Present Day

She awoke with a start and sat straight up. Cold sweat was pouring off of her. Her hands were clammy and she felt nauseous. Damn her for trying to sleep anyway. When she closed her eyes, she saw him. She saw him telling her to get out, telling her to save herself. She absently rubbed her arm where a Pentlookian weapon had wounded her when they were coming through the gate.

She swung her legs out of bed to start her day. Today was Jack's memorial service. Chilled by that thought, she walked to her bathroom to have the hottest shower that she could handle. That is when she started finally started to cry… and to grieve.

2 months 3 weeks ago

SG-1 was anxious to get home. They already spent more time here that they thought was necessary. They had to pay their respects, but this had been enough. The treaties had been signed and trades had been brokered. Mitchell promised Fallon that they would return. Carter made sure their scientists knew how to properly work the Stargate, so they could start their own exploration.

As they were making their way towards the gate, one of Fallon's scientists, Gerald, approached the team. "Colonel Carter. I have a quick question if you don't mind."

"Sure Gerald. What is it?" She smiled at him. She had enjoyed talking and working with him. He was a smart and eager man, one that was in love with learning. He had told her before that he was going to become the foremost expert of the Stargate in his world.

He pulled out a small device from his pocket. "I can't seem to get this to work again. It charged once, but then it has seemed to run out of energy."

She took the device from him, and fiddled with it. "It looks like the wiring here is burnt out. All you need to do is replace it." She said smiling as she started to hand it back to him.

Gerald dropped the device, not expecting her to hand it back to him as quick as she did. There was a small explosion and a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, Carter, and Gerald were gone.

ooooo

When Carter awoke she was in a small window less room. She wasn't hurt, at least as far as she could tell. Her weapons and pack were missing.

"Hello?" She said to the empty room. "Anyone here?"

She didn't receive a response. Her mind went to what she could last remember. That device. Gerald should have known that the wiring was bad. Most of the Pentlookians technology was based on what the goa'uld had left behind. Carter had explained this all to them. Gerald should have known! How was she so clueless to that fact when he handed it to her?

"Mitchell? Teal'c? Daniel? Vala?" There was no response.

She stood up, and walked around the room taking inventory. There was a chair in the corner, with a bucket under it. "Nice" she thought to herself. There was another chair in the opposite corner. She didn't see a door, but did notice light was coming in from above her. She looked up and saw a small window covered with bar about 10 feet above her.

"What do you want from me?" Carter asked. Again there was no retort. This was not good.

oooooo

When Mitchell and the rest of SG-1 awoke, they were missing Carter. After the initial "Where's Carter"s, he sent Daniel and Vala to the gate, to report to General Landry about the current situation. Mitchell and Teal'c took off for Fallon's castle.

Fallon was surprised to see them again, and so soon. When Mitchell recounted the incident, she looked truly shocked. She called for one of Gerald's colleagues. He explained that the device was a weapon that they were working on. It was to manipulate gravitation pulls, in essence making pin point black holes. Gerald's colleague had said, if they dropped it, there would be a minor explosion and all around them would be instantly vaporized.

Mitchell was no scientist, but something about that sounded off. He asked Fallon for permission to bring back a science team to investigate. That there was no way that he was going to just accept that Colonel Carter was dead. He couldn't be sure, but he saw a look of panic cross Fallon's eyes.

"Most certainly." Fallon told Mitchell. "I would expect nothing else."

oooooo

When the Mitchell and Teal'c had made their way back through the gate, Fallon signaled to have Colonel Carter brought before her. She knew she had precious little time, and if this was going to work, she had to act quickly. Fallon hated the idea that it had come to this. But she had no choice. She knew of the Tau'ri, especially the ones that had visited her. They were something of a legend. They were not going to take that feeble excuse that one of them had been blasted into hundreds of thousands of microscopic pieces. Even she found that to be implausible.

Her people couldn't wait though for the Tau'ri to help them. Yes, the information they shared was extraordinary, but it was information they already had. Fallon had insisted her people act ignorant about their Ring. She had played into their hubris and they had taken the bait. What she needed to know however, was how to get the weapon working. That is why she needed Colonel Carter. And from the look on Colonel Mitchell's face, she knew she wasn't going have much time.

oooooo

When Mitchell and Teal'c arrived back on Earth, Landry greeted them at the gate. "Apprise me of the current situation Colonel."

"Well Sir, Carter exploded." Mitchell responded, "Or that is what they want us to believe."

"And you don't believe to be the case."

"No sir. Something's just not right with the Pentlookians. Not right at all."

TBC