Whether labeled as a pyrrhic victory or as a complete disaster, despite the death of Tefnut and two of her Underlords (Shu and Geb), the battle of Taremu that cost over 50,000 Furling lives and an unknown number of Jaffa lives had immediate impacts on Furling military tactics and strategy and spawned many meetings between Sujanha, Supreme Commander Anarr, and their top commanders. The addition of the multiple new classes of warships as well as fighters to the Furling Fleet had not been able to avert the suicide run on Taremu this time, but the Furlings would adapt again, as they always had so far, learning from every setback, every defeat.

There were discussions of forcing ship-to-ship conflicts to stay in orbit at all costs. It was believed that Furling primary shields could absorb the blast of a crashing Goa'uld vessel as a last resort to stop a suicide run, though, depending on the class of vessel making the run, any Furling ships (and only the bigger classes would even dare try) would probably immediately have to withdraw to give their shield matrices time to recharge. There was much risk involved in such plans, and Sujanha was thus hesitant but would be willing to consider allowing some tests using dummy targets. All the captured Goa'uld vessels—the ones the Tok'ra or Free Jaffa could not use—might come in handy after all, instead of gathering dust in the Furling equivalent of the US's airplane boneyard in Arizona.

Another last-ditch suggestion was shooting down crashing vessels in the hopes that even large debris fragments would do less damage on the ground than the entire ship. Someone even posited the possibility of utilizing large "last-ditch planetary defense" shields over the areas of heaviest fighting to prevent such a tragedy from hopefully ever recurring again. In theory, the latter sounded like a nice idea, but Daniel wondered how it would even be possible. The power requirements would probably be immense, and whatever was supplying power to such shields would need to be on the ground, giving the Army yet one more thing to defend. Those suggestions and others would take time to consider before actual implementation of the best in the field. For now, Sujanha was increasing the number of ships covering the troops on the ground, and hopefully, the extra eyes, weapons, and shields would prevent another tragedy.

Weeks passed.

Life went on.

Taremu still cast a long shadow over the Furling military even as the weeks passed. Often, there seemed to be an almost hush or pall onboard the Valhalla and at Headquarters, everyone moving a little more quietly, all voices a little more somber. The battles with the Goa'uld continued, though somewhat more slowly. As careful as Daniel had always seen Sujanha be in the formation of battle plans, she seemed to have become yet more cautious and careful overnight, a far cry from the recklessness some on the High Council had more than once accused her of in the past. Absolutely ridiculous! Hours were spent by the High Command and yet more hours by Sujanha herself making and refining battle-plans, scrutinizing the Furling-equivalent of AARs, and then refining those plans yet again based on any tidbits gleaned from those AARs. The same cycle continued after every battle of any consequence.

Despite the national—galactic, really—mourning for the dead, the Furling's conduct in battle and their treatment of captured Goa'uld or Jaffa did not change one iota. Their grief for their dead and even their understandable anger at the Goa'uld tactics that had cost so many lives would NEVER drive them to foul treatment of prisoners or callousness in battle.

Though battles still were waged, for a few weeks, there was a respite from those high-stakes battles for the Fleet and Army both, the kind of battles that Sujanha and Anarr had often led themselves. Everything was normal … in a sense … if war could ever be normal. There were no disasters, but that was a low standard for 'normal.'

And then one day, a messenger from the Tok'ra arrived without warning, bringing concerning news that could portend a disaster of its own.

The Tok'ra were unfortunately becoming a portent of doom.

Or so it seemed some days.


11th of Xuxiq, 6546 A.S.
(April 23, 2000)
Valhalla, Avalon

Sujanha's flagship had almost become Daniel's home away from home, given the amount of time he spent there. Now that he thought about it, he was accumulating quite a list of 'homes' and homes: Uslisgas, Abydos; earth, sort of; and the Valhalla, too. Sujanha's flagship was currently in orbit around another of the Furling-controlled planets within the Milky-Way, a large inhabitable moon named Loria, a name that made him think of Lorien from the Lord of the Rings, although the two places had no similarities whatsoever. They had just returned from helping a Free-Jaffa Hat'tak with engine trouble reach Chulak, as the nearest Furling ship in range. They had stopped at Loria to pick up news and would soon head on to rejoin the rest of Sujanha's strike-fleet … somewhere.

It was early afternoon Uslisgas-time. The Fleet kept to Uslisgas-time consistently to give crews some sense of daily routine and help maintain some normalcy in terms of sleeping schedules … lest there be a riot among the healers, rather than having frequently changing schedules based on the day-night schedules of whatever planet the Valhalla was in orbit around, which only would work if we in orbit around a planet at all, and sometimes Sujanha will just park us in some galactic void. Just like with Janet, no one wanted to cross the Furling healers, who were a breed—not literally—unto themselves. Daniel had just returned from fetching a fresh pot of tea from the mess hall, wanting a chance to stretch his legs, and had barely retaken his seat across from Sujanha when Mekoxe's hologram appeared over her desk, dispersing the holographic paperwork the Furling Supreme Commander had had up.

Sujanha gave a long slow blink, very reminiscent of the Asgard, obviously somewhat startled by his unexpected appearance. "Yes?"

"You need to come up to the bridge, Commander," the Communication's Officer said. "Ushuotis just sent over Jacob-Selmak of the Tok'ra. Something's happened, and it's urgent."

Something's happened?

To whom?

The Tok'ra? Earth?

A few more details would be nice!

Daniel muttered a choice curse that he had learned from Jack. He wished the Tok'ra could bring good news for once. Sujanha gave him a look, possibly chiding or possibly one of non-comprehension, and pushed herself to her feet, comparatively smoothly. Today seemed to be a relatively good day for her, health-wise, a blessing given the heavy stress post-Taremu.

"Asik? Ragnar?" She called through the doorway to her outer office.

"Coming," Ragnar called back.

"I heard," Asik echoed.

Ragnar's call was followed up by Ragnar's bulk entering. He was a touch thinner than he had been before his brother's death. The aftermath of his Ruarc's passing had taken a great toll on him, physically and emotionally, and there was a new smattering of white hairs on his gray muzzle. Stress was aging him before his times … just like Sujanha. Not anywhere to the same extent. Sujanha was less than a century-and-a-half older than Ragnar but, given her physical impairments and her black fur which made every white hair of hers that much more visible, looked twice her age or more, so I'm told. Daniel was not an expert on Furling aging, aside from the fact that she shouldn't look that old, anywhere near this old.

Together, the three beamed up to the bridge. A second after they arrived, there was another flash of light, and Jacob-Selmak, dressed in the traditional sand-colored uniform of the Tok'ra, appeared just in front of the semi-circle formed by the holographic view screens.

"What happened?" Sujanha asked without preamble, taking her seat in her command chair.

"When was the last time you had contact with earth?" asked Jacob, instead of directly answering her question.

Daniel went ice cold with horror. That type of question could never bode well. He suddenly felt a little weak in the knees and took a seat on the steps by Sujanha's chair.

A sliver of confusion passed through Sujanha's eyes for a split second. "Not since we had the early warning satellite put in orbit after the treaty signing between earth and the Tok'ra," she replied. "Why?"

"Because the Tok'ra have been to contact earth for nearly a week-and-a-half with no response," answered Jacob. "We've even tried to send a ship, but it can't get through."

No response.

Can't get to earth. The Protected Planets Treaty and the Furling's satellite were supposed to protect earth. What the hell had happened?

"It's gone?" Daniel almost croaked.

A paw settled heavily on his shoulder and squeezed. "He said they can't get through," Sujanha noted flatly. "Not that there is no planet there any longer. That's different." Not a distinction that she found particularly reassuring if her voice was anything to go by. How could a ship in hyperspace NOT get to earth? The hyperdrive was supposed to take you from Point A to Point B.

Can't get through? What does that even mean? How does that even work? Daniel was not an expert on hyperdrives by any stretch of his quite excellent imagination, but that made no sense. What, did they bounce or something?

"Cannot get through …" Ragnar repeated, coming up on Sujanha's other side. His tone was somewhere between skeptical and incredulous. "How could that even happen?"

"It shouldn't," Sujanha replied. "Not in any situation that I know of." She pressed a button on the arm of her chair. "Control, this is the Valhalla." Someone in the base on the ground.

"This is Control." The voice spoke heavily accented Furling and was not obviously either male or female. "Go ahead, Commander." (Sujanha's voice—the crisp articulation colored by a slight accent common to the Kushik and the Dovahkiin—was very recognizable, however.)

"Tell the gate guards to dial Midgard, and then tell me what happens," Sujanha ordered.

What good does that do if the Tok'ra can't get through … for a week and a half? Daniel swore mentally again, several choice words he had learned from Jack during the first mission to Abydos.

Tells us it's not a fluke, bad timing, or a problem with their gate. Daniel answered his own question a split second later.

"Commander?" There was a questioning note in that voice now. It was, admittedly, an unusual order.

"Have Midgard dialed immediately," Sujanha repeated with slightly more emphasis. "Tell me what happens."

"Yes, Commander. Right away." Daniel could almost see the person to whom the voice belonged snapping to immediate attention. That was the reaction Sujanha's tone was supposed to invoke, and that was the reaction the reply brought to mind.

A couple of minutes passed with interminable slowness. Jacob paced from one edge of the bridge to the other, back and forth in front of Sujanha's chair. Daniel stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting and chewed on his bottom lip nervously. He had just gotten earth, his friends, the SGC back.

If something had happened to them …

If earth was gone …

Don't let your mind run away with itself. Cross one bridge at a time. We don't know what happened for sure.

The voice came back over comms. "No response, Commander. The gate will not connect."

Jacob flinched.

"Thank you," Sujanha said simply. The call disconnected, and then she turned to look over her shoulder toward Mekoxe's station. "The rest period is over. I need all the crew back on board and at their stations as quickly as possible. Have Rusa sent for. I need her to go over the data from our satellite in orbit over Midgard. If something has happened, that should have given us warning."

"Should have" being the key words of that final sentence.

Unless something took it out first … If something could take it out, even with its own dedicated shield, that would be … bad. I'm not sure any Goa'uld ship is powerful enough to take it out, and only Furling and Asgardian cloaked ships aren't picked up by its sensors.

The more he thought about it, the less it made sense to Daniel. What could have happened? Why was the Stargate not connecting? Why could the Tok'ra ship not reach earth? It made no sense.

Rusa appeared within two minutes. She had been off-duty and, as she appeared in a flash of light on the bridge, was still in the process of hastily tearing bites off a strip of meat in one hand with the rows of small, sharp teeth that lined her scaly muzzle. She glanced around, tipped her head back and swallowed the last bits of meat whole, and then asked in a rough voice. "Commander?" She hastily cleared her throat and then thumped herself on the chest twice in quick succession as she took her seat at her station.

"The Tok'ra have lost contact with Midgard … for over a week," Sujanha replied in Furling. Rusa's English was rather shaky, and she wasn't wearing a translator. "We can't make contact either. A ship they sent can't even reach Midgard."

The navigator shot her an incredulous look, or what passed for incredulous look for a Lapith. Between the teeth and the scales, sometimes they just looked menacing, regardless. "Cannot reach the planet? It's not there?"

"No. The ship cannot reach it in hyperspace," Sujanha repeated. "Check the data being transmitted from our satellite in orbit. I want to know what is happening."

Rusa blinked. How many eyelids do the Lapiths have? (The Dovahkiin who also had some reptilian characteristics had like … three? Maybe. At least, two.) "Yes, Commander." She turned back to her station, muttering under her breath to herself in her own language. Her claws clacked as she tapped out commands on the console with one hand. She was using the other hand to … clean her teeth, pick her teeth … something.

We did interrupt her lunch.

There was a viewscreen on her station—a physical viewscreen, not a holographic one—so Daniel could only see the somewhat distorted edge of whatever video/data was scrolling across from his angle. A couple of minutes passed. There was no other sound on the bridge but their breaths and the clack of Rusa's claws. Several more minutes passed. Other crew started arriving … quietly at a motion from Sujanha so as not to distract the navigator. Several more minutes passed. Rusa's posture was getting stiffer the longer the data scrolled by. She hit more buttons, hissed something under her breath in her own language again. There was more movement on her screen … faster paced. (Jacob was staring.) She thumped her station with one fist as if trying to make the tech work properly. Her muscular tail was beating out an uneasy rhythm against her ankle. Doesn't that hurt?

The suspense was killing Daniel. What are you seeing? He couldn't imagine it was anything good based on her reactions thus far.

Finally, with another growl and a muttered word that from the tone could only be a curse, Rusa rose, whirling toward Sujanha. It was a good thing that the Lapith had as much control over their tails as any other limb, or it might have gone thump against her station or her chair, which, while not bolted to the deck, could move back-and-forth front to back via tracks, which would hopefully prevent it from going flying. (Daniel had seen Lapiths fighting with their tails during sparring practice. They were strong and could easily lay a man flat out with one good thwap.)

"The data has been corrupted," Rusa angrily hissed. "It is looping, repeating a ten-hour segment over and over and over and over again. As far back as I went—weeks—the footage loops. I can go back farther later and try to pinpoint an exact date when this began, but this gives us what we need to know for now."

"Loops?" Daniel repeated in English for Jacob-Selmak's benefit. "What? How?" He craned his head to look up at Sujanha, looking instinctively to her for answers, even though she had so far seemed as puzzled by the situation as he was.

Sujanha was rigid, and her hand had clamped tight on his shoulder, almost painfully so. (She was angry, Daniel realized suddenly.) "The footage is looping, and we are only now learning of this?" Her tone was as dry as sand and as flat as he had ever heard.

(There were Furling healers at the SGC, not just Daniel's old teammates and friends … and his entire birth-planet at risk here.)

"This should not be happening. The way these satellites are programmed, I'm not sure how it even can." There was a low underlying hiss as Rusa spoke. She was angry … at the tech malfunctioning, maybe. She had no connection to earth … unlike Daniel and the others.

Sujanha's tone sharpened and was now just loud enough to carry to Mekoxe. "Have whoever is responsible for our satellites go over all the footage before and during the looped part. I want to know what happened and how no one realized this before. This cannot happen again."

Jacob was looking back and forth between the three of them and had been for some minutes, lacking the knowledge of Furling to follow the conversation without a translator. "What did you find?" He finally asked.

Sujanha's head snapped back to him. "The data from our satellite is looping at ten-hour intervals and has been for weeks. It is useless to us. We are not sure what is happening."

"What's next then?" It was a good question and one more profitable than yet another variation on how the h**l something like this could even happen and what the h**l could have caused it. Does Furling equipment get computer bugs?

"Now we go to Midgard ourselves," Sujanha replied. Her hand spasmed one more time and then released, and she patted Daniel's shoulder almost apologetically. "Just as soon as my crew and my ship are ready."


Furling hyperdrives could reach speeds of 100-125 light years per second depending on how hard the engines were pushed. At those speeds, it would only take a maximum of 33 minutes to cross from one tip of the Milky-Way to the other. Leaving Loria, the ship should be able to jump to hyperspace and reach earth in about six minutes. Those were the figures Rusa had stated.

Watching the blue swirls of hyperspace pass by through the front view-screens, Daniel wondered what they would see when they reached earth … if they reached earth. He was still seated by Sujanha's chair. The only reason that he was not pacing (like Jacob), twirling his glasses, or drumming his fingers anxiously was the tight grip he had on the inside fabric of his pockets and the grounding paw Sujanha had finally just left on his shoulder. The motion seemed to help both of them.

It was almost making Daniel dizzy, watching Jacob pace back and forth, back and forth, back and forth across the bridge. The heavy weight of uncertainty, of the unknown, was the worst, made the waiting almost unbearable. What had happened to earth? What was happening on earth?

No one there knew.

Earth was Jacob's home, too. Sam was (presumably) on earth … unless SG1 was deployed and somehow had managed to avoid this … whatever this was.

A few minutes after leaving Loria (Daniel wasn't exactly sure how long), the Valhalla suddenly gave a convulsive shudder and then dropped out of hyperspace, appearing in an inky black void between star systems. Jacob was picking himself off the floor. Rusa was tapping hurriedly at her console, muttering invectives under her breath in Lapith and Furling, cursing everything from the coding in her computer systems to the metal of … something. (And that was only the part in Furling.) Daniel, feeling terribly out of his depth and utterly useless, could only wonder what had happened and rub the back of his head where it had smacked against Sujanha's chair. That'll bruise. He almost expected to feel blood, but there was no wetness, no stain on his fingers when he pulled his hand away. Ow. Ow. Ow!

"Status report," Sujanha barked over ship-wide comms.

Within seconds, reports started streaming in. There were a good handful of minor injuries across the ship from the rather violent and abrupt exit from hyperspace, but nothing, it appeared, that the onboard healers could not handle. All systems were still functioning from life-support to the hyperdrive, though minor repairs might be necessary on some. The hyperdrive was somehow still functioning properly. It had not been a malfunction with it that caused the abrupt termination of that stage of their attempted journey to earth.

So … what had caused it? That was the question of the hour.

"Daniel?" she asked some minutes later when the stream of status reports slowed.

"I'm alright," he replied, giving one vigorous scrub over the back of his head with his hand. "Just bumped my head." The ache was still present but slowly fading. No lasting harm done, I think. He'd probably go by the healers later just to be safe. I'm okay for now, at least.

"Jacob-Selmak?"

"We're alright," the Tok'ra operative replied. He had wisely moved aside to a place where he could brace himself if there were more problems. "What the h**l happened?"

We all want to know the answer to that question.

Sujanha could only shrug. "Rusa, plot a course for earth."

Rusa turned in her seat. There was caution and wariness where earlier there had been anger. "I cannot advise continuing on using the hyperdrive until we know what caused that … abrupt loss of our hyperspace window."

"Our sublight engines are still functioning, are they not?"

Are you nuts? That'd take forever.

"Commander?" Rusa asked, puzzlement clear. "We are still tens of thousands of light years from Midgard. It would take too long to reach there under sublight power alone."

"I know that," Sujanha replied, scrubbing a paw across her face and leaning heavily on one arm of her chair. "Something drove us from hyperspace. Something kept the Tok'ra ship from reaching earth. Although we cannot continue on via the hyperdrive, we might find out more if we continue. Let us see if it is possible to continue … at all."

There are multiple ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes.

Rusa plotted out the more straightforward path toward earth. (Their unexpected exit from hyperspace had ejected them somewhat off course.) After only a few minutes' journey under sublight power, the Valhalla again began to shudder, and a cacophony of alarms blared, too many to root out the underlying cause, too many to countenance continuing.

It was too unsafe.

"Have the engineers double-check the hyperdrive, and then plot a course for Calydon," Sujanha ordered. "When we reach there, have word sent to Uslisgas and Othala. This is … beyond me." In the end, she was primarily only a strategist and tactician, however supremely skilled. "I fear Midgard may be beyond our reach … and our help."


Over the weeks that followed, investigating ships sent out by the Asgard and the Furlings plotted out a "bubble" of some sort that had enveloped over a dozen star-systems in that section of the Milky-Way, including earth's. All 14 worlds with Stargates within those star-systems were inaccessible despite repeated attempts to dial in from multiple worlds and galaxies, for that matter. Attempts to breach into that "bubble" were deemed too inadvisably risky, and all attempts to study the barrier had to be done externally. There were too many lives at stake to try to send a Furling ship into the "bubble," even one with a skeleton crew, and the Asgard ships, which could operate without a crew, … well, there was no guarantee that their remote operating capabilities would still work or that the Asgard could access any transmitted data depending on what the "bubble," a very inexact description for whatever was going on, actually was. Given the ongoing war with the Replicating Ones—or the Replicators, as the SGC had christened them—the Asgard were not abounding with spare ships. Temporary investigative missions were one thing, given the speed of their hyperdrive. Risking losing the ship entirely was another.

The Furling … scientists? Computer techs? … studying the nonsensical data from their satellite did find one clue within days of Jacob's arrival on Loria. Right before the ten-hour loop of footage/data started for the first time (after day upon day upon day) of normal functioning, right before every new ten-hour loop started, there were unexplainable energy readings coming from the Stargate, strong enough for the satellite to detect it in orbit. What the cause of those energy readings was, however, nobody knew. The satellite's sensors did not give enough detail—were not designed to—to aid those studying the anomaly.

Another clue … possible clue … was discovered after the extent of the "bubble" was mapped out and the addresses for all the worlds with Stargates were collated. All the addresses were run through the Furling and Asgardian databases in a search for any clue to what this "bubble" actually was. The eureka moment came during a search of the Asgard's copy of an Ancient database: one of the worlds within the "bubble" housed a former Ancient outpost, abandoned since the time of the Great Plague, its use unknown.

The Ancients had not deigned to elaborate on the purpose of that outpost in their archives to the great frustration and consternation of the Furlings.

For once being close allies and fellow members of the Alliance of Four Great Races, the Furling, Sujanha included, had strong opinions about the Ancients, their life choices, and their handling of their very advanced and, sometimes, very dangerous technology. While some might argue that the Furlings had no leg to stand on, colloquially speaking, given what had happened to their storehouses of technology that led to the rise of the Goa'uld, the Furlings, at least, had done their best to safeguard their technology, conceal it, protect it from any idle passers-by using it.

And not just leave it lying around in the opening … like that thing that downloaded the knowledge of the Ancients into Jack's brain.

The Ancients, however, well … Daniel was learning a lot more about Rusa these days … she succinctly and caustically described the Ancients as having left their technology scattered all their former holdings in such a way that "any idiot passing through has a chance of getting a hold of it." The necessary gene was not unknown in Avalon at large or in other galaxies that could travel to or from the Milky-Way. Not all Ancient technology even required the gene to use, unsurprisingly … since, especially among their allies, not everyone would have that gene common to the Ancients … and even someone who did not have the necessary gene could bring back someone who could and thereby get everyone into a world of hurt.

Careless, that was the main impression that came across.

Not accounting well for what impact those actions might have in the future.

Powerful technology falling into the wrong hands, into unprepared hands had consequences … as the Tollan well knew, for example.

With great power came, as the Furlings believed, great responsibility, and with the weight of that responsibility came just as great an accounting before their Maker at the end of the all things, or so their beliefs went.

Whatever had happened, whatever SG1—Daniel just had a feeling that his old teammates were at the heart of this somehow … whatever this was, it seemed like a very SG1 thing to get into … considering all the scrapes we got into together before … everything—had found, it was the conclusion of some of the greatest minds of the Furlings, the Asgard, and the Tollan—the Furlings had brought in their allies as a fresh set of eyes and a fresh perspective on the issue—that earth was beyond their help.

Whatever was going on, they would have to get out of it on their own.

All Daniel could do—all Jacob could do on Nistra—was wait.

Wait for what, who knew.

Wait for how long, who knew that either.

Daniel was sick of waiting.

He had enough of the anxious waiting with Sha're and Shifu and Skaara for years.

Waiting was the worst.


The weeks passed, and life continued on for the rest of the galaxy. Life had to go on. Just because something was going on with earth did not mean that the Goa'uld or the Replicators stopped being threats. The long-running campaign against Bastet and Kali, interrupted by the Diagoth and its aftermath, ended with both System Lords and many of their Underlings and Underlords dead. The clean-up of Tefnut's domain finished. A dual-focused campaign against Montu and Inheret began almost immediately afterwards when the two minor Goa'uld allied together to attack Ashanatheas after the address for the Furling base was somehow discovered.

I'm not sure what language that word is from, but it isn't Furling.

The attack was unsuccessful, with only minor damages accrued on the ground. Neither Goa'uld had participated in the siege, leaving their underlings to lead the attack, and Sujanha made dealing with them a priority. Especially since Montu, Inheret, or one of their underlings, or some of their Jaffa commanders have more than a modicum of brain cells … given what she's been saying about that first battle. It reminded Daniel of Jack's complaints about some American generals and about how the lower ranks did all the hard work.

May came and went on earth, and Shifu turned two. The little boy was growing like a weed and babbling in three languages, as he heard Furling, English, and Abydonian spoken around him daily. Daniel could not have been prouder of him and happier to be his father. He was able to get the day off and take Sha're and Shifu back to Abydos to see Skaara and Kasuf. His brother-in-law was continuing to look better as the months passed. There was still a shadow in his eyes sometimes, but being home, being with family, being at peace was helping restore his old spirit.

Being mothered by his sister actually drew a real reaction out of him again.

June came and went on earth. Montu was captured, Inheret was killed, and their underlings defeated.

High King Ivar and the Furling High Council declared the yearly anniversary of the Battle of Taremu a day of mourning for the Furling Empire. Why it had taken this long to declare that, Daniel didn't know. The announcement returned the shadow of grief to Ragnar's eyes for days.

Jaax's sister got 'married,' or whatever the appropriate word is in their culture. Daniel had not even known that his fellow aide had a sister in the first place or that she was even engaged/betrothed, if that was even a thing among the Etrairs, but the event kept Jaax over the moon with happiness for over a week. Sujanha, who seemed to take vicarious pleasure in the good things that happened to all of them—Daniel, her other aides, and her bodyguards—was also quite pleased.

Life went on.

(Earth had been out of contact for over two months.)

June passed, and July began. The Furlings continued to dial earth like clockwork every other day, and a handful of ships continued to monitor the "bubble" until, finally, one day, the Stargate connected.


5th of Vysad, 6546 A.S.
(July 8, 2000)
Uslisgas, Asteria

Mid-morning, Sujanha and Daniel were returning to Ushuotis to rejoin the Valhalla after an endless series of meetings with the High Council and the High Command the previous day. She had seemed overly tired the previous evening, earning more than a few worried looks from Daniel and Sha're both. Sujanha still seemed tired that morning, as Daniel trailed into the Hall of the Stargate, sharing the occasional worried glance with Ragnar. Even with Janth less of an issue now, High Council meetings still always seemed to do a number on her, whether it was the stress, the arguing, the sheer length of time having to sit still in uncomfortable chairs, or some combination of all three.

"Dial earth," she said unexpectedly.

Earth? Someone did yesterday, right?

Daniel shot her a puzzled look.

"There is nothing lost in the attempt," she replied. It was the Furling version of "no harm in trying," Sujanha's words, spoken with Malek's voice. Sometimes the two switched unexpectedly, Sujanha trying to give her symbiote a fair share of time in control of her body even when her status as Supreme Commander necessitated her largely being in control. But in this case, it was more concerning. When Sujanha was struggling, Malek sometimes took control for a while, serving as her voice, to give her a partial respite from the pain.

Is this that bad of a day? I hope not for her … their sake.

It's true. No harm in trying. As much as he hoped, after this long, Daniel wasn't sure whether or not he was expecting a change. He hoped. He hoped. Oh, he hoped, but these past years had helped imprint some of the hard truths of reality. Sometimes there was not a happy ending.

"Midgard is beyond our aid."

That made it all the more surprising a few moments later when the Stargate actually connected, and the kawoosh appeared, the wormhole spilling its blue light across the room. Sujanha's face was almost as startled as Daniel figured his probably was.

Even as Daniel was still too startled to move or speak, Sujanha made a motion over her gauntlet, activating its communication feature. "Stargate Command, this is Supreme Commander Sujanha of the Furlings. Are you receiving this?"

Please let them be alright.

What mess did they find themselves in this time?

You'd think we … they are a magnet for trouble.

The communication systems on their gauntlets could pick up radio transmissions, and it was only moments before General Hammond's very familiar and very welcome voice resounded. "We do, Supreme Commander. How can we assist you?"

"I think the question is rather what assistance do you need," Sujanha replied, flashing two hand-signs quickly. (Ragnar nodded and stepped away, bringing up his own communications.) Someone needs to tell the Tok'ra and the ships at the "bubble," or what was the "bubble." That might be what she wants done. "We were quite concerned some months ago when the Tok'ra brought us news that Midgard had fallen out of contact. All of our attempts to reach Midgard since then have failed, both by Stargate and by ship. Is all well?"

"We're all alive and in one piece, Commander, but it's a long story." There was a murmur of other voices in the background. "The iris is open. You are welcome to come through if you wish."

Daniel leapt (mentally) at the idea, though … we're expected on Ushuotis, though this wouldn't be the first time she's changed things on the fly. Ragnar returned, gave a quick nod. He'd finished whatever Sujanha had sent him to do. That was quick.

"Very well. I thank you. Dr. Jackson, my two bodyguards, and I will join you in a moment." With those words, Sujanha closed communications and turned towards the rest of them. "We shall," she said, continuing in English, instead of switching back to Furling, "as you say, take a detour." Now she switched back into Furling. "Vylt, send a message to that effect once we reach Midgard. This should not, I think, take long, but there is no reason to cause concern."

The Furlings had an array of sub-spaces transmitters and long-range sensors scattered over portions of the Milky-Way to make communications just like that actually possible. Otherwise, there was no way their gauntlets had enough power to get a message from earth to Ushuotis … without a wormhole in between. Messages could be passed from people on one side of a planet to the other, even from one planet in a solar system to another if they were close in their rotations, but not from system to system.

Jack, Sam, and Teal'c were all waiting at the bottom of the ramp as Daniel and Sujanha stepped through … behind the imposing bulks of Ragnar and Vylt. They were all physically fine, in one piece, no bandages, new scars, crutches, or anything like that, but Jack … looked tired. Exhausted, really.

"What happened?" Daniel exclaimed, seconds after the wormhole closed behind him, as they walked down the ramp. Ragnar and Vylt stepped off the ramp, leaving room for him and Sujanha to do likewise. "You disappeared out of nowhere for months."

"Groundhog Day, Danny boy," Jack replied dryly, stuffing his hands into his pockets and rocking on his heels.

Daniel recognized the movie reference. A time loop? … What?

Daniel felt like his mind had shorted out for a moment. Jack was still talking … surprisingly politely to Sujanha. Miracles can happen. "General Hammond sends his regards, Commander. He'd come and greet you personally, but he's still dealing with the fall-out of our own personal Groundhog Day, bureaucracy, red-tape, paperwork, and all. We can give you the run-down if you have time."

"My sympathies," Sujanha replied dryly. "We were quite concerned and quite puzzled by your … disappearance … and by why our satellite gave us no warning that ill had befallen you. But … what is a groundhog? And what is its relevance to this situation?"

Jack blinked and then grinned. Sam started chuckling. Teal'c face was … blankly serene, as usual.

Daniel touched Sujanha's arm. "A groundhog is a small animal, native to earth. The reference is to a … story. Jack means that they got stuck in a time-loop … somehow, right?" He glanced at Jack for confirmation.

Jack nodded.

No wonder the general said it was a long story?

How …

Just how?

Sujanha's gaze sharpened, and she stiffened. "A time-loop? Over such a vast expanse of space? There were fourteen worlds affected, including Midgard. How did this happen?"

"Ancient doohickey." Jack turned towards the door. "We can go to the briefing room to talk."

An Ancient device. Of course, it was.

Sam fell into step beside Daniel as they wound their way upstairs. "How long has it been?"

Uh … that depends.

"When was the mission that spawned … all this?" Daniel made an expansive gesture with one hand.

Sam stated a date in late March.

Daniel cringed. "About three-and-a-half months, then. Today is July 8th. Your father approached us in late April when they weren't able to contact you and one of their ships couldn't make it to earth."

"Dad?!" she exclaimed.

Daniel touched her shoulder in sympathy. "The Furlings are sending word to the Tok'ra. He'll be glad to know you're okay." Or, at least, that's what I presume Ragnar was doing. I never actually asked, though.

The seven of them took their seats around the briefing table. The door to General Hammond's door was closed, but he was at his desk, talking on the red telephone. Oh, joy. It was quieter, with less SGC personnel around than the last time Daniel had been in this room during negotiations over the Furling-Earth alliance. Ragnar and Vylt were less tense, and they actually took seats at the table this time, or Ragnar did. Vylt's seat groaned ponderously after seconds of bearing his weight, and he rose to stand behind Sujanha's chair, instead.

Discretion is the better part of valor.

"You said an Ancient device caused this time loop?" Sujanha cut straight to the heart of the matter. She was extremely not pleased by the tone of her voice.

One more disaster nearly caused by the Ancients leaving their stuff too easily accessible. As intriguing as their civilization, their culture, their history seemed, the more Daniel studied it, they did seem somewhat … careless ... I'm not sure that's the right word, though she probably might agree with the appellation … at times.

The following tale sounded exactly like the adventures and misadventures SG1 had gotten up to while Daniel was still a member. SG1 had been on a routine mission to P4X-639, the former Ancient-controlled planet the Furlings already knew about. The system's sun had been experiencing a coronal mass ejection that Sam had wanted to study, while Nyan, mysteriously absent for the moment from the 'briefing,' had been studying the writing upon a mysterious machine alongside an alien archaeologist they had found there, a man named Malakai.

The machine had been activated, and Jack and Teal'c had found themselves reliving and reliving a ten-hour period, beginning with the mission briefing. After many loops and much frustration, Jack and Teal'c were finally able to translate the writing on the machine with the help of Nyan and the compendium of reference books of Daniel's that he had never carted off to Uslisgas. Those writing told of the plague that had swept across the Milky-Way long ago and had ravaged the Ancients, eventually driving them off to another galaxy. Those that survived. A group of Ancients had wanted to subvert the plague by traveling back in time, but all they were able to do was loop one period of time, instead. All their attempts to increase the span of the loops had failed, and they had eventually all perished.

Malakai had activated the loops in an attempt to see his deceased wife again, but SG1 had been able to talk him down and get him to disable the device before they went through yet more loops.

Ten-hour loops.

Three and a half-months.

Two and a half-ish loops per day.

That's like … over 200 loops.

How do you not go nuts?

"So," Daniel asked Jack sometime later as they were heading back to the gateroom, "in all the time that you were…err…looping, were you ever tempted to do something crazy? I mean…you could do anything without worrying about the consequences."

Jack's only reply was a small smirk.

Stories for another time.

Sujanha's face was grave as she stood at the bottom of the ramp as the gate began dialing Ushuotis.

"Commander?" Daniel asked.

She startled slightly—lost in thought?—and looked over at him. "I think our new first priority," she said softly in Furling, "must be dealing with that device. I must speak with the High Command and the king first, but I think that world should come under our control. It is good that Stargate Command has locked out that address, but others could still fall afoul of it."

"Especially since it doesn't need that gene to work," Daniel noted.

"Especially," Sujanha agreed.