Author's note: I don't own Stargate or any of its characters, all I own are my oc's. A big shout out to KHandFF7fanforever and mayabell, you guys are great and I look forward to hearing from you. I would also like to thank everyone who has favorited and followed as well those reading this story. I'm really excited to start writing on season two, this is the season where Stargate really started to open up and introduce us to the rest of the galaxy. Here we go! :)

Chapter Eighteen

In the Line of Duty

There was no warning.

Explosions rocked the ground as three death gliders blasted at the village nestled just beyond the Stargate on the edge of a lake. Every building was burning and dozens of bodies littered the ground while the dwindling number of survivors scrambled for shelter.

SG teams two and four had taken up positions around the clearing between the village and the gate. They fired round after round at the gliders, hoping to provide some amount of cover while my team and several medics tried to corral the survivors through the gate.

I had a woman's arm over my shoulders while we ran through the debris when moaning from and overturned cart caught my attention. By dumb luck we made it to the steps of the gate and Teal'c took the woman's other arm to help her up. "Teal'c take her, I have to go back!" I shouted, and not waiting for him to respond I sprinted back to the cart.

Brushing aside the burnt wood I found a battered young boy lying on his face. Checking his pulse I breathed a sigh of relief when I found one. "Jack I got a live one!" I yelled to Jack as he ran past.

The gliders had come back around for another pass when he reached me. A blast that came to close for comfort had him taking cover with my behind the cart.

Jack reached over and turned the boy on his side. "I got this." He said scoping the boy into his arms. "We've got to go now!"

As soon as the gliders were out of range we took off for the gate. On the way we passed Sam who was performing CPR on a badly burned man. "Let's go Captain! Those gliders are coming back around!" He yelled to her.

"This man's still alive!" She shouted back.

Right then the gliders had made their way back and blasted a group of natives, scattering them across the steps to the gate.

"It cannot wait!" Jack snapped at Sam.

"I'll get her." I yelled to Jack.

"Hurry!" Jack shouted continuing to the gate.

Across the smoking clearing I could just barley make out Sam giving the man mouth to mouth. Suddenly she jerked back from him and reared her head like she was going to puke.

"Are you ok?" I asked grabbing her by the shoulders when I reached her.

She looked at me dazed, like she didn't recognized me for a moment, then she shook her head and nodded. "I'm fine."

"Let's get him out of here." I said grabbing one of the man's arm, but Sam stopped me.

"He's dead. Some kind of seizure, bit his own tongue." She explained.

There was a buzzing sound above us. I looked up and my blood went cold. The three gliders were now bearing down directly on us. "They're coming back!"

Sam was still a little dazed and I had to haul her to her feet. The blasts from the gliders were breaking apart the ground behind us as we ran, but we weren't going fast enough. Teal'c who was waiting for us just this side of the gate ran across the clearing and helped me get the stumbling Sam through the gate.

"Lock it up!" Hammond ordered as soon as we came through on the other side.

The iris slid over the event horizon and there were two very loud thuds before the gate shut off.

Letting out a sigh I slid to the floor of the ramp and threw my ball cap off, pulling my long hair out of it's pony tail in the process. "That was close."

"Indeed." Teal'c agreed.

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Hammond had called a special debriefing after all the natives from the planet had been situated in the infirmary.

"There hadn't been any Goa'uld interference on this planet for over three centuries. The Nasyans are a…were a peaceful people." Daniel said passing out his report of the mission. "They were eager to form an alliance and aid us in setting up a research outpost. There was no warning this attack was coming. We hadn't even spotted the mothership by the time the gliders assaulted the village." Daniel finished taking a seat between me and the General.

Hammond was just as confused as the rest of us. "It's not normal for the Goa'ulds to suddenly just show up and wipe out peaceful people for no apparent reason, is it?"

"No, you're right General." I said. "In the past there was usually some reason, most often they seem to attack civilizations that are advancing to a point where their technology could be a threat, but that wasn't the case here. The Nasyans were hardly out of the middle ages by our standards."

"Maybe they found out we were there." Jack offered.

"Well, how could they know? Or more importantly, why did this particular Goa'uld care?" Daniel countered.

Jack's mouth quirked into the shadow of a smile. "They might have been a little concerned because we just kicked the crap out of Apophis."

Teal'c raised his eyebrow and turned to Hammond, addressing him directly. "I have seen the Goa'uld wipe out entire civilizations, for no reason, simply because it gave them pleasure."

"Well, the truth is we still understand very little about their society. Was Nasya just next on the list? Part of me wishes it was that simple, but I don't want to underestimate them." I said to Teal'c. He raised his customary eyebrow, then he bowed his head. "Perhaps..." I said turning to Hammond, but Sam unexpectedly cut me off.

"Maybe their reasons just weren't made apparent to you, Teal'c. I mean, you are just a Jaffa." She stared coldly at Teal'c from across the table. Turning to the rest of us she saw each of our shocked expressions and quickly explained herself. "All…all I meant was that Apophis wouldn't necessarily have explained everything to Teal'c even if he was First Prime. Would he?"

Teal'c nodded, still watching Sam carefully. "That is true."

Daniel spoke up in the awkward silence that followed. "I...I agree with Sam. I think we have to assume the Goa'uld are more complex as a society than we're giving them credit for."

"The better you understand the enemy the better prepared you are in conflict." Sam stated.

Jack and I looked down at the table at her. Where was all this coming from? "Um, sure." I agreed.

Hammond tried to rein the meeting back on topic. "What's the status of the Nasyan survivors?"

"Well, we managed to rescue 237 people." I handed him a detailed report on the survivors and some of their eyewitness accounts. "The critically burned and some of the overflow our infirmary couldn't handle were transferred to the Air Force Academy hospital. The rest are awaiting relocation." I hesitated.

"Proceed." Hammond ordered.

"Sir, I think it's important to try and find the reason why Nasya became a Goa'uld target." I explained.

"Agreed. But relocation is the first priority. I'm assigning the three new SG teams 10 through 12 to coordinate with you. Dismissed." Hammond stood, and the rest of us the stood as he left.

Teal'c and Daniel left to go about their business, as were Sam and I, but Jack stooped us. "Oh Carter, Erin, I hate to be a nag about this but ol' Doc Fraiser says you two haven't been checked out yet?"

Sam turned back to him wide eyed and nodded. "I'll go right now. Wouldn't want to break post-mission protocol, right, Colonel?" She finished by patting his arm in a very un-Sam way and rushed out of the room.

"What's up with her?" Jack came up beside me and watched as she left.

"She's been under a lot of stress lately." I said making my way to the door. "See you later Jack."

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Janet finished my post mission examination and I was just waiting for her to finish up with Sam.

"All right, open." Janet stuck a tongue depressor in Sam's mouth and shined her pen light to look at her throat. Her brows furrowed as she clicked off her light and put it back in her jacket pocket. "You had a sore throat lately?"

"A little, why?" Sam asked.

"There's a small abrasion back there. It's probably nothing but I'll have to do a swab." Janet opened a package and pulled out a sterile swab. "And open." She stuck the swab in, taking a sample and nearly gagging Sam in the process. When she was done she took the sample to an incubation tube.

"Those are horrible aren't they?" I said while Sam coughed and jumped off the bed. "Hey Cassie been asked when she can hang out with you."

Sam turned back to me, clearly lost. "Cassandra…Yeah, I've been so busy lately."

"She knows how crazy it can get around here." I said, then a though came to mind. "Hey if you're free tomorrow morning I'm dropping her off to spend the day with Janet at the hospital. I know she'd love it if you'd stop by and spent some time with her."

"Yeah, sure. I mean I will." She began rubbing her neck like it was bothering her.

"Okay!" Janet came back. "You just let me know if your throat get any worse."

Sam began to fidget nervously. "I'm free to go out tomorrow, though, right? We're searching for possible relocation sites for the Nasyans."

"I don't see why not." Janet glanced at me, unsure of what to make of Sam's strange behavior.

"Good." Sam turned on her heel and stalked out of the room.

"Okay." Janet looked at me.

I just shrugged. "You still want me to drop Cassie off tomorrow?"

Janet nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking after my shift I could take her out for a movie and ice cream."

"She'll like that. I'll see you later." Giving her a hug I headed to lunch.

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In the mess hall all the tables were full, except one in the far corner occupied by a lone jaffa. "Hey Kalen." I greeted him as I slipped into the seat across from him. Without his jaffa uniform he didn't look near as intimidating as before. In fact you could almost mistake him for a regular guy in his early twenties, if it wasn't for the black Apophis tattoo just below his blond bangs.

He looked up from his half eaten food. "Hi."

"How are you doing?" I asked. "Has General Hammond spoken to you yet?"

"You're people are welcoming enough. The General has suggested that I join SG-10." He said, sounding a little unsure.

"But?"

"Being a jaffa, serving is all I've ever known. For the past thirty years, I've always fought beside master Bra'tac."

Thirty years? Oh right, jaffa age slower than humans. "I have a question, and it's totally okay if you don't want to answer. But, why did you decide to turn against Apophis?" The question had been nagging me for a while, I knew Teal'c's reason and Bra'tac's. But why did Kalen turn against someone he considered to be a god?

Kalen took a deep breath, like he needed to calm himself before a long story. "My mother died giving birth to me and my father raised me. He taught me everything I know. My father always said care for your family; love your woman; and finally serve and keep faith in our gods. And I believed him and I served my gods. Until one day my father came back from a failed conquest. He had retreated to save what remained of his jaffa and Apophis killed him, right in front of me. I had dedicated my life to severing a man, not a god, who murdered my father."

I reached across the table and took his hand. "I'm sorry."

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The next day Jack and I were in a meeting with Hammond to figure out the best planet for relocating the Nasyans. Hammond stared at the transparent star map of all the planets our SG teams had been to so far. "It would be easier on the Nasyans if there were already an active civilization willing to cooperate."

"The people of Cimmeria said that they'd be happy to take them in." I offered, referring to the people of the planet where we encountered Thor's Hammer. They were an honorable and caring people that I'm sure would be willing to help.

Jack nodded and pointed to another point on the star map. "And I'll bet you the folks on P3X-422 would…"

"Sorry to interrupt" A technician called over holding a telephone. "Miss Clark, there's an urgent call for you."

Taking the phone she was holding out I put it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Erin." A very upset Janet called from the other end.

"Janet? What's going on?" Her next words made me freeze. "It's Cassandra. She's locked herself in my office, won't even let me in. All she will say is that she wants you and Colonel O'Neill... and that something is wrong with Sam."
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed. And if you did I'd love to hear your comments and reviews. Don't worry, I won't bite. :)