. He landed on the island of Lemnos, where he built his great forge. He was actually married to Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty which was…"

"All right Daniel, I think we got it." Jack turned back to their visitor, "So. This Hefalump guy gets kicked out by the System Lords and goes to Lemnos and starts a workshop?"

"Well, yes," Belda agreed, "At it's most basic. He was a minor Goa'uld, swore allegiance to whichever System Lord showed an interest at any given time. But he was working on…something to facilitate changing that. Regarus was sent undercover to try to find out what Hephaestus was planning."

"And you don't know if he succeeded."

"No, Colonel Carter, we do know. He did succeed. But Among Hephaestus' experiments was a device to control weather. The one he created was imperfect, and caused the weather on Lemnos to become very erratic, severe, and dangerous."

"Yeah," Jack nodded, "We've seen the havoc weather devices can cause."

"Have you?" Belda paused for a moment before going on, "Then you can understand how frightened the people were. How they rushed to their 'god' begging him to protect them. They were very angry to find out that Hephaestus was as impotent as they were in controlling the weather. They rioted. And Hephaestus was killed. Regarus managed to escape."

"Then I do not understand, Belda." Teal'c spoke for the first time since the Tok'ra's arrival, "If he escaped, then how is he still lost on Lemnos?"

"Because he returned. After several months, he judged that the chaos would have tapered, and that he would be able to slip in, unnoticed. Hephaestus was working on another device that would defeat other Goa'uld. Regarus went to retrieve it."

"Some kind of weapon?"

"I do not know, General O'Neill. He only told me that it was very important."

Sam leaned back in her chair, shaking her head slowly. "One thing I don't understand. If Regarus went to find some…" she glanced at O'Neill and shrugged her shoulders, "weapon…why isn't the Council looking for him? Any weapon one Goa'uld could use against another would be just as useful to the Tok'ra."

"They aren't convinced that Regarus' find is valuable."

Sam frowned, shaking her head again. It didn't seem like the Tok'ra council to pass up a chance to have anything that might be of use against the Goa'uld. "Why not?"

"Because he wouldn't tell anyone what it was. It wasn't deemed worth the risk."

"Oh, here we go…" Jack rolled his eyes as he looked between Sam and Belda, "Carter, no offense to Dad, but this is just typical. Some arrogant Tok'ra won't play nice with the others and gets himself into hot water. The council won't sanction going after him out of spite, but they send Belda here to get SG1 to do it for them. Tell me why I should risk my team for Tok'ra politics?"

"Jack. Even if that's true…" Daniel removed his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Even if it's true-we might be able to use the weapon…or whatever it is."

"Until the Tok'ra sweep in and claim it for their own?" Jack shook his head, "How long will that take, Daniel?"

Belda was quite for a moment before answering, "Perhaps the council might demand the device, or Regarus will intend to keep it. I give you my word that I will not. Either way it is still in your best interest to help me. Because if there is a weapon, we need to get to it before Anubis does."

Sam turned to Jack, meeting his gaze. "Sir. She is right about that. If there is something that can be used to elevate one Goa'uld above the others, we need to keep it out of Anubis' hands."

"Yeah, Carter." Jack sighed, "When you put it that way…SG1 has a go."

"Thank you, sir."

Jack gave a curt nod, "You leave at 0800. Daniel, see what else you can dig up on this Hef guy before you leave. It might be useful. Dismissed."

As the others filed out of the briefing room, the General called out to Sam, "Carter. Give me a minute."

"Sir?"

"You know this could be a trap."

"Yes, sir. Though given the state of our alliance with the Tok'ra, if it is a trap, whoever set it is probably not expecting SG1."

"Even so, I wish I was going with you."

"Sir," Sam stiffened, "We can handle this, you know."

"Relax Colonel; I have faith in your abilities. I just…wish I was going along, that's all."

Sam glanced through the glass wall separating the briefing room from Jack's office, his in-tray was overflowing already, and Walter was there adding more to the pile. "I understand sir," she turned back to him and smiled, "We'll bring you a souvenir."

"Yeah, well," Jack grinned as he turned back to his office, "Just make sure it isn't one of those 'My old team went to Lemnos, and all I got was this T-shirt' things. My closet is already overflowing."