So, here's the next chapter. I'm afraid, the noose is slowly tightening around our two heroes.
Hope you like, hope you review and hope you'll have a nice weekend.

Chapter 3: Under suspicion

Because of the dark-tinted windows of the van, they had no chance to catch a glimpse outside. In the presence of two men, very grim-looking and armed to the teeth, Carter and Jackson spent about three hours travel time in complete disorientation. While Carter might have been able to reconstruct their way based on turning, speed and distance estimation, those information was useless until they knew where they were exactly. Daniel had tried hard to talk to the black dressed soldiers, but they just glared at him darkly.

As the van finally stopped, one of the guards checked on their handcuffs before the door was opened from the outside. The armed men helped them out of the van, not particularly gently, but also not inappropriate aggressive. They behaved extremely cold and distant, offering no opportunity to build up some sympathy for their captives. . The two friends had already concluded that it would be not easy for them to escape.

On the short walk between the van and the nearby building, Sam and Daniel had little time to perceive their surroundings. But what they could see, puzzled them. Carter threw Daniel a wondering glance, as both of them were dragged towards a three-story building with the outer charm of a concrete block.

Now, they got a better look at the huge city they had previously observed from the museum and they couldn't help but wonder. If they would not know without a doubt that this was a foreign planet, they'd bet that this was a city on earth. Although they knew no city on earth with similar proportions, everything here felt strangely familiar and foreign at the same. The architecture of the buildings, the roads, the greenery. Nothing was the same, but still damned similar. There were even cars speeding along the tarred streets. Of course, they couldn't know whether the technical construction was the same, the absence of the typical smell of a combustion engine indicated that it was not, but the resemblance in design was undeniable.

All too soon the wide doors of the building closed around them, ending their examination. But the similarities were carried on inside. Everything, absolutely everything, looked like a typical judicial office. The dark floor, the grey walls, a nondescript wooden bar at the front and a woman in a dark blue suit behind it, holding something in her hand that looked like…was that a phone? The man who took care of Carter nodded to the woman as they passed by.

"Got two new ones for Agent Forster." He commented and didn't stop to wait for an answer.
"He's waiting for you. Third floor, room 5." The women mumbled indifferent and didn't even look up at them.

They reached the third floor via, who would have thought that, an elevator. The function was the same, but the design slightly different. The entrance was a-shaped instead of square. The buttons not round, but formed like a diamonds. The obligatory ding announced their arrival at the floor.

The armed men tugged at their shoulders and Carter and Daniel had no choice but to follow. They were led into a large office filled with standardized wooden desks. Sam let her gaze wander and counted 10 people. They all wore dark suits, apparently the dress code, and watched the two earthlings with openly hostile and somehow pejorative eyes. Carter was pretty sure that they all knew that they were terror suspects. Terrorism was apparently a very sore spot.

Daniels guard opened the door to a room and they were both shoved inside. The room was sterile looking and inventory was limited to a desk and three chairs. Sam felt two hands pushing at her shoulders until she finally sat on one of the chairs. Daniel was forced to sit beside her and both were tied to a hook at the floor. Without so much as looking at them, the two guards left the room and the two friends were alone again.

Once the door had closed behind them, Sam yanked at her chains and tried to make the chair fall over in the hope of loosing her shackles. But the chair was somehow attached to the ground. Unfortunately, there was no obvious and fast way to loose their handcuffs.

Daniel copied her movements and tugged a few more times halfheartedly at his chains. He gave up with a sigh. "We're really good at getting into situations like this." He stated and Sam agreed with him. "Right. I wish I could have the same luck in the lottery."

Carter made the best out of her minimized mobility and looked more closely around the room.
"Where the heck are we?" she asked, searching for clues on the desk in front of her. A scrap of paper with a note, a business card or something like that. But there was nothing, except something that looked like a large desk pad. The material was interesting. It was not made of ordinary paper. It shimmered peal white and the corners were cut off like a longish octagon. Sam cocked her head to the side and held her breath. At a certain angle, the light of the ceiling lamp reflected on the smooth material and something like a structure shimmered through. Almost like a microchip.

"Sam!" warned Daniel suddenly and nodded frantically towards the door. Behind the frosted glass of the door appeared the outlines of a man and shortly thereafter, the owner of said shape stepped into the room. He, too, wore the stereotypical suit and carried a big gray cardboard box.

He didn't look at them as he took place behind the desk and started placing the items of the box onto the tabletop. It was their equipment. Tools, electrical appliances and of course, lots and lots of weapons. Separated from the ammunition, Sam noticed and was sure that those people definitely thought that Daniel and she were dangerous.

They exchanged puzzled glances. They'd been captured and interrogated many times. But rarely had an interrogation been so relatively painless. Actually, they were accustomed to being thrown into a dungeon, drugged or tortured. This was a nice change. Nevertheless, they had no reason to underestimate the man before them. It seemed that this civilization was highly technologized. But that didn't mean that they had such a thing as human rights. There were a hundred ways to force captives to talk. One didn't necessarily need a pain stick.

The man was finally done rummaging through their equipment and cleared his throat. He looked at them both inquiringly, before he spoke.
"My name is Agent Brad Forster, Global Defence Department." He introduced himself and watched them expectantly for a reaction, as if he was convinced that they should know who he was. While Sam was silently waiting, Daniel did him the favor and responded. He raised his hand to offer a handshake, but remembered that he was cuffed.
"Um…hi!" he said eventually. "I am doctor Daniel Jackson and this is Colonel Samantha Carter. We are peaceful explorers. This isn't necessary." Daniel rattled with his chains to emphasize his point.

Agent Forster looked at them neutrally and folded his hands in front of him.
"Mr. Jackson, Mrs. Carter, if those are you real names, do you know why you are here?"
"These are our real names and…" Daniel began, but was interrupted quickly.
"You are accused of planning and/or participating in a terrorist attack at the historical museum in Delphi." Declared the Agent firmly, but otherwise emotionless.

"What?!" exclaimed a shocked Daniel. "This is a misunderstanding, we…"
The archaeologist was again interrupted by the Agent and slowly, Daniel got the feeling that this was Forsters interrogation style. He asked a simple question, but didn't give his opponent a chance to explain. Jackson had to admit, it was a very frustrating and therefore working style. He decided to be on guard and stay calm.

"So, you deny the accusations?" Inquired the Agent.
"Yes." Confirmed Daniel. He wanted to say more, of course, but he refrained from doing so. He refused to fall for the trick again. Instead, he turned the tables and this time it was him looking expectantly and forcing the agent to ask again.
"And what should make me believe you?" Forster finally demanded to know.

Daniel thought for a moment. Those accusations were unfounded, but how could they prove their innocence? They had no convincing evidence, except assuring that they had not been in that museum to blow it up.
"I have no evidence. But I assure you, we are scientist, not terrorists." He declared with honest eyes. The agent leaned back in his chair, completely unimpressed. Instead, he looked for a certain object of their equipment and pushed the clunky thing towards them when he found it.

"Can one of you maybe explain what you wanted to explore with this?"
Daniel breathed hard and Sam squeezed her eyes shut. It was the c4 from their equipment. This definitely didn't improve their situation. There was not much they could say to explain why they had explosives with them. In a museum at night, nonetheless. Daniel had to acknowledge that they had to look very guilty for someone like Agent Forster. The only thing that could help them now, was the truth. He threw Sam a deliberative glance to make sure that she agreed. It was not always tactically wise to declare where they came from. Often enough, it was important to protect earth's coordinates. And now? Sam nodded, although somewhat timidly. So she had no better idea, too.

"You're right. These are explosives." Daniel began. It seemed needless to deny that. The agent wasn't stupid. "But we never had the intention to destroy the museum. Or anything else, for that matter. It's just part of our standard equipment."
This seemed to have woken up the other man's interest. He pointed to their remaining weapons.
"Just like these weapons, here?" he asked.
Daniel nodded eagerly and confirmed, "Exactly. Everything we had with us belongs to our gear. Not all of this is a weapon. We have many other tools with us. This, for example, " he nodded at his voice recorder, "is a device which allows you to record speech. It works…"

"I know how it works!" interrupted Forster offended. It probably didn't sit well with him that Daniel thought he had to explain him the workings of such a banal piece of technique.
"So, you're saying that all of this belongs to your official gear. Does that mean you're some kind of a team?"
Jackson sighed with relief. Maybe he was finally getting through to the other man.
"Yes, that's right. Our team is called SG-1. Colonel Carter and I belong to it. But we have two more members, Colonel Mitchell and Lt. Meyers. We currently don't know where they are, but…"
Actually, Daniel had planned to assure again that SG-1 presented no threat, but the moment he had mentioned Mitchell and Meyers, the agent's eyes darkened and he grimaced with fury.

"SG-1? Is that the name of your terrorist cell? Where are your accomplices? Which attacks are planned?" Forster demanded to know and Daniel let his head fall back with frustration. The agent had understood it completely wrong.
"We are no terrorists!" he conjured again. "We are scientists, researchers, just like our colleagues. SG-1 is no terrorist cell, it's the name of our unit." Daniel explained sternly, but he could see that the other man didn't believe him.

"Are you part of the Sagittaron Freedom Movement?
Jackson blinked irritated, but it was Sam who answered. Her voice was pleasantly composed. Apparently she sensed that he was about to loose his patience, so she took over.
"We don't know what you are talking about. As Dr. Jackson said, we are scientists."

Forster addressed all his attention to her now. He studied her coldly.
"And what exactly is your role in this team? Are you a explorer, too? I thought you hold a military rank?" He asked, sounding almost genuinely interested. But Sam had the felling that it didn't matter what they told him. He had already labeled them as a danger and whatever they said, it wouldn't change his mind. But until their colleagues and friends from the SGC could send help, they had no other choice but to keep trying.

"I am an Air Force Colonel. I'm in charge of this team."
Forster's eyes were fixed on her intently. She noticed how small his pupils were.
"So you're the leader of your cell?"
Carter gritted her teeth. He was obsessed with the assumption that they were terrorists.
"No. As I said. We are scientists and I'm the highest ranking officer in the team."

The agent let her words sink in. He leaned back in his chair and stretched his short legs in front of him. Thoughtfully, he cocked his head to the side and tapped his left forefinger in a slow tune at the table.
"Hmmm." He sighed. "Colonel Carter, yes? Well, at least we can work with that."
Forster leaned forward again and wiped his hand over the strange shiny paper that had held Sam's interest before.

Intrigued, Daniel and Sam watched as the white paper came to life. Very briefly, for the blink of an eye, fine lines appeared and shone in a green light. Then this was replaced by strange symbols that were arranged like information of a database. His pulse quickened when he realized that he'd seen similar letters before. Greek letters, to be precisely. He tried to decipher some of them, but Forster typed something and the display changed before Daniel could took a closer look. The next letters resembled greek again, but even without being able to read them, he knew that they were bad news. The letters blinked red, framed by an orange box. Red and orange. Neon colors always meant trouble, no matter what planet or culture.

Forster turned the paper, or rather paper-like screen around and looked expectantly at Sam. Apparently he assumed that she could read what was written. She hid the fact that she couldn't and instead stared at the agent.
"Well, what do you think of that? Can you explain this?"
"Explain what, exactly?" She retorted neutral, without letting on that she had no clue what he was talking about.
"There is no female Colonel Carter in the databases of the Colonial Forces. You're not an engineer, a marine, a deckhand and certainly not a pilot. Also, no trace of a so called research team SG-1! I ask you again, how can that be?" He asked her with a superior expression on his face. He was so sure that he had convicted them and that there was nothing to explain this logically.

For Sam and Daniel it was clear that there was just one possibility left for them. They had to tell the truth about earth. There seemed no other way to refute his accusations, right? Carter took a deep breath and contemplated her next words. Was it right to tell him about earth? Or should they deny anything and risk being thrown into prison? It was their most important task to protect earth and it's coordinates. On the other hand, what they had seen of this planed indicated that these people were similar to them. Highly intelligent and technologically developed, maybe more than people on earth. Maybe this was a unique opportunity to find a powerful ally. A lie could destroy the chance for a valuable partnership. Trust was build on truth and sincerity, not lies and excuses, she knew that.

Finally, she decided to go with the truth. She couldn't say why. There were as many weighty reasons for and against it, but she listened to her gut feeling.
"You can't find us in your database because we are not part of your Colonial Forces. We are part of the United States Air Force." She stated and waited for his reaction.
For the first time, Forster was honestly surprised.

"Air Force? I never heard something about an Air Force. I know nothing about those United States you're talking about." Deep wrinkles formed on his forehead.
Of course you don't know, thought Sam. After all, You've never been on Earth.
Taking a deep breath she hoped that it was the right decision. Now or never.
"The United States of America are on Earth. We are from Earth."

For a moment, there was complete silence in the room. When the agent finally responded, it was not like Sam and Daniel had expected. They had never met a foreign culture that reacted like this when earth was mentioned. Namely with guffaws. Forster began to laugh loudly. With his left hand he held his stomach und with his right wiped tears from his eyes. His face was already turning scarlet red. What was so amusing about it, Carter and Jackson didn't know. Quite the contrary. It was condescending, because they were clearly laughed at.

In the absence of other options, they waited for Forster to overcome his laughing fit. He chuckled a few times and wiped the last tears from his eyes. Then he shook his head in disbelief and pointed his index finger at her.
"You almost got me there! Earth! Very funny. Didn't know that you Sagittaron people have so much humor."
"That was not a joke." Hissed Carter and had restrain herself form making a rude comment.
"We told you the truth!" Daniel supported her. "We traveled through your Stargate."

Forster ignored their protestations.
"Okay, you had your fun. I've never heard something about a Stargate and I haven't believed in Earth for over 30 years."
Daniel and Sam exchanged irritated looks. They knew that Forster saw this too, but couldn't help themselves. It took them completely by surprise, that someone denied the existence of earth. They were used to planets no knowing anything about earth. But they had never met a civilization that knew about earth, but didn't believe that the planet really existed.

They had no more time to think about that, because Agent Forster had obviously heard enough. With a gentle touch of his finger the digital paper turned off. He leaned back again, but this time not casually. His words carried a threatening finality.
"I think we are finished here. I gave you an opportunity to refute the accusations or to make a confession. But you rejected my help and instead, you tell me children's stories. The evidence against you is overwhelming. Because you obviously don't want to cooperate, I have no other choice but to relocate you to Libran. The Astral Queen will take you there. On Libran, you'll get a fair trial. I strongly advice you to use the time on the Astral Queen to think about your defense before court. Think about a confession. I doesn't have to end with death penalty."

He looked at them both intently. Then he got up without a word and left the room. Sam and Daniel stared rigidly at the now empty chair in front of them with many confusing thoughts buzzing in their heads. When the two guards came back and led them away, they could think about nothing else but what Agent Forster had said last. They were threatened with death penalty and this time, it seemed that there would be no last-minute rescue. No one knew what had happened to them and where they had stranded. They had no clue what would happen to them. Perhaps, this was their last adventure.