Chapter 5: Mine number seven

July 2003

Lorne settled into life at the camp on P3X-403 with relative ease ... during the day when he was busy anyway. Being on what was essentially a permanent camping trip required some adjustment. They had solar power after setting up the panels they'd brought with them but it was limited. The result was that your day was ruled by the sun – you got up when it did and retired for the night when it was too dark to see anything. Maybe you got a couple of hours of solar power at the end of the day for personal time but the need to power the equipment, the computers, during the day was the top priority.

Evan had missed things in the past ... in the early days in Afghanistan they'd made do with the essentials, but there'd been compensations he didn't have on four oh three. Like radios to keep up with the latest news ... lights as far into the night as you wanted them ... and plenty of hours in the air doing what you loved. Lorne had realised when he'd accepted this post that he wouldn't be flying anything for some time ... he just hadn't realised how much he'd miss it, or how much he'd taken for granted all his previous positions that carried with them enough air time to keep even him satisfied. He wouldn't call it grief as such but it took him a couple of months to get used to that feeling of dissatisfaction and incompleteness ... that longing for something that couldn't be satisfied. He consoled himself that it wasn't forever, that he'd be back in the air again eventually, and spent his nights dreaming of flying.

Not being able to talk to his family made for a difficult adjustment to off world life too. Sure, they got letters and all the emails received via the SGC were transmitted to their computers at every check-in but the two weeks in between seemed very long and Evan found himself rereading messages from his Mom and from Elaine and Drew more than once. Elaine had sent videos too - Evan appreciated it but it was difficult watching his nephew on the screen when he couldn't be a part of it. Jon was growing up too fast, babbling all the time and so close to crawling it wouldn't be long now ... and Evan was missing all of it. Sometimes it hit him - the distance between four oh three and Earth - and he had to get up and do something to take his mind off it. He let none of it show of course, instead using it as part of getting a handle on how everyone was doing - he wasn't the only one doing this for the first time, nor to miss things and people back on Earth.

Thankfully the days were busy and the daily routine soon became ingrained - extracting rock samples and performing core analysis hoping that this would be the one to justify their presence. That and the daily disappointment when the naquadah concentrations came back below five parts per million when they needed fifty times that to make mining at any one site viable. They'd been on the planet for three months and had still to identify a mine with a high enough concentration. It was frustrating and discouraging and added additional challenge in keeping motivation up.

They'd already tested six mine sites in that three months without success and Lorne was starting to think his first thoughts – that the Goa'uld had abandoned the planet for a reason – were going to prove true. They weren't there yet but the time when they'd run out of places to look was fast approaching and the pressure to succeed was being felt by everyone assigned to the planet.

Lorne's thoughts about SG-11 in those initial days panned out in the longer term too. David Menard was just as painfully enthusiastic and geeky as he'd seemed on first meeting Evan; he still stood to attention whenever Colonel Edwards was within a few paces of him, and he still saluted their CO every single time he addressed him. But the young Captain was also determined their mining efforts would be a success which made him a great guy to have around when morale was getting down. He was easy to work with ... if you could overlook the exuberance and excessive talking – once he got going, David was sometimes hard to shut up.

Airman Daniel's was exactly as Evan had expected too – easy going and casual, he happily went about his duties, seeming to be everywhere all at once as he helped the engineers and scientists alike. Lorne was sure Ben was the type of guy who'd be happy with any post – not that he didn't have ambition, it was just of a general kind – do well, get good evaluations, hopefully proceed up the ranks.

Lieutenant Ritter had turned out to be a bit of a surprise for Lorne though ... his quiet unassuming outward facade hiding a wicked sense of humour. If there was a slyly teasing remark to be made, Jason would make it, resulting in too many times when Evan had to swallow back his laughter to maintain that leadership edge. The two had struck up an unlikely friendship despite, or perhaps because of the opposites in their respective backgrounds. Geology degree aside, Lorne at the heart was pure flyboy and made no apology for that, even though in his current role he was as far away from anything airborne as he could get. Jason was a scientist who'd joined the military to get as far into his chosen fields of study as he could. Along with geography the younger man had studied topography and cartography – and the maps he'd produced of the areas around each mine site fascinated Evan.

"These are almost art," he'd told Ritter after the Lieutenant had used them to brief Evan on the first mining site. Often what was above the ground was a clue for what was hidden beneath and the two had fallen into an interesting discussion about whether those rules could apply to alien planets as they did on Earth.

"Not really Sir," Jason had replied to Lorne's compliment.

"Sure it is – you've got composition here," Evan pointed to the use of colour, shading, the way it all told a story about the terrain it was representing. "I've seen a few of the early cartograms in art museums," he smiled, "so I'm not the only one who thinks they qualify as art."

"It's just rules and a system Sir," Jason countered, getting interested in the discussion. "Certain colours for different features, for showing elevations. It's more fact than art – like we'd get if we could afford to launch a satellite to orbit the planet and do all this mapping for us."

"Then you'd be out of a job," Lorne pointed out. Looking back down at the map he shrugged. "If you're discounting this as art because it's trying to present something factual then you'd have to take out half the paintings at the Louvre. Portraits, landscapes – they're all doing the same thing."

"Yeah, but there's emotion and interpretation in that," Ritter insisted. "Neither of which belong in cartography. It's a science – if I let personal perception get in the way then I wouldn't end up with a very good map."

"Maybe," Evan agreed, "if we were going to follow it with precision, rely on an accurate scale. But it's just a guide right? We're not going to look at this alone, to the exclusion of taking in what's around us."

"I guess." Ritter looked thoughtful as he reconsidered his work and decided, in his own mind anyway, to agree to disagree with his superior officer. Cartography was a science, one that had captured and consumed his interest for as long as he could remember. When he'd found out about the Stargate it had been as if his life's work had been validated – cartography as it used to be done, with lines of sight, walking the land and mapping as you went, was a lost art on Earth. Now he had planets beyond counting, none of them with any chance of being mapped using modern methods. He had a job doing what he loved probably for as long as he continued to show he was good at it. There were things to deal with unique to the planet - like its electromagnetic properties that hampered their ability to keep in touch by radio if they strayed too far away from camp. Same for the compasses - you really had to pay attention to the path you'd taken because that was the only way you were finding your way back. Jason just thought of that as the extra challenge that made this particular job more interesting.

"You interested in art Sir?" he asked Evan curiously.

"I've been known to appreciate a painting here and there," Lorne replied blandly. He smiled. "Plus I did a kind of tour of the European galleries a few years back – enough to know the books just don't do any of it justice."

"An arty flyboy Sir," a teasing gleam shone from Ritter's eyes. "Isn't that like an oxymoron or something?"

"Maybe," Evan laughed. "I could argue that flying is a different kind of art but we'll save that debate for another day."

"Yes Sir," Jason agreed, making a mental note to follow up that comment in the future.

They'd arrived at their latest location – mine number seven - a couple of days before and started testing immediately but were still settling in, still getting to know the lay of the land surrounding the camp.

"Sir," Evan turned to see Captain Menard approaching, the usual look of excitement on his face. "Find something?" Lorne asked hopefully.

"Our initial samples show concentrations still in the same range," Menard revealed.

"Keep taking samples - we might get lucky," Lorne advised, not showing his disappointment. After their previous efforts he'd come to realise that the early tests usually panned out - if they didn't anything in the first few days they ended up not finding anything later either. But each site was given two weeks – they either found a reason to stay or moved on when that time was up.

"Yes Sir, I was going to do that but there's something ...," he trailed off uncertainly.

"Something you need me to check out?" Lorne asked.

"Yes Sir," David said in relief.

"Okay, lead the way."

Evan followed the younger man through the camp and to the base of the hillside where they'd begun to take samples surrounding the mine entrance. As they got closer he saw the areas that had been cleared of surface cover, the top layer of dirt also removed to get to the rocks underneath. In one of them objects stood out, having had the dirt around them cleared away. Nodding to a couple of marines assisting with the physical efforts Lorne squatted to get a closer look.

"Looks like tools of some sort," Evan said, surprised. It was the first time they'd found any evidence of the planet's prior inhabitants. Some of them were recognisable - a stone axe tied to a wooden handle, another that had probably served as a mallet. A couple of the items were less obvious, including a thin stick with points at the end and another long wooden object with two long arms and an oval cut out section in the middle. The thing that struck him most about all the artefacts was that they were big – really big. All but the most muscled marines he had on site would struggle to heft them, let alone put them to use. Picking the stick up, Lorne tested its weight, frowning when he realised that it wasn't made of wood or stone like the other items.

"What should we do with them Sir?" Menard interrupted his inspection. "This is where we were going to sample next."

"And they're in the way," Evan considered the options. They could call in someone from the SGC - would have to report their finding during the next regular update anyway - but given it was most likely the tools were simply left over from the planet's mining history, one they already knew about, it wasn't urgent enough to put a priority on that. "Set up something near the command tent," Lorne decided, straightening back to standing. "Move this stuff ... carefully ... and cover it up. We'll get someone in to have a look later."

"Yes Sir," Menard nodded to the marines who'd been waiting for just that order to proceed. Lorne watched for a few moments and then shrugged. It was interesting sure, and had him wondering again about the success of those early miners, but it didn't impact on their current work. Colonel Edwards was a hard task master, totally focussed on achieving their objective of finding a naquadah deposit large enough to suit the intended purpose. Any delay, even one that might shed some light on the history of the planet, would be frowned on before it was trampled over to make way for action. At least Lorne had ensured the artefacts would be preserved for someone to look at - under the circumstances that was the best he could do.

Daniels usually escorted Ritter when he was working beyond the confines of their small camp. Lorne had made it common practice for anyone leaving their base of operations to do so in twos – because the radios were unreliable. That and it was too easy to get turned around when everything looked pretty much the same and you couldn't use your compass to get a bearing. The terrain was mostly trees, trees, and more trees which made picking out landmarks difficult too.

Three days at mine seven and Evan could see Colonel Edwards already turning the screws again – putting too much pressure on everyone to work hard and long. Lorne had come to an understanding within himself about his CO very early on in the piece. He'd never warmed to the guy and didn't have to do his job properly – and it had only taken a couple of days to work out that Colonel O'Neill had been right. Mason Edwards was impatient and as unplugged from the mood of his men as it was possible for a commanding officer to be. He stepped on toes without even realising it and didn't seem to notice people deflating in front of him with the way he spoke to them at times. He was sarcastic and snide - sometimes funnily but more often painfully cutting. Lorne did his best to plug that gap, finding tactful ways to rein the Colonel in when he stepped too hard on the accelerator, but discovered it wasn't as easy as it sounded on paper when you were isolated on another planet, making the head guy's word law.

"I was thinking to map south of the ridge today Sir," Jason Ritter began his daily report to Evan. "We still have a couple of days testing around the mine but we'll need to broaden that soon, right?"

"Yeah, assuming we don't find anything closer," Evan agreed. Thinking for a moment, he nodded. "Okay, take Daniels. Report back here in five hours."

"Belay that order Lieutenant," Colonel Edwards had approached on the tail end of the conversation without Lorne's notice.

"Sir?" Evan said respectfully.

"We're going to run an extra crew each shift from today," Edwards revealed. "I need Daniels along with every other able bodied person not already assigned to a team."

"Understood Sir," Evan struggled to keep his voice even with his thoughts irritated. It was his job to manage the teams, not his CO's and yet again Edwards was stepping in, making decisions without consulting Lorne first. Biting back his frustration, Lorne looked at his CO with a bland expression. "But we also need to begin surveying the surrounds in preparation for when we run out of test sites in the immediate vicinity."

"I'm sure Lieutenant Ritter is capable of doing that on his own, right Lieutenant?"

"Ah," Jason glanced at Evan before looking back to Edwards. "Yes Sir."

"Good man," Edwards slapped a hand to Ritter's shoulder and then motioned for him to get moving. "Off you go then," he urged.

Jason looked at Lorne with a pained expression but had no choice but to follow that order.

"With all due respect Sir, do you think it's wise to send Ritter out alone?" Evan asked in a careful tone, watching the Lieutenant go.

"We're been here three months Major," Edwards replied. "Has anyone encountered anything dangerous during that time?"

"No Sir," Evan admitted, "but that's not my chief concern. Lieutenant Ritter could suffer an injury or lose his bearings given the unfamiliar terrain – without a radio or a reliable means of finding his way back, in my opinion it's too risky to send him out alone."

"And in my opinion that's more caution that we can afford," Edwards shot back. "Are you aware of how much interest the IOA, not to mention the Pentagon, have in our operations right now?"

"Not personally but I've got a pretty good idea Sir," Evan returned.

"Well then you'll understand that unnecessary delays are severely frowned on," the Colonel drawled. "You want to risk your future career at the SGC on Ritter needing his hand held?"

"I don't believe it's a risk but yes Sir, I do," Lorne stood straight and tall, holding his CO's glance.

"Well then lucky for all of us you're not in charge Major, or we'd still be back at the first site puttering around." Not allowing a return this time, Edwards took a sip of his coffee, grimaced. "Have Daniels report to Lieutenant Greerdon," he ordered before striding away, leaving Lorne to his thoughts.

"Damn it," Evan muttered, feeling beyond frustrated with the situation. He didn't have a choice in following Colonel Edwards's orders but it didn't sit well to send one of his men out without the proper consideration of security and wellbeing. No, he didn't have a choice about orders, but he could be smart about how he followed them.

"Daniels," Lorne called the young officer over to him.

Yes Sir," Ben replied, standing at the ready.

"Colonel Edwards wants you for a third mining team," Evan revealed. "You'll need to report to Lieutenant Greerdon."

"Yes Sir," Ben said again.

"Hang on a second," Lorne said when Daniel's looked like he was going to follow the order immediately. "Lieutenant Ritter is checking out the terrain south of camp – tell Greerdon you'll need a longer break at half shift. I want you to go for a walk, make sure Ritter is okay. Can you do that discretely, and report back to me before you return to shift?"

"Happy to help out Sir," Ben returned confidently.

"Thanks," Lorne nodded, waving the younger man off to duty. It wasn't much but it was better than leaving Jason out there by himself for five hours. And with any luck the Colonel would never find out.

"How'd it go?" Lorne caught up with Lieutenant Ritter a couple of hours after his return to camp that evening.

"Got everything mapped in the south east quadrant Sir," Jason replied, "everything a half hours walk from camp that is. I'll need to continue with the second quadrant tomorrow but you can begin tests using what I did today if it's needed."

"We'll see how it goes," Evan replied. "Still got a few places left to test around here first."

Jason hesitated a moment and then spoke in a low tone. "Thank you for sending Ben to check on me Sir," he said. "I really didn't mind going out alone – cartography is a solitary endeavour – but it was good to know the team was looking out for me."

"You're welcome Lieutenant," Lorne returned. "I think we'd both agree leaving someone out for a full shift without the capability to at least do a radio check in isn't good practice. I'm sure Colonel Edwards would agree."

"I'm not," Jason muttered under his breath, putting on an innocent expression when Evan looked at him pointedly. "He'd getting worried, isn't he Sir? That we won't find what we're looking for?"

"It's his command," Lorne pointed out. "And while I don't think any of us should be held accountable for this planet not having enough naquadah, if that turns out to be the case, at this point in time ... well, let's just say that those with a stake in this back on Earth are putting a lot of pressure on this mission succeeding. Colonel Edwards is the one who has to respond to that and I don't envy him that position."

"No Sir," Jason agreed emphatically.

"It's my job to make sure procedures get followed, despite the pressure," Evan continued.

"Do you think we'll find it Sir, the naquadah I mean?"

"If it's here we'll find it," Evan replied. "I'm not sure how likely it is that we'll find something soon – the Goa'uld had to have left here for a reason. It'd be nice if we knew what it was."

Jason nodded, his thoughtful expression turning to one of slight embarrassment when he couldn't hold back the yawn that overtook him.

"Go get some food and rest Lieutenant," Lorne ordered, "we've got an early start tomorrow."

"Every day is an early start," Jason grinned, adding a quick 'Yes Sir' and a nod before turning to follow the order.

Evan watched him go, shaking his head in amusement. He was a good officer, a valuable team member – which only meant Lorne was even more troubled that he'd been forced to send him out alone. Particularly since he was pretty sure he'd have to do the same thing again the following day. Rubbing a hand over his face tiredly, Evan decided to take his own advice and go get some food and rest.

Two days later Lorne had to concede that Edwards had been right about one thing - with another full team running tests in a third sector they were assessing the area directly around the mine entrance much faster than at any of their previous test sites. He still wasn't happy with sending Lieutenant Ritter out to survey the surrounds by himself but the Colonel had been adamant when Evan had brought it up again. They were under the pump and had to deliver results, one way or the other. Edwards wanted to it to be in the positive and was prepared to push everyone as hard as it took to make that happen. The result was that Lorne's job of managing morale as well as the mining tests themselves just got a whole lot harder.

So far they'd found nothing - after confirming Airman Daniels standing order to check in with Ritter in person before the camp's official lunch hour, Evan had collected the latest reports on naquadah concentrations. None of them were favourable - the amounts barely enough to register - and Evan knew Colonel Edwards wasn't going to be happy.

"God ... three months on this rock and I still can't get a decent cup of coffee," Edwards said when Lorne approached him at the command tent.

"Core sample analysis still coming in, but so far ... highest concentration is 2.3 parts per million," Evan reported efficiently, wondering how the Colonel would display his dissatisfaction with their progress this time.

"2.3 parts?" Edwards clarified.

"Yeah, nothing to write home about," Lorne thought, nodding silently.

"Major Lorne, we need enough naquadah to manufacture 303s," Edwards reminded him. Lorne relaxed a little – the other man's reaction was pretty low on the grumpy scale - so far. "You know how big a battle cruiser is?"

"It's pretty big, sir," Evan kept his expression bland and his amusement in check. An amused sarcastic Edwards was much better than an impatient and bordering on angry one and he'd take what he could get.

"Hmm ... if we start mining these deposits right now, today, your great-grandchildren are still gonna be trying to pull out enough ore just to make one," the Colonel pointed out snidely.

Lorne would have offered some kind of comment but before he could Captain Menard hurried up to the tent, clutching a printout with an excited expression practically bursting from him.

"Colonel Edwards?" David gave the customary salute, his eyes shifting to Lorne for a moment and then returning to their CO.

"Menard," Edwards acknowledged the salute with a vague wave of his coffee mug.

"You're gonna want to see this, Sir," Menard held up his printout. "You too Major," he added, grinning at Lorne. "Latest sample analysis shows a concentration fifty times higher than anything we've seen so far ... and-and it's increasing as we go deeper. This could be the one, Sir."

Colonel Edwards took the printout, gave it a cursory glance and then handed it to Evan. "Yeah. If this pans out, your great-grandchildren might just be off the hook," he told Evan, looking about as happy as Lorne had ever seen him.

"Yes, sir," Evan said. He wasn't thinking about non mining grandchildren though. No, his concerns were much more immediate. If they'd found a viable mine then they could move on to phase two - setting up a permanent mining operation. Once that was done Lorne was assuming his part of the mission would be done. With Menard's news he was one step closer to going home.

"Sir," Lorne was just about to sit down in the Mess tent, instead turning to see Airman Daniels standing there, a worried expression hovering over his face.

"Daniels?" Evan queried. "Problem?"

"Maybe Sir," Ben replied. "I went to complete my daily lunch mission Sir but Lieutenant Ritter wasn't there."

"What do you mean he wasn't there?" Evan said intently.

"Just that Sir," Daniels returned. "His gear was exactly where he said he'd be this morning but there was no sign of the Lieutenant. I searched the immediate area, called out to him, but he didn't respond."

"Show me," Lorne ordered, moving to follow the younger man from the tent. Daniels led him across the camp down a path through the trees that ended up a rise overlooking the camp.

Evan frowned, slowing his pace as they approached, eyes on the ground. The area was scuffed, lots of partial prints consistent with Ritter having moved back and forth from his surveyors equipment to his computer and back again. The site was deserted and quiet ... too quiet.

"Lieutenant?" Evan called out loudly, waiting a few moments and then repeating it. There was no response. "You tried the radio?" Lorne asked Daniels, moving to activate his.

"Yes Sir," Daniel's replied. "Didn't pick up any kind of response."

"I'm not getting anything either," Lorne admitted. "Did Lieutenant Ritter mention any intention to shift sites this morning?"

"No Sir," Ben said simply. "Plus his gear is still here and you know how particular he is about that."

"Yes I do," Evan acknowledged. The theodolite - a movable telescope mounted within two perpendicular axes - was Jason's pride and joy – there's no way he'd just abandon it like that. Lorne was worried ... because it wasn't like Jason to leave his stuff lying around, just as it wasn't like him to wander off without telling anyone where he was going. He'd known Lorne was uncomfortable with him being so far away from base camp alone - he wouldn't intentionally do anything to exacerbate that. It could only mean one thing.

Lieutenant Ritter was in trouble.

"Maybe he lost his bearings?" Daniels suggested hopefully.

"Maybe," Lorne allowed, even though he thought it unlikely. Ritter was a cartographer - he knew how to find his way around. Evan wanted to head out immediately, search the surrounding area for any clues but he knew Colonel Edwards needed to be informed first - outside radio range they were forced to do that in person. "Let's head back to camp - raise the alarm and get some more people out here looking too."

Ten minutes later Evan was wishing he'd stayed in the forest and sent Daniels back alone to report in.

"With respect Sir, if Lieutenant Ritter is injured the quicker we find him the quicker he gets medical attention. Plus, the longer we leave it the more chance there is we'll lose any clues he might have left behind," he told Colonel Edwards, struggling to keep his tone respectful while at the same time arguing his point. He'd already tried once to talk his CO into letting him lead a team into the forest to widen the search for Ritter, getting a negative response. Edwards had ordered Daniels to send up a couple of flares, assuming Ritter had just lost his bearings and would find his way back to camp.

Daniels had retreated to follow that order while Lorne had continued to pursue a more proactive solution. Evan wasn't sure what Edwards would have done next, if he wasn't there arguing for something more - just leave Ritter out there and go back to work?

"Is search and rescue amongst your many talents Major?" Edwards asked sarcastically, "because the last time I looked none of us are trained to do what you're suggesting. The radios won't work and neither will our compasses and the last thing we need is to lose more people in an effort to find one man." He held up a hand when Evan went to respond. "Uh! No - we dial Earth and ask for assistance from the people who are trained. And in the mean time we continue our operations."

"I agree that sending teams out given the problems with long range communications is a risk Sir," Evan said earnestly. "I have had some personal experience with a rescue mission," in Afghanistan with a trained SARs team at your back, he thought – not that the Colonel needed to know that. "With your permission I could take Airman Daniels and search for the Lieutenant alone."

"While I admire your persistence Major, you're the man I can least afford to lose!" Edwards almost growled that one out, clearly frustrated. "Go dial the gate - report our situation to the SGC - and then return to duty. That's an order Major," he added, in case Evan hadn't gotten the pointed tone.

"Yes Sir," Evan stood straight, looked Edwards in the eye and then spun smartly on his heels. Even at the brisk pace he set it would still take half an hour to hike to the Stargate - although that was actually a piece of luck in the whole scheme of things because their previous locations had been even further away. "I knew I shouldn't have let Ritter go out by himself," he thought, trying to keep the worries in check. If they were lucky it would turn out to be as simple as a colleague getting turned around in the trees and they'd end up feeling stupid for calling in the big guns. Unfortunately Lorne didn't think that would be the case - the longer it went without hide nor hair of Jason Ritter, the more Evan was sure things had gone horribly wrong.

"Stargate Command, this is Major Lorne," he said as soon as he had a stable connection.

"Major, we weren't expecting your check in call for another couple of days," General Hammond himself replied.

"Yes Sir," Lorne acknowledged. "We've got a situation here General," he began. "Lieutenant Ritter - our surveyor - has gone missing Sir. There's no sign of him and we haven't been able to raise him on the radios."

"How long Major?" Hammond's tone was all business.

"Going on for two hours Sir," Lorne replied. "Colonel Edwards requests that you send a search and rescue team to come and look for him Sir."

"You didn't look for him yourselves?" Hammond asked in surprise.

"We checked out the immediate area Sir," Lorne offered, trying to be tactful. "Couldn't find any trace of Ritter ... communication is difficult given the magnetic properties of the planet so the most we know right now is that he's outside limited radio range and is unable to find his way back to camp. Colonel Edwards doesn't feel we have the skills to conduct a full scale search and rescue effort under the circumstances."

"Understood. We'll send a team as soon as we can," Hammond decided. "Inform Colonel Edwards to expect them within the hour."

"Yes Sir, thank you Sir," Evan felt some relief at the quick decision. The wormhole shut down and he set an even brisker pace back to camp to report in.

Authors Note:

Okay, so I totally made Colonel Edwards the bad guy here BUT seriously, the flaws in how they've got command running in this episode didn't leave me much choice. As I've had Lorne pointing out, there's no way you'd send a guy out alone when he can't radio in and can't use his compass to find a way back to camp if he got lost. This was the best I could do to explain why they did and I think it's consistent enough with what we see of Edwards's character. I tried to minimise use of dialogue from the show - acknowledgement to Gateworld for their transcript for Enemy Mine for the parts I couldn't avoid. I've also tried to put faces on all the SG-11 team members - because you shouldn't kill off a character without at least making him someone real ... IMHO.

One more chapter of this one to go ... hope everyone is still enjoying it.