Daniel was frantic when he returned to the basement and everyone was gone. He knew that they must have been beamed up by the Asgard – the question was which one!

He tried to contact Thor with the communicator but there was no answer. He figured that that meant it was the wrong Asgard who had taken everyone.

He heard sirens in the distance and decided that he'd better get out of here really quickly. There were going to be lots of questions if the police came in and saw all the blood and broken pieces on the floor but no wounded person.

Rushing up the stairs he quickly got in his car and was off before the ambulance had arrived. He hoped that they'd think it was simply a prank call. Once he'd driven a couple of blocks he pulled over and stopped to try and decide what to do.

Teal'c and Paul Davis were on their way. They'd avoided contacting them directly so as not to give away their location but it looked like that didn't matter anymore. With a slight bit of hesitation Daniel pulled out his cell and called Teal'c.

"Hello."

"Teal'c, it's me Daniel." He spent the next few minutes explaining the situation and then gave instructions as to where to meet.

"There's a Tim Horton's just off the highway as you enter Penticton. I'll wait for you there."

It was a little over an hour before they arrived and by that time Daniel was extremely high on double-doubles*.

"I'm glad you guys are here. I didn't know what to do."

Teal'c and Davis squeezed into the chairs across from Daniel.

"I just spoke to General Hammond", Davis said quietly. "It appears as if Grayson and his aids are on their way here. The RCMP are tracking them for us so I think all we can do is keep an eye on them. Maybe they'll lead us to Jack and the others."

"I wonder why they were not taken aboard the ship." Teal'c also spoke softly as they were in a public place.

"Maybe he's no longer working with the Asgard. If they already got what they wanted they might not need him any longer."

"If that's the case, how would he know to come here?"

Everyone was silent, not sure what role Grayson was playing or where their comrades could be.

"There's no evidence of either Asgard ship?", Daniel asked Davis.

"No, although we're still looking. Their shields are just too good. We may never find them."

The three men sat silently, waiting to hear of the arrival of the Senator – and each deep in his own thoughts.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"NO! I won't let the alien kill Jack, I won't!" shouted Chris. Again he was on the verge of tears. He started to sob and ran to his grandmother, looking for some comfort.

"I am sorry Colonel Carter. I did not wish to frighten the boy." Thor apologized, looking distressed. If he'd only known how he'd frightened her as well!

"Any ideas of what we can do Thor?" Carter asked. She looked over at Molly and Chris and she could see they looked both shocked and scared.

"I have been unable to leave this room. I am sorry. I do not know what to do."

Sam felt hopeless. The longer they stayed here the worse things were for Jack, she was sure. She didn't even want to imagine what was happening to him although she felt she needed some information to know how much time they had and what they were up against.

"Do you know what these 'experiments' entail exactly?" she asked the Asgard.

"I know only that she wants to check his brain activity and take samples of his DNA. I do not know how she plans to do that. Angrboda is not a geneticist – she is a chemist – so I do not know how sophisticated she will be."

"A chemist? Why would a chemist be doing this?"

"For many years she worked alongside Loki, who, as you know, did specialize in genetics. She was his assistant and was very loyal to him. When he was exiled she was angry and vowed to continue his work. Many on the Council wanted her exiled as well but some resisted. She was allowed to remain free."

"So, not only did she want to continue Loki's work, I can assume she was pretty upset at those she saw as responsible for his exile, is that right?"

"Yes Colonel Carter, that is so. That is why I fear for O'Neill." He had lowered his voice, not wanting to worry the child again.

"How are we going to save Jack?" a determined young voice interrupted their discussion.

"Yes, how are we?" a much older voice added.

"I'm not sure yet Molly, Chris, but we'll think of something."

Thor looked over at the woman and the boy and nodded. "You can be confident that we will save him. The entire Asgard race owes its thanks to Samantha Carter and SG1 and they will again be victorious."

Sam wished he didn't sound so confident because she had absolutely no idea what to do.

"What's SG1?" Chris asked curiously.

"Ah, it's the name of the team Jack led. It was made up of Jack, Daniel, myself and another man by the name of… Teal'c" She'd almost called him 'Murray' but figured it was a moot point since they already knew aliens existed.

"Daniel and Tilk can rescue us!"

Sam smiled, wishing she felt as confident. "I'm sure they will Chris, I'm sure they will."

Just as she'd finished speaking the panel swooshed open and in walked Holler, holding a tray with a water pitcher and some small squares of Asgard food.

"Here, you must be hungry and thirsty."

"Ah, you don't have anything other than these little things do you?" Sam pointed at the squares. She remembered how horrible they tasted.

"No. Go hungry if you do not wish to eat them."

"How's General O'Neill?" she asked, hoping for some news. She was less than pleased when Holler gave her a belligerant stare.

"He is helping the Asgard. How he is doing does not matter." He went to leave when Sam reached out and touched his shoulder.

"Please, he is our friend. Surely you must understand that and have some compassion?"

"Friend?" he laughed, an eerie sound coming from the grey alien. "I am pleased to hear that. Angrboda said it would be permanent but I doubted that was the case."

"What? What would be permanent?"

"The chemical."

"What chemical?"

"Na'tralishta – a derivative of Nishta. Do you remember that?"

"Yes of course, it's what Hathor used on the men of the SGC. But it doesn't affect women and the men are immune."

"They are immune to the Nishta. The new substance, created by me, is slightly different so there is no immunity. I also ensured that it affected both men and women equally."

"Okay, but I don't understand. What do you mean by it being permanent."

"Do you not know, Colonel Carter? Do you not yet understand?" She shook her head unsure as to what this was about.

"We wanted to ensure that O'Neill would be alone, that his 'protectors' would not be with him. The only way we could do that was to convince SG1 that he was a traitor. We knew that you would reject him and that he would be extremely hurt. We know many things about O'Neill and we understood that he would not remain where he thought there was betrayal. For that reason we made the video which we showed you."

"Yes, I remember the video. But what does this na'tralishta have to do with it?" she asked although she was beginning to have an idea where this was going.

"Colonel Carter, I am disappointed. I had heard you were one of the more intelligent of your race. Now I doubt that." He turned and looked at her directly. "Just before we showed you the video we ensured that you were all exposed to the chemical which I had created. It made you believe what we wanted you to believe. You believed it was Thor who came to you. You also believed that O'Neill was guilty. It worked exactly as we had planned. Angrboda was very pleased with me – although she thought the effects would be permanent. It didn't really matter, but I was sure they would eventually wear off. By that time it would be too late."

Sam stared at the little alien, sickened and yet incredibly relieved at the same time. They hadn't really betrayed the General. They had been drugged! It explained so much and lightened the heavy load of guilt that had rested on her shoulders for so many months. It didn't completely erase it however. A part of her still felt that they should have been able to resist the chemical.

"You are thinking that you should have been strong enough to resist, aren't you?" Sam looked in surprise at Holler, wondering how he knew what she was feeling. "It is not possible. The chemical is too strong. I made sure of it." He looked at her for a moment longer. "I told you we know much about O'Neill? Well, we know a great deal about all of SG1. We have carefully studied each of you for many years. It is how we knew we were going to be successful." He turned and walked to the doorway. "I must go now to see how Angrboda is doing. The last I was there the experiments had proceeded well. Poor O'Neill is not looking good – not looking good at all." With a cackle he walked out and the panel closed behind him.

"Oh God." Sam collapsed onto the floor, her head held in her hands. She had so many conflicting emotions running through her that she didn't know what to do.

"Come now Samantha. Don't let that nasty little worm bother you! You know now that this was all a terrible mistake and you can tell that to Jack soon enough. Right now you need to pull yourself together and we all have to think of a way out of here so we can rescue that poor man. He's been through enough already!"

Sam looked up and almost laughed as she saw a very fierce looking Molly standing over her. The older woman held out her hand. Sam reached up and was helped to her feet by the tiny woman.

"She is right Colonel Carter. We must think of a solution."

"Yeah!", said Chris. He walked over beside Thor and looked at her with determined, seven year old eyes. She looked at the three of them in front of her and thought what an unlikely team. But she started to smile. Hadn't SG1 always been an unlikely group of people – and look how they'd done. Giving a grin to her cellmates she put out her hand in front of her. They all looked puzzled until Chris returned her grin and put his hand on top of hers. Molly got it then and, with a big smile, added hers to the pile. They all turned to Thor, who looked a little confused, but placed his, very alien, hand on top.

"All for one and one for all!" Sam chanted.

Chris shouted 'YEAH'!

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Jack knew he was going to go mad if the pain continued. He felt like his body was slowly and meticulously being ripped to pieces. He'd stopped looking after he'd seen what the crazy Asgard had done to him, but could still feel her probing and cutting into his flesh and his organs. She had said she was taking samples – he couldn't bear to imagine what that meant. By the time she was done he figured there wouldn't be much of him left to salvage.

Inside he was screaming, but still no sound came out. That added to the pain and stress, which had no form of release. He tried to focus his mind, to think about something else other than the sharp pain and the feeling of foreign objects playing around with his insides. The problem was he couldn't keep a thought for any length of time due to the agony. Finally, he simply began to say Sam's name. For some reason that was the only thing that brought any comfort so he repeated it to himself, over and over until it became a mantra.

Finally – God, finally, she seemed to have finished. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her put down a bloody instrument and step back to the consol. She washed her hands, also covered in his blood, and then returned to the table where she looked down at him.

"There, that wasn't too bad was it?" He couldn't figure out whether she was serious or not. All he knew was that right now he wanted nothing more than to grab her skinny neck and twist it until it snapped.

Jack saw her pick up the same rod with which she'd cut him open and felt another scream rise in his throat – although it petered out like all the others had done. He watched morbidly as she held it over his chest. She seemed to pause, looking at him. He was sure she was trying to draw out his anticipation and pain.

At length she reached down and touched his flesh with the metal rod. He couldn't even tell where this time, his whole body such a mass of pain that he was not able to identify any specific area.

Expecting more of the excrutiating burning he was surprised when it didn't come. Instead, he felt a cool rush of feeling. Soon, his chest and abdomen felt cold, as if ice had been placed there This time there was no pain – in fact, the cold was a relief.

After a few minutes the Asgard put the rod down and turned away. She began to walk towards the door but spoke at the last moment.

"That was very tiring. I need to rest. I'll be back to continue."

He really wanted to laugh at her. 'Tiring'? God, try being the tortured rather than the torturer and you'll see how 'tiring' it is.

He knew he had to determine what she'd done to him before she left. He was terrified that he'd look down and find that half his organs had been removed or something. Still, it was worse not knowing so he forced himself to glance down.

He sighed a huge sigh of relief. It looked like the rod had done a simple job of 'sewing' him back up. The scar was livid and streaked with blood, but at least he could no longer see his heart or lungs or liver hanging out. Exhausted and traumatized he closed his eyes, but he was still unable to rest, the metal 'helmet' keeping him conscious.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The three humans and one Asgard sat quietly in the cell, trying to come up with something that would help Jack. They hadn't yet found a solution although Chris had suggested 'kicking the crap' out of Holler. His grandmother reprimanded him for his language, although Sam thought she secretly agreed with him. She also wanted to pound the alien who was hurting Jack!

As she was sitting there she suddenly had a strange 'tingling' feeling. She couldn't figure out where it was coming from until she heard Thor give a sharp gasp.

"Colonel Carter!" he said, looking over at her with amazement.

"What is it Thor?"

"Where did you get that pendant?" He was looking at the necklace Jack had given her (or that was from Jack – he hadn't exactly given it to her)

"Uh, I've had it since Jack left. It was from him." She reached her hand up to hold it like always and was shocked to feel the heat emanating from it and a slight buzz, which extended up her arm.

"Do you not know what that is?"

"No, I just thought it was very pretty."

"It is indeed, but it is more than that. That is an Ancient Zefira stone." He stopped as if she was supposed to know what that was.

"And so?"

"It is a very rare stone that was discovered by the Ancients. It had always been thought to have unusual properties, but it had never been proven. An Ancient scientist by the name of Zefir experimented on it and determined that it was special, but that it's properties were unusable by most everyone. After a time he figured out a way for those who were of the Ancient race to activate it's power."

"What kind of power Thor?"

"I do not know much Colonel Carter, but I do know if it has been touched by one of Ancient blood it is said to be a protection to the one wearing it. I have heard many stories of other things."

"Like what?" Sam was getting a little impatient.

"It is said to give the wearer strength and courage and I have even heard that it can act as a cloaking device, to keep the one who has it from being seen."

"Well, that clearly hasn't happened, unless you're all pretending to see me?" Thor shook his head.

Sam stood up, hoping that maybe it would be good for something but slightly doubtful. She tried to do a number of things with it including opening the door, going invisible, lifting one of the others up, etc., but nothing happened. Finally, in frustration she leaned against one of the walls.

"It doesn't look like it works for me. Maybe it has to be an Ancient in control of it."

"That may be so Colonel. Try one more time." Thor looked at her hopefully. There was nothing else for them to do.

Closing her eyes Sam tried concentrating on the door, telling it open. All the while she held on to the stone tightly, continuing to feel it tingle. She was terribly discouraged as nothing happened.

Oh Jack, she thought, why can't I help you?

"Do that again Colonel Carter. Something happened."

"It did Sam, it did." Chris was bouncing up and down.

"It did? What did it do?" She opened her eyes and looked at the others. They were all standing looking expectantly at her.

"It started to glow. Do it again Sam."

"Uh, I don't know what I did." She looked at the pendant, confused as to what had caused it to glow.

"What were you thinking Colonel?" Thor asked.

"I was just thinking about opening the door." She closed her eyes and tried it again, repeating 'open the door, open the door'. It didn't work. She opened her eyes in frustration.

"Nothing's happening."

"Was there anything else you were thinking?" Molly asked.

She thought back. Nothing other than being worried about Jack.

"There! It's happening again!" Chris pointed and sure enough, the pendant was glowing.

Was that it? Did she just have to think about Jack for it to activate?

"It's glowing harder. Keep doing it Sam!" Molly was watching anxiously.

Sam closed her eyes and thought about Jack as hard as she could. She thought about his funny quirks, his 'sexiness' (okay, naughty Sam), the gentleness that hid under the tough exterior, his love of children. Finally, she thought about the fact that he was captured and at the mercy of an evil being who wanted to use him for her own purposes. Out of the corner of her subconscious she could hear the panel in the wall open.

"You did it!" Chris spoke loudly but his grandmother and Thor quickly told him to be very quiet. They both looked at Carter who was standing stunned, the glowing necklace in her hand.

"Let's go", she finally whispered. "Let's find Jack." Everytime she thought of him, or mentioned his name, the necklace seemed to gather power. She wondered why it was just doing it now and not before. She whispered the question to Thor.

"It must be O'Neill himself. There is a connection to the one who touched it. Maybe his Ancient powers are active right now."

She could only hope that that was it. She turned to Molly and Chris. "Why don't you stay here. This could be dangerous.

Molly looked ferociously at her. "I'm not staying here when one of my lambs is being hurt. I am going with you."

"Me too!" Chris also looked fierce. She wanted to laugh. He looked like a miniature Jack O'Neill. She couldn't get over the resemblance, even though they weren't related by blood.

"Okay, but stay behind me. We don't know how many Asgard are here."

"I have only seen Angrboda and Holler." Thor replied.

"Thor, can you see if you can find the ship's controls? Maybe you can try and beam us back to your ship when I find the General?"

"I will see Colonel Carter."

"Okay folks, let's go." Sam led Molly and Chris as Thor went the opposite direction. She really wished she had some kind of weapon.

They arrived at the end of the corridor. With a look Sam made sure that her two companions were standing well back when she opened the panel. As soon as they swished open she could see Holler on the other side. He was startled, but almost instantly began to raise a weapon. His eyes on Sam, knowing that she was the threat, he didn't see the little human woman that snuck up behind him.

"Did you really think you could escape Colonel Carter? I assure you, there is no way out of here. We promised General O'Neill we would let you go when we were finished. Why didn't you wait?"

"Because we didn't want to!" a small foot, clad in a size 4 orthotic shoe, reached around and stomped on his bare foot. That same shoe then kicked him in the leg as hard as it could!

With an Asgard 'ooph' Holler fell forward, the weapon clattering to the ground. As he tried to right himself a small hand, belonging to an earth child who had gotten to know, and to love one Air Force General, landed in the middle of his back and pushed with all the strength and determination in his body.

The small, and generally fragile alien body, was pushed to the floor. Sam quickly knelt down and immobilized the nasty Asgard.

"Wow, what a team!" She looked up and grinned, especially when she caught the looks of extreme satisfaction on the faces of the Jack O'Neill protection squad. Glancing at the alien she knew they had to get rid of him quickly, but where to put him?

"In here Samantha." Molly had gone over and opened a small door in the hall. It looked like some kind of Asgard storage cupboard. Sam grabbed a piece of material that was surrounding a mysterious object (she would have loved to explore the cupboard at another time) and ripped it into sheets. Quickly and efficiently tying the alien with the strips she shoved him in the cupboard and closed it.

"One down and one to go." She looked at Molly and tried to pass a message to the old lady without letting on to Chris. She really didn't want the little boy to accompany her. Who knew what she'd find.

The woman nodded once, understanding what Sam was trying to say. "Come on Chris. We should go find Thor and help him." She began to pull the little boy with her.

"No! I want to find Jack!" he pulled away from his grandmother and ran to Sam. She kneeled down to speak with him.

"Listen Chris, it's very important that we each do our part to help out. Jack would want you to follow orders and obey your Grandma. Sometimes it's really, really hard – we all want to be the ones to help save Jack. But you know what?" the little boy shook his head, "to be a good soldier, to be a part of General O'Neill's team, we all have to obey orders and sometimes do what we don't want to do. Do you understand?"

"Do you have to obey orders too?"

"Of course. I'm a Colonel. That means I have to obey Generals – like Jack. Sometimes he's had me do things I didn't want to do but it was because he knew best" she was really glad Jack wasn't here to hear this – she'd never live it down! It wasn't her obeying orders that was the issue – it was admitting that Jack 'knew best'!

"Okay, if you think that's what Jack would want."

"I know it is Chris. He'd be very proud to see how brave you've been and it takes even more courage to do something you'd rather not do. You go and help Thor – that's the best thing you can do right now. I'll go get Jack."

"Alright. But tell him I love him okay?"

"I will, don't worry."

"And you can tell him you love him too. He needs that you know."

She looked down at him and stroked his cheek. "I'll tell him that too."

With that the 'team' split up – Molly and Chris to go help Thor, Sam to save the man she loved.

*Double-double is a Canadian term which means coffee with 2 cream, 2 sugar

A special thank you to Alimoo for the great suggestion with the necklace - I was wondering how to get them out! Great one Alimoo - thanks!

And another thank you to all those people who kept with the story even though you thought SG1 was OC for not believing in Jack! See - I wouldn't have them do that without a really good reason! I hope you're all feeling better now!