Connor was missing. Whatever she'd managed to convince herself the day before – that Frakes was a misunderstanding, that Connor was overstating the evil he'd seen – the attack had made it all so suddenly, horribly real. Sam stared up at the stars, trying to find some sort of order there, some sense of normal. But they weren't her stars.

The only sense she could seem to make of anything boiled down to one thought: Colonel O'Neill had sent SG-9 on this mission because of her. Jonas was here because of her.

And it wasn't a far leap to say, then, that Connor had been abducted because of her. That those men had been tied out in the sun to die because of her. That Frakes – one of her own – had died because of her.

Another day, another situation, and that knowledge would have killed her. Her worst fear had always been to lose someone in the field and know it was her fault.

But it wasn't.

It was Jonas' fault.

Maybe it was this planet. Maybe it was just weeks after she'd rejected him. But if it wasn't here and now, it would be some other time.

And he would still find some way to pile it all on her shoulders. Because he liked to watch people suffer. Specifically, he liked to watch her suffer. He always had.

She didn't feel sick anymore.

She was pissed off.

~/~ ~/~

"They were probably just instructed just to take Connor," Daniel was saying, and Sam wondered if he could see the steam coming out of her ears. The rage had sunk to a simmer, but it refused to go away. "Send us a message that Hanson's in control."

"Sounds familiar," she muttered.

"Which part?"

"He likes control."

"Oh. Well, what did you see in him?"

In hindsight, she didn't have a clue. "I don't know. I guess I've always had a soft spot for the lunatic fringe. He was... He was charming."

"Well, that's good. Charming is good."

She shook her head. "I don't know. I should be more surprised by this than I am, but I'm not. You know, he had this in him, Daniel. Too many years of Black Ops."

"Well, that's typical of our government's evaluation of soldiers," he said. "The crazier they are, the more extreme the situation they seem to be put into."

That, she knew, was a vicious cycle. "He wasn't happy when I broke off the engagement, but he seemed like he'd really pulled himself together when we met up at Stargate Command." And the little pool of lava in her gut rose at the reminder that he'd fooled her so readily.

She didn't have much time to dwell on that, though, as Teal'c's hand suddenly came up and brought them to a halt. Daniel glanced at her, but she shrugged – she didn't hear anything, either. All she could do was follow her CO and their resident alien down a poorly-worn path to a rocky overhang.

The valley below was a wasteland. No trees. No shade. And yet hundreds of the indigenous people toiled away. And she knew they were dying. And the nausea rushed back. Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill were discussing something, but she wasn't paying attention, surveying the partially-constructed temple to the man she'd once thought she'd loved.

Even now, she wasn't sure what she felt. Just as she wasn't sure whether Jonas was sick or just the galaxy's biggest asshole. She leaned heavily toward the latter.

"Captain," her CO said, yanking her back to the present, "when the time comes, I'll need your help to get in the front door."

She'd known that from the moment she'd stepped through the Gate. "I'm prepared for that, sir."

"There will be none left to worship him if this continues," Teal'c spoke up as the colonel disappeared down the path.

"They're like Abraham."

Setting aside her binoculars, she stared at Daniel in disbelief.

"Who was Abraham?" the alien asked.

"A biblical figure," the archaeologist began, and she tuned him out. God didn't have a thing to do with this. It was the work of a power-hungry, cold-blooded killer.

Or a mad man.

Or maybe both.

It would be so much easier if she could decide.

A struggle erupted at the edge of the boulder field, and Sam focused in on the last member of SG-9 slamming the butt of his rifle into a native. "Hey. Look over there." Even as she handed over the binoculars, she knew what she had to do, and she pushed to her feet.

"Whoa, where are you going?" Daniel asked.

"I can't just stay here and watch him beat that man to death."

"You will be captured," Teal'c insisted.

"Uh-huh." Exactly.

Her human teammate blinked. "And you think that's a plan?"

"Daniel, I can get to Hanson. That's what the colonel was talking about," she pressed.

"Well, can you at least wait until he gets back?"

Was he kidding? "The man could be dead by then." And dead well before she ever convinced Daniel of her plan. Hitching her rifle closer to her chest, she headed down the path.

~/~ ~/~

He wasn't crazy. He was an egotistical bastard still trying to manipulate her. If anything proved that, it was the three women posed at his feet. And the fact that his greeting was, "Well, it's about time."

"Hello, Jonas," she answered coolly.

"And you never thought I'd amount to anything. Quite a leap, isn't it? From captain to-"

She had exactly zero patience for his bull. "What's happened to you, Jonas?"

"Please, sit down." For a moment, Sam considered staying on her feet just to spite him but opted to pick her battles. She sat. "These caves were once mines," he explained. "They permeate the hillside for miles, but these people have been multiplying like rabbits. They don't have the technology to dig themselves more space; they don't have the courage to leave the caves. It's like a third world country in a bottle."

"And you think you're saving them," she put in dryly.

"Oh, I know I am." The certainty of the words made her swallow hard. Maybe he knew he wasn't a god, but he'd sure as hell convinced himself he was a hero. Jonas the Good Guy. Always. "These people, they're human beings. They're like us. How can we turn our backs on them? Kidnapped from Earth, forced into slavery for centuries?"

"We can't change that."

"Yes, we can. We must help!"

"Well, how does posing as a god and slowly working these people to death help them?" she challenged.

"I hate that word! Stop using it! I am not posing!"

Her breath caught. Holy Hannah, the colonel had been right. Jonas actually believed what he was telling these people.

And that was terrible news – for her, for the indigenous people... for the rest of SG-1. Because her plan had been to talk him down, one way or another, and that relied on him being at least somewhat sane. That relied on the fact that he hadn't had a complete mental break. Her stomach twisted into a knot and pulled tight.

"It is a matter of definition," he pressed calmly. "My people need me. They believe in me. And because they believe, they work."

"To death."

"We're building a civilization, Sam. There are going to be sacrifices. It's better than rotting in caves, living and dying in squalor like you've never seen. I'm creating a great people."

"In your image?"

"Yes. It's going to be wondrous. You'll see. You'll see."

She was already starting to. And it was so much worse than she'd imagined.