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Playing Ba'al

Chapter 13

The first jump had been easy, Colonel Simpson thought. The Odyssey and the Daedalus had arrived, side by side, at the pre-selected location. Scans had shown them to be totally alone. The second jump had been a little trickier…the two ships had been closer than the navigators had intended, or anticipated. Adjustments were made for the third jump.

And that, as the old saying went, is when things went to hell. The two Tau’ri ships were traveling with their cloaks up…not willing to be visible when they dropped out of hyperdrive. That preventative step was the only reason both ships were still intact.

As soon as they had arrived at their destination, they realized they’d jumped into the middle of a dozen or more Goa’uld pyramid ships, and at least three times that many al-kesh. They’d managed to drop down to avoid contact with any of the ships. But there were too many to try to move any further.

Daedalus had sent one very short message…’quiet’. So…there they sat, not willing to try to communicate with one another, lest the Goa’uld realize they were not alone. The colonel had given the order that everyone on the ship remain as quiet as possible. She had no idea if sound could or would be picked up by those enemy ships. She had no doubt they were scanning for any interlopers to their meeting.

"If we jump, will they be able to detect that?" Simpson asked in a whisper.

"Yes, ma’am. What I don’t know is if the Goa’uld are better at following hyperjumps than we are," the young tech replied.

The colonel closed her eyes for a moment. Shit! We’re sitting ducks here, and we have to get to SG-1 before any of these Goa’uld figure out where they are!

On the Daedalus, Cam Mitchell was having the same thoughts. They didn’t dare try to move…it had been sheer luck that they hadn’t been detected so far. And if any fighting broke out among that sea of Goa’uld ships, they’d be caught dead-center.

"Well, looks like SG-1 succeeded," Cam said softly. "I’m betting these ships are fixin’ for a fight."

"Yes, sir," his nav officer replied.

"Sir, I can try to monitor the Goa’uld communications. It might take me a few minutes to figure out what frequency they’re on. But their systems are similar to ours," the young communication officer reported.

"Do it!" Cam ordered immediately. If they could hear what was going on, they’d know if they were on the verge of being discovered.

"I can send a coded message to the Odyssey…the Goa’uld don’t use those frequencies at all, although we don’t know why," comms offered.

"That’s great. Please do so. Tell Colonel Simpson to do the same thing. The more we can hear, the better," Cam said. His heart was pounding against his ribs. His palms were sweaty. He was scared to death. "Comms, can you get a message to the SGC that won’t be noticed?"

"Yes, sir."

"Tell them that we’re in a bit of a mess here. Give them our location. Tell them to send the Prometheus. Nav, send over the coordinates that will keep the Prometheus out trouble."

"Yes, sir."

"Ma’am, I’ve made some calculations. If we move carefully, we can get to that planet over there, and even hide behind it, if we need to," Lieutenant Grogan reported.

"That’s good news," Colonel Simpson sighed.

"Message coming in from Daedalus. We’re supposed to monitor for any Goa’uld communications we can hear. And they’ve sent word to the SGC…Prometheus should be joining us in an hour or so," Sergeant Phillips said.

"Good man, that Colonel Mitchell," Simpson said. "Okay, comms, start scanning, see what you can pick up."

"Yes, ma’am."

"Lieutenant Grogan, send your calculations to the Daedalus. Let’s see if they want to wait here, or move."

"Yes, ma’am."

"Colonel, Odyssey sent a message…their navigation officer has calculated a way for us to get to that planet over there," the communication officer said. "And I haven’t been able to pick up any Goa’uld chatter, at least not yet."

"What the hell are they waiting for?" Mitchell muttered. "Nav, get ready to move us."

"Yes, sir."

Cam studied the numerous ships around them. "Belay that order," he said suddenly.

The navigation officer looked over at him. "Sir?"

"Tell Odyssey that we’re going to hide beneath two of those big ol’ motherships," he explained. "I have the feeling being where we are is a very bad idea, and moving too far right now might expose us…cloaked or not. That mothership right in front of us…that’s where we’re going to go. Send word to the Odyssey to move directly beneath the mothership in front of them. Slow and careful. We don’t want to scrape the paint or let those snakes know we’re here."

"Not sure being here is going to be any safer," Colonel Simpson worried, as the Odyssey slipped into place beneath one of the huge enemy craft.

"Any shots fired will be aimed above us, which should keep us out of sight, at least for awhile," Major Haynes said quietly. He was standing near the star chart behind the captain’s chair, arms wrapped around his chest.

"But if the ship above us blows up, it will expose us and probably cause some damage as well," Simpson argued.

"Yes, ma’am, it could. But…if we do this right, we can move from ship to ship, and get our asses out of here," the major countered.

Before she could reply, two pyramid ships suddenly appeared…right where the Odyssey and the Daedalus had been just moments before. "Oh, holy hell," Simpson muttered.

Cam’s eyes couldn’t have gotten wider. If they had hesitated…for even a few seconds, they would have been destroyed. "Good God Almighty!" he swore.

"Sir, message from the Odyssey. They suggest we move slowly, from one ship to another, keeping beneath the motherships, and work our way toward that planet," the navigator offered.

"We gotta do something. Neighborhood is getting damned crowded, and the silence can’t be a good thing," Cam said. "Tell the Odyssey to go left. We’ll go right. And we’ll meet above that planet. We’ll send those new coordinates to the Prometheus as soon as we have them."

"Yes, sir."

It took fifty minutes for the two Earth ships to move out of harm’s way. During that time, the silence among those enemy ships had been broken. Apparently five System Lords were meeting to discuss the rumors about Ba’al…and exactly what he was up to. Three of the Goa’uld insisted that it was a new ship that their common enemy held…two others were offering proof that Ba’al had perfected the cloning process. What came through loud and clear was the Ba’al was going to be hunted down, and held accountable for his actions.

The Odyssey and Daedalus, tucked in just above the planet, to make certain they could continue to monitor the situation, listened carefully. It didn’t seem that there was going to be any battle…at least not yet. The two ships captains discussed the issue, and decided that having the Prometheus join them increased their chances of survival if any fighting did break out. If it didn’t, the Prometheus could return to Earth. And the other two would continue on to their destination: the planet to which SG-1 had escaped.

Stars were visible between the multitude of leaves and branches above them. Jack held up his hand, waited until the team was circled around him. "I don’t know about anyone else, but I need a break."

"Me, too," Casey agreed. "In more ways than one. I don’t buy coffee, ya know. I rent it."

Jack snickered. "Right. Okay, campers, let’s take care of any personal business, and then we’ll meet back here."

Sam and Casey headed out among the trees together.

"Even out here? They can’t piss alone?" Jack questioned, watching the two women disappear into the foliage.

Daniel chuckled. "It’s about safety. And it’s a habit borne of necessity. Women stick together to protect one another because they often have to."

"But out here-" Jack started.

"It’s habit, Jack. I doubt they even think about it. They’re leaving the company of men they know and trust. They don’t know what’s out there," Daniel said quietly. "It’s so engrained in them that it’s second nature."

"Some men just need to have the shit knocked out of them," Jack declared, his voice low. "In this day and age, women shouldn’t have to be afraid for their safety."

"That’s one of the curses of a patriarchal society…or at least ours," Daniel responded. "Casey read an article to me about the issue once. For every woman who’s been raped, there are dozens more that barely escaped that fate. Every woman has been in that situation at least once. Every woman. That scares the hell out of me. Pisses me off, too."

"Damn!" Jack hissed. He looked in the direction where the two women had disappeared. "Guess it’s up to us, and men like us, to offer whatever protection we can."

"Yep."

Teal’c had been listening quietly. A deep frown crossed his face. "Do you believe that Cassie Frasier has experienced such a thing?"

Daniel’s heart fell to his stomach. "Oh, god! I hope not!"

"Me, too," Jack said. He gave a small smile. "I figure if something happens, we’ll know about it. Napoleon will hand that asshole his balls."

It was impossible not to chuckle at the thought of the diminutive doctor and the fate of any male stupid enough to try to hurt her daughter. "Hand them to him, hell," Daniel countered. "She’ll shove ‘em down his throat."

"No doubt," Jack chuckled. "Okay, let’s get done what we have to get done. We’ll just bed down here for the rest of the night," he said, pointing to the thick grass beside the path.

"Good enough," Daniel agreed, before he found a tree to relieve himself behind.

Ten minutes later, the team was settling down into sleeping bags. Jack was taking first watch. Praying that he and his team would be able to get a decent night’s sleep before moving on. Worried about what they would find. Two earthquakes just a matter of hours apart was never a good thing…on any planet.

Colonel Ronson whistled softly when he saw the number of ships that filled the expanse of space in front of him. The Odyssey and the Daedalus had warned him to keep his cloak and his shields up. Now he fully understood why. He also understood the request that all communication be non-verbal. Messages would be sent back and forth between the ships…and hopefully the Goa’uld wouldn’t decide to scan those particular wavelengths for any reason. While all messages were coded, just the fact that they were ‘there’ would be enough to expose the ships to that massive Goa’uld fleet.

"Let the Odyssey and Daedalus know we’ve arrived," the colonel said quietly.

"Yes, sir," the communication officer replied.

"Let’s hope that if those snakes get pissy, they keep it among themselves," Ronson murmured.

The bridge crew exchanged glances. Being in an honest-to-goodness battle with the Goa’uld wasn’t something to look forward to. They were prepared to fight for their lives if necessary. All of them hoped silently that it wouldn’t be necessary.

"Prometheus is here, sir," the Daedalus communication officer informed Cam.

"That’s good," he replied. He was starting to get a bad feeling…that ‘red alert’ that always made his skin break out in goose bumps. "Stay alert," he said softly.

Years of military experience had the captains of the Odyssey and the Prometheus edgy as well. They were out numbered at least twenty-to-one. And that was just the ships they could see. It had already been discussed that the System Lords present probably had more of their ships hidden nearby.

Colonel Simpson watched the enemy ships. "Contact Daedalus and Prometheus. Suggest that we leave now, while we can."

"Yes, ma’am," the comms officer replied. "Sending message now."

"Nav, plot a nice course out of this solar system, moving away from that group. We’ll have to wait until we clear the system before going to hyperdrive," Simpson continued. "I just have the bad feeling that if we don’t leave now, we might not get a chance to do so."

Colonel Ronson frowned as he listened to his comms officer read the message from the Odyssey. "I’ve read the mission report for what SG-1 was attempting to do. This could be a chance to wipe out a few System Lords, if they decide to get pissy. Send a message back, and to Daedalus. Suggest we move as low to the planet as we can get, without touching the upper atmosphere. If any ships show up from elsewhere, there will be less chance of us being discovered."

Cam sighed. Both captains had legitimate points. The question was…stay and wait, or pull out while they could. "Are those snakes still talking to each other?"

"Yes, sir. Although it seems that it’s starting to get a bit…heated. The two System Lords who know about the clone are determined to find Ba’al and destroy him and his clone. The others are afraid that Ba’al has some massive ship that will knock them out."

"Well, hell," Cam muttered. Pissed off Goa’uld were unpredictable.

As bad as the situation seemed, it suddenly became worse: dozens of al’kesh began to appear. Sides were being drawn. It looked like there was going to be a battle after all.

"Okay, right now, we need to stay put," Cam decided. "Tell Odyssey and Prometheus we sit here, unless things go to hell for us. If so, we all hit hyperspace. Have each nav plot a course, compare to make certain we’re not going to wind up hitting each other. Find a nice place…somewhere that we could reach in three small jumps. Tell Ronson and Simpson that’s where we’ll meet up…if things go to hell."

The messages were sent, and acknowledged. More al’kesh appeared. It was just a matter of time, now.

The sound of thunder woke the members of SG-1 who were still asleep. Daniel, who’d been on last watch, started a small fire. He wasn’t going anywhere without a cup of coffee…even if it was just the crappy coffee from an MRE.

Casey crawled out of her sleeping bag. She scooted over and cuddled up to her Husband’s side. "Sounds as if we’re going to get wet."

"Yep," Daniel agreed.

Sam, Jack, and Teal’c moved closer to the fire that was now burning merrily.

"Heavy as the canopy is, I’m doubting that we’ll get too wet," Jack said, looking up at what sky he could see. Lots and lots of gray clouds. The birds that had serenaded them every morning were silent…either there weren’t birds in this area, which was doubtful, or something else was going on. Whatever it was, it made him nervous.

"Well, on the bright side, we’re closer to the Stargate than we were when we got here," Sam pointed out.

"Very true," Daniel agreed.

"Let’s just hope we can get there before we have another quake," Jack said.

"Don’t jinx us, boss," Casey retorted immediately.

"Too late, Angel. He already has," Daniel replied, shaking his head, and tossing a look of irritation at his best friend.

"How about we just eat and then get moving?" Jack suggested, ignoring the looks he was getting from his team. Without a doubt, if another quake happened, the four of them would blame him for it. He was barely able to bite back his grin. Giving them something…or someone…to blame would keep them focused enough to face whatever was ahead for them. If there was another earthquake, it was bound to be worse than the two tremors they’d already experienced. That fact worried him. Scared him, too.

Quiet grumbling about MREs accompanied their breakfast, each trying to come up with the most unique complaint. Which resulted in the team entertaining each other until the quiet air around them was filled with the sound of laughter.

Sleeping bags were deftly rolled and re-attached to packs. Packs were heaved onto shoulders. And the journey continued.

Thunder continued to rumble, although rain had yet to be noticed.

Teal’c, on point as usual, held up a fist. The team stopped mid-step. "The path divides here."

Jack looked at Casey. "Didn’t see that?"

"No, I didn’t," she admitted. She frowned…tried to recall every moment of her astral travel over the path she’d discovered. "Wait…there were two clearings, one on each side of the path. I didn’t see anything in either of them. I just went straight, because I assumed the path did. And the path must join back up at some point, because it led directly to that Stargate."

"Good enough," Jack replied. It would have been nice if Radar had more carefully scouted the path they were on. The fact that she had found it, and confirmed it led to the Stargate was ample information. He wasn’t going to say a word that might cause the tender-hearted seer to grab onto a sense of guilt that wasn’t hers to bear.

‘I should have looked closer," she mumbled.

"Radar, you saw two clearings…which you said were empty. You saw the path lead to the Stargate. That’s all we need to know," Jack insisted.

"I wonder what the clearings were for," Daniel mused.

"Maybe there were settlements there at one time?" Sam suggested.

"Possibly," Daniel allowed. "We might see ruins when we go through."

"Which path do you wish to take, O’Neill?" Teal’c asked.

"Suggestions?" Jack asked his team.

"If the paths meet up again, I don’t see that it matters," Sam said.

"I agree, either way is going to lead us right back to the main path," Daniel agreed.

Casey remained silent; she was tugging her lower lip between her teeth.

"Casey?" Jack asked gently.

"I don’t know…I should take a look, don’t you think?" Her response was hesitant.

"I agree with Sam and Daniel, I really don’t think it matters," Jack replied. "What about you, Teal’c?"

"Either direction will lead us where we wish to go," was the response from the Jaffa.

"You know, the path veered to the right last time, and then back left. How about we just go right…it worked out before," Sam said.

Jack nodded. "Works for me. Any other thoughts?"

Three heads moved side-to-side.

"Okay, right it is. Lead the way, if you will, Teal’c."

With a regal nod of his head, Teal’c began moving on the path that led to the right. Not one of them even glanced toward the left. A sign that they were comfortable with their decision.

The rain they’d been expecting finally began falling, nearly an hour after they’d veered to the right. The forest canopy was still heavy, which prevented them from becoming soaked. They were, at worst, slightly damp.

When they stumbled upon the clearing Casey had mentioned, it was much larger than they had anticipated. It was nearly a mile in width, and looked to be at least two miles in length. There wasn’t anything immediately recognizable as ruins of any type…the tall, thick grass that seemed to cover the entire planet was all they could see.

"We could stay in the trees, and just circumvent it," Jack said, watching the low clouds that continued to swirl in the sky above them. "That will keep us dryer than walking across that opening."

"Might not be easy going," Daniel pointed out. "Traipsing through this forest before we reached the path was slow going."

"Yeah, well, we were also trying to keep you from over-straining your knee," Jack replied.

"Personally, I’d rather be a little bit wet as drenched to the skin," Casey said.

"Me, too," Sam seconded.

"Teal’c?"

"I would prefer to remain as dry as possible as well," the Jaffa answered.

"Daniel?"

"Let’s circumvent that meadow," the archaeologist said.

Jack took the lead. If there was any trouble in front of them, he wanted to face it first, and prevent his team from running head-on into a problem.

Once again the team found themselves struggling against bushes and saplings that grew in the shadow of the forest giants. The fact that Casey was singing, however, made all of them more relaxed than they had been in several hours. When the seer was singing, she wasn’t picking up any ‘bad vibes’, as Jack often said.

It took two hours before they had made it around meadow. Another thirty minutes passed, searching for the path that should have been directly opposite of where they had entered the forest. During their search, the rain blessedly stopped.

The stones of the path were larger, more visible…less grass grew between the closely laid masonry. The path itself was wider.

"Um…does this look even more ‘well-traveled’ than what we were following?" Sam asked nervously.

"It does to me," Casey said.

"Yeah, it does seem well maintained, doesn’t it?" Jack mused. He stopped, and looked over his shoulder.

"So, where are the people who maintain it?" Sam asked, her voice betraying her unease.

"It’s possible that whatever methods were used for building this path…or road…are the reason for it seeming to be so well maintained. We don’t know what the Ancients might have used to keep their paths and roads in useable condition," Daniel said.

"I guess so," Sam agreed, a bit reluctantly.

Once again the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. This time, however, the shaking was much worse. They were nearly tossed off their feet before they could settle themselves on the stones to wait out this earthquake.

Trees began to groan around them, the smaller of the species began to sway, although the huge specimens appeared to stand firm.

"Oh, hell," Jack muttered, watching as one of the ‘smaller’ trees – one as large as the biggest in his backyard – crashed to the ground. Barely one hundred yards from the path, had it fallen in their direction, they would have been in serious trouble.

Worried…more than just a bit frightened, all eyes were on the tops of the trees, praying that nothing near them would give way.

Another rumble, one that was louder than anything they’d heard before, filled the air. Then the sound of rocks banging against each other. Casey reached out, grabbed Daniel’s arm, and held tightly. Daniel pulled her closer. Jack had tugged Sam closer to him as well. And Sam had reached out for Teal’c’s hand.

More than a bit stunned, the team sat silently for a few minutes after the ground had stopped shaking.

"Guess we’d better see what all that racket was about," Jack said, not moving.

"Yeah, we should," Daniel agreed. He didn’t move, either.

The air was suddenly rent with the sound of groaning trees and snapping wood. The team huddled together, waiting until the sounds…and the slight trembling of the dirt beneath them…stopped once again.

Glances were exchanged. Eyes filled with worry…fear…determination. They had no idea what they were about to find as they slowly moved forward on a path that was now uneven…stones risen from the ground at odd angles. They did, however, know that it wasn’t going to be good. Nothing that sounded like what they had heard could be good, was the shared thought.

The captains on three Earth ships listened with trepidation as the taunts and arguments among the System Lords became louder…more intense.

"They’re gonna wind up blowing each other up," Cam grumbled.

The bright light of an explosion to the right of the field of ships came as a shock. Apparently the Goa’uld were just as surprised, because for several moments nothing happened. Although all the ‘chatter’ between the enemy ships had stopped.

"Where did that shot come from?" Cam asked immediately.

"Not sure, sir. One of the al’kesh, I think," the helm officer replied.

"Well, get ready for things to get interesting," the captain muttered. "Get our torpedoes armed, and our weapons charged."

"Yes, sir," the weapons officer responded.

Colonel Simpson rose to her feet in surprise when one of the Goa’uld ships seemed to explode. "I want every torpedo we have armed and ready," she ordered. "All gun batteries fully charged."

"Yes, ma’am," came the instant reply from the weapons officer.

"Let’s just hope we aren’t using them to defend ourselves," the captain said quietly, settling back into her chair.

"What the hell…where did that come from?" Ronson asked his crew.

"I don’t know, sir," a slightly shaking voice replied.

"Arm all torpedoes. Make certain all of those energy weapons from the Asgard are fully charged," Ronson ordered.

Time seemed to stand still; it felt as if everyone…and everything…was holding it’s breath. The second shot to be fired came from one of the Goa’uld motherships…aimed toward another of the motherships. The impact was high, and seemed to take the entire top of the ship off in an explosion of light and fire. There was no hesitation now. Every ship was firing on every other ship. The energy weapons were creating such a light show, and the fire was so heavy that it appeared that one could walk from one ship to the other on the beams of bright light.

Damage was becoming more noticeable as pieces of ships began to float through the space around them. More ships were blowing up, completely destroyed.

Three motherships and at least two dozen al’kesh began to move away from the battle, then jumped to hyperspace. The remaining ships seemed determined to prevent any others from fleeing.

On the Earth ships, those on the bridges were holding hands in front of their faces as the continuous explosions lit space like a small sun. Motherships, al’kesh, and the gliders that seemed to be everywhere randomly exploded into pieces. It was impossible to see who was firing on whom.

As suddenly as the battle had started, it was over. Any al’kesh and pyramid ships not too damaged to have hyperdrive began to disappear. Leaving behind at least four dozen crippled al’kesh, and three motherships…all apparently too damaged to be able to escape.

Cam wiped a hand over his face. This was what they had been hoping for…the chance to come in and wipe out any survivors of any battles between the Goa’uld System Lords. There were still far too many of the ships for his liking. But…if they were damaged enough… "Comms, get Simpson and Ronson on the line. We have a decision to make."

"Yes, sir."

A few seconds passed. "Simpson here."

"Ronson here."

Cam took a deep breath. "Folks, we need to decide if we want to take the opportunity that’s been handed to us."

"I do believe this was something that SG-1, General Hammond, and the President were hoping for," Ronson replied immediately. "We’re cloaked, and we’re behind them. Granted, when we fire our weapons, we’ll become visible. But if we all start firing at once, it will confuse the hell out of them…they won’t know exactly where the fire is coming from."

"Especially if we’re in three different positions. Two sides, and behind them," Simpson offered.

"Okay, let’s decide who’s going to be where," Cam said. "We’re going to have to be very careful…there’s a hell of a lot of debris out there."

Two captains could hear Simpson asking something of her crew. "According to my science officer, that debris is most likely to be pulled into orbit of this planet. That will probably take awhile, so I suggest we mark this spot as a bit dangerous to navigate through."

"Good idea, Colonel Simpson," Ronson said. "Okay, Daedalus, you’ve had the most experience. You tell Simpson and I where you want us. Then you give the count down to fire."

Once again Cam wished he’d have spoken sooner. As the officer in charge, and that would be what all three log books declared, he would bear the brunt of any failures. "Okay, let me get my nav to give you some coordinates."

The young comms officer stared at the ships that remained. "They’re not going to have a clue what happened," she said softly.

"That’s the idea," Cam replied.

The young woman turned around and smiled at the captain. "I’m going to monitor as carefully as I can…I want to know whose asses we kick today."

Cam laughed. "Good idea. I hear that there’s a ‘Dead Goa’uld’ list on a wall at the SGC. We’ll have to make certain that the Daedalus, Odyssey, and Prometheus get the credit for the kills."

With a chuckle of her own, the young officer turned back to her station. She began to listen to any and all Goa’uld messages she could hear. There wasn’t much…but it seemed that two System Lords were discussing an alliance. Lord Zipcana and Lord Olokun. She grinned. From the updates she’d read, both of those System Lords were barely hanging on to the planets they controlled, in fact, both had recently lost at least one planet each to revolt. Taking them out might not make a huge difference, but it would prevent them from being able to come in from behind and sweep up what another System Lord might lose. Any dead System Lord was to be celebrated, no matter how minor, she thought.

Ten minutes later, space was once again lit with explosions. The Earth ships continued to fire until nothing was left but pieces. And not once had any of the return fire been near enough to do any damage to them.

Zipcana and Olokun were no more.

"Prometheus, thanks for the assist," Cam said, when scans showed that nothing but debris remained. "Odyssey and I will go get SG-1 and bring ‘em home."

"Glad to have helped, Daedalus. I’ll tell the General you’ll be home shortly," Ronson replied. "Prometheus is heading home."

Jack moved slowly up the path, avoiding the worst of the uprooted and overturned stones. Numerous trees lay on the ground, several of them appeared to have been snapped in half. He hesitated when the path began to curve again. Not much, but just enough to prevent him from seeing what was directly in front of them. Not being able to see made him nervous.

"Jack?" Daniel asked quietly.

"There’s a curve here," Jack replied, his voice low. He took a deep breath. And two more steps. So far, so good.

"Forest must be thinning out," Casey noted, only a step behind her friend and CO.

"Yeah, I noticed that. Lots of sunlight," Jack concurred.

Four more steps. Past three massive trees, and nearly a dozen tall bushes. The team cleared the last of the bushes, brushing leaves from their arms and shoulders…

"Oh, hell!" Casey moaned, her green eyes wide.

"Holy Hannah!" Sam said at the same time.

Jack took his cap off and smacked it against his thigh. "That just sucks."

In front of them, the ground had been sheared away…a chasm of at least five miles separated them from the other side. It was at least as deep, and broken trees and huge boulders lined the bottom of the new canyon.

"Now what?" Daniel asked hoarsely.

"Now we have to find a way around, over, or through that," Jack snapped. With a shake of his head, he reached out and put his hand on the archaeologist’s shoulder, squeezed slightly.

Daniel looked over and met brown eyes straight on. He acknowledged and accepted the apology he saw there. "I’m guessing this is why Casey put that rope in her pack," he sighed.

"One rope isn’t going to help much," Casey argued.

"It might, Radar. We’ll just have to see what we have here," Jack assured her.

"This will certainly add a day or two to our hike to the ‘gate," Sam sighed.

"Indeed," Teal’c agreed.

"We’ve had to ration our supplies before," Jack reminded them. "Won’t be any different this time. Let’s see if we can find a place that looks like it will be an easier climb down."

Moving slowly…remaining as close as safely possible…SG-1 began looking for a way across the now gaping gorge. It was a blow…but the team was accustomed to dealing with the ‘bad luck’ that always preceded the miracle that saw them finding that rabbit, and pulling off just one more miracle.

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