AN: Well good news so far... only one of my staff has tested positive. Fingers crossed. I think my part time manager might be too but she hasn't said so. Wouldn't matter as they were around all the same people.

Chapter 3

"Last chance, Carter." Jack said to Sam, just before he was about to head out. They were in the briefing room going over the mission parameters one last time with Hammond before Jack left with his team. Jethro was hiding it well but he was fairly agog at the huge wheel outside the window. Jack noticed and nudged Sam "Wait until Walter lights her up." Jack joked quietly with a head tilt to Gibbs.

"Just make sure you initiate them both properly if you have the chance." Sam said. Her face professional other than the unholy light of evil in her eyes.

"Do I even want to know?" Gibbs asked, his face a mask of concern.

"They like to shove people through the first time. Jack started it, but it's tradition now." Daniel supplied.

"Saunders landed on his face." Sam said with an amused smirk.

"In a cow pile." Jack finished.

They turned and gave Gibbs looks of evil glee.

George walked into the briefing room from his office. "All right, people, let's get back to business." Hammond said to Jack and Sam in particular who only acted more childish when Daniel joined in the entertainment.

Gibbs and Rabb got up and stood at attention, but George waved them down. "We don't stand on ceremony for briefings, gentlemen." Turning to their former colleague, Hammond had a final question. "Colonel Maybourne, can you assure me with reasonable certainty that you know approximately where Kinsey's pawns are?"

Harry nodded. "They could have moved around some but they won't go too far because it might make their jobs harder and working hard isn't the Trust's MO. I'm pretty sure we can bag and tag quickly."

"Good. What can you tell me about his Earth side operations?

"Well, I'm no expert on the law but I'm pretty sure disposing of a body is against the law." Harry said dryly.

Hammond made a 'get on with it' gesture after giving Harry an unfriendly look.

"Well… you read my report and saw the files. There's really not much more I can add yet." Harry admitted.

Hammond nodded thoughtfully. "And you're sure it's confined to the Trust? I really don't want to have to take down half the Senate."

Harry shrugged.

"You don't know?" Gibbs asked him incredulously.

"They didn't tell me to look there." Harry told Jethro dismissively. "You want more, you gotta tell me so."

Jack rolled his eyes and threw up a hand.

Hammond's face fell into his hand. "I don't suppose it matters at this point. No one else is trying to destroy the program. It seems like this issue is personal so let's confine it to the major players and worry about the rest of it when... and if we have to."

There was a round of nods and 'yes sirs'.

"Anything else?" Hammond asked.

"Sir," Jack said.

"What is it, Colonel?"

"Maybourne needs to go with my team. Commander Rabb is the better choice for team coordinator on base and Sergeant Gibbs has field assets here on earth that will be of higher strategic value to Carter and Daniel than Commander Rabb's team can be." He glanced at Harm. "No offence."

"None taken," Harm said out of the side of his mouth. Bud was a great investigator but he wasn't cleared for this op. Hell, he was barely cleared for this op, he thought as he side-eyed the Gate that he was only seeing for the first time today after several weeks spent on base for Jack's trial.

"Major, once you are medically cleared you will take point on the investigation here on Earth."

Sam nodded. She had half mind to object but it should only be a couple more days. "Yes sir."

"In the meantime, you, Daniel, and the Sergeant here ferret out anything you can about Bauer. Someone has to know something from back then. Find it."

"Yes sir." Sam agreed.

"All right, people, you have your assignments.

There was a shuffling of papers as both teams got up to leave. "Anyone hungry?" Jack asked them.

Daniel gave him a sloppy shrug of assent and Sam rolled her eyes. Things had not perceptibly changed apparently.

Their meal was unusually quiet. Jack sat next to Sam but they didn't make a big deal about it as they usually sat together anyway. Daniel was unusually reflective and respected their need for silence. This would be the first time they had genuinely been apart in over a year and a half. He knew himself you get sort of used to your partner just being there all the time and it feels very off when they are not. The pain of losing his wife had faded but it would always be with him.

"Are you prepared to hunt for your quarry, Agent Gibbs?" Teal'c asked him.

Gibbs drank the dregs from his cup, winced at the bitter, burned coffee, and put the cup back on the table before he looked at Teal'c. Thinking it was time to let the Jaffa know he wasn't the only one quietly observing the new members of his team, he slapped his hands on either side of his plate and said blandly, "Indeed."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the other man.

Jack watched them out of the corner of his eye while he fished something out of his own coffee thoughtfully. Gibbs was trending dangerous waters, joking with T before getting to know him but to Jack's surprise, Teal'c laughed.

"Jaffa joke?" Jack asked mildly.

"Indeed." Daniel said in a deep voice and snorted on a chuckle.

"Your companion is quite amusing, O'Neill."

"Good to know, big guy." Jack said with a small grin.

"Wonderful, you are now part of the tribe." Harm said dryly to Gibbs.

"Just what I always wanted." Gibb quipped back.

Jack threw up a hand in mock defeat.

The original members of SG-1 stood in the back of the Gate room talking quietly. Gibbs was in the control room with Walter. Harm and Harry were waiting for Jack and Teal'c by the Gate ramp.

"This really shouldn't take too long." Jack was telling them. "Maybourne swears he knows where these idiots are so all we have to do is zat them and drag them back. He thinks they might all be in the same spot."

"Take care of yourself, Jack." Daniel said.

"Yah. Keep an eye on things, would yah?" Jack says and cuts his eyes to Sam for a millisecond.

"I will." Daniel tells him, getting the message loud and clear.

"I'm right here, you know."

"Sam? Is that you? The light… it's fading…" Jack said, his hands up as though he was going blind.

"Very funny, sir." She huffed but there was a small grin on her face at his antics. "We'll have Harm contact you if we make any breakthroughs."

"Same." Jack said, bobbing his head before giving her a long look and turning to the Gate, rolling his shoulder for Teal'c to follow.

Sam's military professionalism stance and expression did not reflect her inner worry. She didn't like him going out there without her to watch his six.

"I will bring O'Neill back as he left, Major Carter."

"Thanks, Teal'c. You be safe too."

"Indeed." He told her with a small bow before turning to follow Jack to the base of the ramp.

A moment later after a brief conversation with Jack, Harm joined Daniel and Sam by the stairs heading up to 27.

Gibbs stood in the space the airman escorting him had indicated when he entered the Control Room. O'Neill's team was gathered in the Gate room below doing a final equipment check. They were standing away from the front of the ramp which went up to a huge two ringed circle with hieroglyphs on the inner ring.

"That's the Stargate, Master Sergeant," he looked at the nametag "Harriman?" he asked.

"That's what they tell me, sir," Harriman responded, his fingers flying over the keyboard in front of him.

Gibbs gave Harriman a sharp look but didn't say anything as Hammond appeared beside him. Gibbs' looked up, took a breath in anticipation, and peered back at the group below. After everything he'd been briefed, he wanted to see this Stargate to other planets in action. He decided the inside ring must turn, but wasn't sure how that related to the outside ring with its arrows.

Hammond took the mike and pressed the button. "SG-1, are you ready?"

O'Neill turned and gave Hammond a thumbs up. Hammond nodded to Harriman, who keyed a few short strokes into his computer then placed his hand on a pad next to him.

Gibbs watched as steam appeared to come from the Stargate and the inner circle began to move. It stopped at one of the arrows on the outer ring, which lit up, and Harriman said "Chevron One Encoded"

The Stargate turned again, hissing more steam, then stopping at another arrow which lit up. "Chevron Two Encoded." As each new Chevron lit up, Harriman repeated its number and said "Encoded." When the seventh lit up, he said "Chevron Seven locked, sir." Gibbs' jaw dropped when he heard a loud "Whoosh" as the center of the Gate filled with an effervescent pool of light, then pushed out a huge bubble almost to the end of the platform before settling back into what looked like a brightly lit pool of water. He jerked his jaw closed, the sound of his teeth audibly clicking shut, and his eyebrows rose almost to his hairline. He tried to keep the amazement off his face as he turned to Hammond and deadpanned. "Electric bill must be huge."

"We're self-contained, sir. Our power is generated inside the mountain." Walter's voice was slightly smug.

"You don't say." Gibbs said in absent fascination.

Hammond pushed the button on the mike again. "SG-1, you have a go. Godspeed."

Below them Jack saluted Hammond before turning to the Gate and walking through with the large man Gibbs had been told was something called a Jaffa and the shady Colonel Maybourne.