"So what do you have for me?," General O'Neill asked at the end of the day.
Mia looked to Jonas who replied, "Well, from what we've translated so far, the text seems to deal with some unwanted visitors to the planet. See," he said, holding up one of the images taken by SG-12, "this first part says something along the lines of 'those who came not in peace have paid the price'. And this second part, down here," he added, pointing to the section in question, "seems to say 'we are made whole again by their sacrifice'."
"See, I'm not really liking the sounds of that," said O'Neill, squinting at the pair. "Is there much left to translate?"
Mia shook her head no. "It's not so much a matter of there being anything left," she explained quickly, "as it is a matter of accuracy. The text seems to be an extremely archaic form of the Furling language. It hardly bears resemblance to what we have on file at all." Jonas nodded his agreement adding, "We basically worked out the individual words using a corruption algorithm I came up with..."
"Excuse me, a what?," interrupted O'Neill, confused.
"A corruption algorithm. It helps me come up with the probable evolution of little known languages. I developed it while working with your Latin and the Ancient language..." Jonas began to explain before O'Neill cut him off with his customary "Ah!"
"Sorry, General," said Jonas sheepishly. "Basically, we've translated as much of the text as we can, only we've had to resort to using an untried method to do it."
"Okay, that I understood," replied O'Neill. "Good work, both of you," he added, nodding at them. "We'll prep a UAV to send a warning to SG-1, along with a copy of your translation."
"A UAV?," asked Mia, confused. General O'Neill smiled, rocking back on his heels.
"Come on, I'll show you," he replied, motioning for her and Jonas to follow.
Mia watched in fascination as the UAV was launched through the Stargate, quickly switching her focus over to the monitor indicated by General O'Neill as showing the UAV's telemetry.
"Switch it to video," said O'Neill to the airman seated at the console. "Yes, Sir," came the reply as the image changed from a grainy topographical map to a real-time playback of the plane's flight over P7X-294.
"It's beautiful," breathed Mia, staring in wonder at the lush vegetation skimming by just below the plane's wingtips.
"It's not that different from parts of this planet," replied Jonas, grinning at her. Before Mia had the chance to respond, O'Neill was at the console, trying to raise SG-1 on their radios.
"SG-1, this is Stargate Command. What's your status?," he said. Silence. O'Neill tried again, this time broadcasting on multiple frequencies. Still no response. "Damn," he muttered, turning to the airman on duty. "How far is that thing from their projected coordinates?," he asked.
"A few more minutes, Sir," came the man's confident reply. Tension filled the room as everyone silently watched the plane's progress over the alien mountainside. The minutes dragged by. Finally, the airman announced, "We should be coming up on SG-1's position now, Sir." They all watched with bated breath. Nothing. There was no sign of the flagship team anywhere below the UAV.
"Take it further up the mountain," O'Neill ordered, trying to keep calm. "Yes, Sir," replied the airman, typing in the UAV's new destination.
Again, they waited. The UAV rose to a higher altitude, increasing it's view of the mountainside. A second monitor was repurposed to display heat scans of the planet's surface. Still no sign of SG-1. More time passed, and still, nobody dared say a word as the screens showed nothing more than trees and a couple flocks of small indigenous birds.
"We're coming up on the furthest projected coordinates provided by SG-1, Sir," reported the airman, startling Mia with the abrupt break in silence. Jonas smiled at her reassuringly, before returning his attention to the screens and their monotonous view of the planet's treetops.
"SG-1," said O'Neill from his position at the console. "This is Stargate Command. What's your status?" As before, the lines remained silent.
"Sir, I think I found something," said the airman urgently.
"What is it?," he demanded, turning his full attention on the man.
"Here, in the heat scans," the man said, indicating the area in question. "The readings are faint, but there are three forms down there."
"Can we get a visual on them?," O'Neill asked, indicating the monitor currently displaying a lush assortment of trees.
"I can try, Sir," replied the airman, switching over to manual controls. The UAV did a sweeping arc in the sky over the planet, zeroing in on SG-1's suspected position. Dipping down towards an outcropping of rock, the plane flashed past what had obviously been a recent campsite.
"Wait," barked O'Neill. "Go back, nice and slow..."
"Yes, Sir," replied the airman, adjusting his controls. The plane took another pass of the campsite.
"There," said Jonas, pointing at the display monitor. The airman froze the image on the screen, setting the UAV down for a landing next to the campsite. Sure enough, right where Jonas had indicated, there were three heavily concealed bodies laying prone beneath a dense layer of moss and fresh green tendrils. Mia held her breath.
"They're still emitting heat signatures, Sir," said the airman reassuringly into the heart-stopping silence that followed SG-1's appearance on the screen.
"Get the doctor down here ASAP," O'Neill ordered. "You two, with me," he added, nodding towards Mia and Jonas as he made his way back up the stairs to the briefing room. "We need a plan, now," he added, taking the last few steps two at a time. SG-1 was alive for the moment, and he intended to keep it that way.