A/N: Thanks to all who continue to read and review. Since this Interlude is quite short compared to my regular chapters, the next chapter will come next Monday, instead of in 2 weeks.


January 20, 1999
SGC, Earth, Milky-Way

The first clue that something was amiss was when the Stargate began to dial in unexpectedly. That afternoon, no SG teams were due back. No team members were scheduled to come back for supplies, consultations, or other there-and-back trips, and no visits from any of earth's allies were expected. Alarms began to ring across the base, and defense teams hustled into the gateroom, taking up positions around the gate and manning the big guns covering the gate. Within moments, however, the concerning situation was resolved when Sergeant Harriman received an IDC.

"It's Teal'c, sir," the technician said to General Hammond, who had quickly come down the steps from his office when the alarms had sounded.

"He's early. He just left this morning, and he's not supposed to return until tomorrow," replied the general, a look of concern mingled with surprise crossing his face.

SG1 was on stand-down for a few days, and Teal'c had taken the chance to return to the Land of Light to visit his wife and son, whom he rarely had chances to visit because of his work with SG1 and the SGC's fight against the Goa'uld. For him to return early, something must have happened, but what? General Hammond hurried down to the gateroom as the Sergeant opened the Iris. Teal'c came striding through the wormhole a moment later and made straight for his superior.

"General Hammond, I must speak with you at once," said Teal'c in his usual straight-forward manner.

"Very well. Let me call for Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter, and then we can debrief," General Hammond replied, inferring that the Jaffa's news should be heard by the only other permanent members of SG1, as well.

Though roughly eight months had passed since Dr. Jackson had been forced to flee earth to escape from the clutches of the NID, finding a replacement for him was still a work in progress. The SGC's archaeologists and linguists had been rotating through the team for months, and several new hires had even been brought in. O'Neill, Carter, and Teal'c had never been satisfied with any of the short-listed candidates to serve as the replacement for their missing friend. The longest candidate had lasted for seven weeks, the shortest for less than a day, and General Hammond was still trying to find a workable solution for this personnel problem. Everyone kept hoping that Daniel would be able to return soon, thereby avoiding the problem altogether, but the political climate had not changed enough to make such a return a possibility.


Off-duty though they were, neither O'Neill nor Carter had returned home, too caught up with tasks at the SGC, and both reached the conference room within about 6 or 7 minutes of the summons over the base-wide PA system.

"What's up, T?" O'Neill asked, strolling into the conference room with his hands pushed deep into his BDU pockets. "How was the visit?" Carter followed a few steps behind him, blinking tiredly, a mug of coffee clutched in one hand.

"My visit was most pleasant, O'Neill," the Jaffa replied from his seat at the conference table, "but that is not why I have returned early. During the meal a little while ago, Drey'auc told me of news sent to her not long ago by a messenger, one of Master Bra'tac's students."

Teal'c paused long enough for O'Neill to prompt him. "What's the news? Apophis still enjoying Sokar's company?" As far as they were all concerned, it couldn't happen to a nicer snake.

"Of Apophis himself, there was no news," replied Teal'c stoically. "Several of his most important worlds, including Chulak, Saqqara, and Kawawn, however, have all fallen in the space of a day."

"We know from the Tok'ra that, with Apophis gone, there's been a power vacuum," Captain Carter added with a contemplative frown on her face. "Apophis still has loyal Jaffa but not enough to keep control of all of his worlds in his absence."

"More Goa'uld infighting," said O'Neill, rubbing his hands together with a gleeful grin. "Let them all kill each other off. Less work for us to do."

General Hammond brought the discussion back on track. "Did Bra'tac say which Goa'uld it was who conquered Chulak and Apophis' other worlds? Is this more infighting?"

"It was not a Goa'uld who did this," Teal'c said, finally coming to the reason for his unexpected return. "That was the news, and so I have returned."

"Someone escaped with news?" Carter asked, eyes wide. She suddenly looked much more awake and alert. Her mind was running on overdrive, thinking through who could have possibly captured those worlds, if not other Goa'uld.

"Four Jaffa made it through the Stargate on Chulak before it was overrun by the invaders. No Jaffa escaped from Apophis' other captured worlds. One of those who escaped was one of Master Bra'tac's Jaffa. He came to the Land of Light, hoping that Drey'auc would pass the news on to me. The news he brings is convoluted and … confusing. He spoke of stranger monsters appearing from thin air, who were untouched by staff blasts; of other Jaffa disappearing; of ships falling from the sky."

"Appearing and disappearing out of thin air," Captain Carter said slowly, remembering when Thor's ship had arrived at Cimmeria to save the inhabitants from Heru'ur's Jaffa. "That sounds like beaming technology like the Asgard have."

"And warriors untouched by weapons' fire, personal shields such as in a kara kesh," Teal'c added.

"It couldn't be the Asgard, could it? Roswell Greys would be strange but not exactly monster-worthy to the Jaffa," questioned Carter.

"It was not the Asgard," replied Teal'c, "from what the messenger could see before he was forced to flee. Neither the warriors nor the ships that appeared above Chulak matched any descriptions of the Asgard, whether of legend or what we ourselves have seen on Cimmeria."

"How old is this news? Has there been any word from Bra'tac?" asked General Hammond.

"A few days old, at most," said Teal'c. "I have not seen Bra'tac since the incident with Hathor on P4Z-326, and he spoke of nothing in this vein then."

"Our meetings with the Tok'ra are still largely of the 'don't call us, we'll call you' variety," Carter added. "Dad hasn't been by since the incident with the Reetou."

Through all this, O'Neill had sat quietly without commenting. He had propped his chin up on one hand and was staring off into the distance, listening but thinking.

"Thoughts, Colonel? You're being unusually quiet today," prompted the General.

"It's the 'Forgotten," said O'Neill quietly, still staring off into the distance.

"Pardon?"

O'Neill suddenly straightened back up, his gaze snapping to the General out of a thousand-yard stare. "Lya mentioned a new mysterious race called the 'Forgotten,' when we found her not long after Maybourne drove Daniel away. She gave us some cryptic message about the 'Forgotten' returning soon and a 'reckoning with the Goa'uld,' yadda, yadda, yadda, and now eight months later, Apophis' forces got their behind kicked in absentio out of the blue by a race no one has ever heard of or seen before? Does no one besides me make the connection? It must be them."