Continuing Stargate

[s09119]

Whatever the problem was, it looks fixed now. Can everyone else get to the links? I didn't do anything, but it seems to be fine.

[Aragon101]

Whatever the problem was, it looks fixed now. Can everyone else get to the links? I didn't do anything, but it seems to be fine.

You should have taken the credit, said you spent countless hours fixing each link line by line, so much so that your finger tips are bleeding from the exertion on the keyboard and mouse

[s09119]

You should have taken the credit, said you spent countless hours fixing each link line by line, so much so that your finger tips are bleeding from the exertion on the keyboard and mouse

Probably... I blame brain burnout from finals as to why I didn't take advantage of this amazing PR opportunity.

[SG-18]

well you can always go back and delete your posts about the links and take credit for it. I think everyone is in agreement here that we read nothing if you wanna do that

[JamesPeterson]

The forum fixed itself? I wonder how many other threads like this were affected.

[Aragon101]

The forum fixed itself? I wonder how many other threads like this were affected.

I would think any thread that has links to other threads, or links to the same thread that leads to other links that leads to the same thread but in a different place, hence organizing the links which are spread out through the thread so links don't become messy... or something

[s09119]

Finals Update:

Comparative Politics - Done
Mathematical Thinking - Done
International Relations - Done
Astronomy - Tomorrow

I expect my knowledge of wormholes and singularities to pull me through Astronomy

[Choo1701]

Finals Update:

Comparative Politics - Done
Mathematical Thinking - Done
International Relations - Done
Astronomy - Tomorrow

I expect my knowledge of wormholes and singularities to pull me through Astronomy

*cocks eyebrow* So your aiming to be the civilian of the team huh? Right alongside the hard as nails leader, wise cracking XO and TAG (Token Alien Guy/Girl) i expect?

Oh and 'Mathmatical Thinking' so, you see stuff like Neo from the Matrix? All lines of numbers and stuff?

Good Luck mate!

[Aragon101]

*cocks eyebrow* So your aiming to be the civilian of the team huh? Right alongside the hard as nails leader, wise cracking XO and TAG (Token Alien Guy/Girl) i expect?

Oh and 'Mathmatical Thinking' so, you see stuff like Neo from the Matrix? All lines of numbers and stuff?

Good Luck mate!

to understand how mathematics can be used in real life, i refer you to Tucker Max

http://www.tuckermax.com/archives/en...trip.phtml#281

Skip to the part about the "Prisoner's Dillema"

[s09119]

to understand how mathematics can be used in real life, i refer you to Tucker Max

http://www.tuckermax.com/archives/en...trip.phtml#281

Skip to the part about the "Prisoner's Dillema"

The Prisoner's Dilemma, good times we had with that... my professor illustrated it with a British game show. Watch it, I guarantee you'll hate humanity (sorry about the quality, but it's the only one of this installment):

Split or Steal

[bradly08]

Ah golden balls, I remember that show...

[StargateWatcher]

I expect my knowledge of wormholes and singularities to pull me through Astronomy [/QUOTE]

well besides the entertainment, seems watching Stargate helps academically

[s09119]

16x09 "Labyrinth"
Synopsis: SG-1 departs on the Jupiter for a nebula believed to be acting as a base for Der'kal holdouts. When they arrive, however, they find that they may have just walked into an interstellar trap.

Spoiler:

In the multicolor tunnel of hyperspace, the mammoth MBP-305 Jupiter soars by on its way to yet another combat mission. In the mess hall, Vala is staring out at the swirling vortex, her arms crossed in front of her and her brow furrowed in thought. After a moment, Mitchell approaches from behind, tapping her on the shoulder and offering her a mug of coffee to keep her alert. Vala smiles and takes the offered cup, trying to act as if nothing's bothering her, but Cameron's been one of her closest friends for years now. He knows her far too well to buy that, and, grabbing a pair of chairs, asks what's up. The answer, though, takes even him by surprise; Daniel recently asked her out to dinner, but to her surprise, she found it harder to accept the offer than she thought it'd be.

Sighing, she admits that it's not Daniel's fault at all. But lately, she's been thinking a lot about the day she spent with Tomin the year before, just before the Der'kal destroyed the Supergate ("Desperate Times"). They had been contemplating a life together, one free of crazed ascended beings, alien crusades, and galactic crises. For the first time in her life, even with her time on SG-1, Vala had seen her chance to have a perfectly normal life, to grow old with someone who would quite literally turn on the gods for her. But she'd been so afraid, never having known a life so ordinary, that she'd waited and stalled until it was too late. And now he's gone, never to return, and she still can't get him out of her head. He was her husband, and even if their marriage was the least successful one in history, he loved her. And to an extent she never realized before, she loved him. Enough that Daniel's offer, be it platonic or romantic, gives her pause.

Mitchell asks if she's talked any of this over with Jackson, a notion at which she laughs humorlessly and replies that she couldn't bring herself to do anything so awkward. But at any rate, they have more important things to attend to than sit around moping about their personal lives. Gulping down the last of her coffee, she thanks Mitchell for the drink and heads out toward the bridge. Looking after her sympathetically, the Colonel nods to a group of nearby officers and follows.

In her command chair, Carter is surveying the bridge and its crew with an approving look, glad to see all the trials they've faced have yet to shake them. Standing above the helmsman's station, Daniel looks over the trajectory data and asks where, exactly, they're heading, as he doesn't recognize the coordinates. Sam explains that one of the rogue Der'kal warlords they've been tracking has established a base inside a nebula a few light-years from a former Serrakin colony, P7X-131. The gas cloud was originally part of a space race course not unlike the Loop of Kon Garat around Hebridan itself ("Space Race"), but it has been abandoned since the alien armada devastated the planet.

Walking over, Eaton wonders what made the race at 131 any different from the one at Hebridan, but Sam admits that she's not quite sure herself. She only remembers her friend Warrick having mentioned it in passing as being far more difficult than any other race in the Federation, and that to survive the "Loop of Kon Seran" was to make oneself a living legend. Whatever the case, the Der'kal are using the nebula as an outpost that's helped them destroy a number of Alliance ships, and with the Aschen's genocidal campaign stepping up its pace ("Ashes to Ashes"), they need a victory sooner rather than later. And Carter's determined to score one today.

A hyperspace window tears through normal space just ahead of the massive red-blue nebula they've been heading toward, and the Jupiter shoots out with its weapons primed and ready to fire. But there's nothing to greet them but emptiness, and the sensors confirm that local space is clear of hostiles. Sighing, Sam guesses that the universe can never just let things be as simple as showing up, beating the bad guys, and going home, and gives the order for Plan B. As the ship begins to accelerate into the nebula, Vala, she and Mitchell having just entered, reminds the others that they'll be flying blind once inside. Carter's aware, but they know the Der'kal are around here somewhere, and chances are that, seeing as they're in the cloud themselves, they can't even see what's coming for them.

They pull past the outer edge of the swirling mist, and Mitchell goes over to the closest window to take a look outside. Frowning, he asks what it is he's seeing all around them, and unable to figure it out herself, Sam has a single plasma beam fired off in the direction Cameron indicates. Instantly, the superheated matter ignites some of the gas and clears their view to reveal something more than a little shocking; a surprisingly dense debris field, with the wreckage of what must be dozens of ships. And that's just in one area. The ship blasts apart a few more pockets of gas on all sides, and the charred hunks of metal just stretch on forever. Whatever made this portion of the Loop of Kon Seran so dangerous apparently also made it quite deadly, as there look to be far more wrecks than could account for only the recent Der'kal kills.

The Jupiter moves on, heading deeper into the nebula, and Carter begins to issue an order when the ship lurches violently, and various alarms blare as conduits are overloaded across the ship. They seem to have flown headlong into a massive beam of violent energy, and it's powerful enough to pose a serious threat to even a vessel as advanced as a 305. Straightening herself, Sam shouts to get them out of the blast, and the sublight engines roar to life. An officer calls out that the shields are going to fail in less than a minute, but the crew has no intention of staying there that long. They push the engines as fas as they can go, and the ship pushes through the beam, escaping what could have been a quick and unexpected death. Within seconds, the purple column of plasma has disappeared from view completely, proving just how dangerous it is to attempt navigation in here when sensors are inoperable.

Rubbing his shoulder, having bashed it into a bulkhead in the collision, Daniel asks what just happened, but no one really has any idea. Whatever it was, it's certainly a powerful barrier; just sitting in the beam for a few seconds put a sizable dent in their shield strength, and overloaded conduits have lessened the efficiency of their weapons and engines. In addition to the obvious, it had the effect of an incredibly EMP field, which has caused several computer banks to shut down in key areas. Sam's not about to give up, though, and she's already transferring personnel to combat stations so they can fire their weapons manually should they lose targeting. Eaton's a little surprised that she's not going to pull out and call for reinforcements, but Carter knows that they can't spare the ships. If they pull even a few cruisers off the Alliance-Aschen border, the Confederation will punch through somewhere, and they can't risk that.

Suddenly, the communications officer reports that they're picking up a wide-band transmission saturating the nebula, on a frequency often used by the Der'kal. Jackson suggests that they're blanketing the area with a message since they don't know exactly where they are, and the signal is put through to the viewscreen. The image of the alien warlord flickers to life a moment later, looking triumphant and confident that the humans won't be able to root him out. He assures SG-1 that they will only hasten their deaths if they persist in their mission, and promises not to be too cruel to them when Earth is again a conquered world if they leave now. This nebula is criss-crossed with beams of plasma powerful enough to destroy them if they continue, and the human ship ultimately stands no chance of making it to him. Sam just scoffs, though, and cuts the link, determined not to be bested yet again ("Mind Games"). She orders a push forward in the direction the transmission originated, but they hardly get underway before they slam into another energy curtain, causing the lights to briefly short out until the ship can drag itself out of the beam.

Putting her head in her hands, Sam mutters that this is going to get very annoying, very quickly, and says that she's starting to see what makes this nebula so deadly to navigate. But she isn't the only one that's a little confused, and Eaton chimes in that something doesn't seem to add up here. When the Jupiter discharged its weaponry, gas ignited all around them... so why isn't the entire nebula up in flames with those energy beams constantly at work? A sensor technician has the answer, having been pushing their scanners as far as they go to get even marginal data from their flyby with the beams. He claims that the plasma they're interacting with would appear to be something that physics claims is impossible, its temperature being well below zero. It explains why the gas isn't exploding everywhere, but plasma is supposed to be superheated matter.

Mitchell doesn't see the value in this bit of intelligence, but Sam believes it sheds a valuable light on things. She has no idea how it could be possible to freeze plasma and keep it flowing, so this is definitely beyond the technological prowess of the Serrakin. That means that whatever this place is, they didn't build it. Instead, they must have stumbled across the nebula as-is and thought it'd make for a challenging portion of a space race. The Der'kal must have likewise found it when they conquered the nearby colony, seeing its strategic value if one could successfully establish a base at the cloud's center, making it a perfect fallback point for their rogue warlord. Those beams are extremely powerful, and they'd have sheared the Jupiter in two if their shields weren't at full strength on contact. They're not going to be able to dive in with the 305, so Carter has another idea.

A half hour later, F-302s begin to fly out of the ship's hanger bays, staying in a loose formation as they sweep above and below the deadly plasma beam that their carrier previous ran into. In the lead fighter, Mitchell radios back that the squadron has cleared the barrier, and the Jupiter slowly moves after them. They're relying on the smaller, faster craft to relay accurate directions through the fog, as all it would take is one prolonged entanglement with one of those energy curtains to knock the battlecruiser out of action. Watching the fighters disappear just as they get past the bow, Daniel mutters that he has a bad feeling about this, but he knows they really have no other option.

The 302s arc over another beam up ahead, and Mitchell notes that the Der'kal weren't lying when they said these things are all over the place. Even though he can only see a short distance in any direction, he counts four individual plasma streams in view. Much as he didn't like this plan when Sam proposed it, he admits that they probably would have been vaporized already if they weren't sending telemetry back to the Jupiter's computers. It's not the best system in the world, but it should get the job done so long as they remember the way out. Either way, Carter is confident that once they weave through the lasers, the Der'kal base should be relatively easy to knock out. With a defensive array like this one, the chance of a ship large enough to do significant damage getting through are slim, so why devote scarce resources to anything more?

(Beginning of "Labyrinth," see next two posts for more)

[s09119]

(More of "Labyrinth," see previous post for beginning and next post for end)

Spoiler:

In any event, Mitchell pulls his fighter around a plasma column and radios the rest of the pilots to stay alert, as they never know when the enemy may stumble upon them. And then, conveniently, he finds himself flying through a mass of Der'kal fighters and gunships that had been heading their way. Shouting in surprise, he fires his thrusters to get clear of the swarm, spinning his craft around and launching a salvo of missiles into the closest few targets. On the bridge of the Jupiter, Carter gets his warning just in time to alert the firing teams, and the railguns do the best they can to target the alien ships without hitting their own people. There don't seem to be any bombers in the mis of Der'kal, but Sam warns the pilots to watch for explosions anyway; any time a target is blown up in here, a fireball is going to erupt around it due to the ionized gas of the nebula. They could easily burn themselves or their wingmates up if they're not paying attention, and she doesn't want to lose anyone to friendly fire if she can help it.

Watching the F-302s and alien fighters dance around one another, Eaton notes that the Der'kal forces are trying to stay circled around the gunships, no doubt hoping to fend off the human interceptors and allow them to pummel the Jupiter's shields free of harassment. This has the negative effect, however, of clumping them up a bit compared to the 302s, and Rebbecca thinks they can use this to their advantage in here. Like Sam said, even a small explosion could case a sizable fireball, so if they were to target the center of the alien formation with their own plasma weaponry, it should erupt into flames and destroy many of the enemy ships instantaneously. Smiling, Carter says that she knew bringing SG-1 along would come in handy, and she radios the personnel manning the plasma beams to target the gunships and let loose.

Mitchell and the remaining F-302s fire off their last shots and pull out, racing out of the area just as a few bright blue lines of light shoot out from their carrier's underside and strike dead-on. A blinding flash and a massive red-white fireball follows, leaving nothing behind by charred remains of the Der'kal patrol group, and Sam congratulates both the pilots and Eaton on a job well done. But now they need to get moving, as they'll no doubt be cruisers and what-not heading for their position, and Carter would very much rather avoid a confrontation until they've reached the center of the nebula. Without wasting another second, the 302s move out, guiding the larger vessel past another group of beams just as alien corvettes emerge from the gas cloud behind them. They came close to being spotted, but the crew is relieved to see they got away clean.

While things are quiet, Vala offers to go take a look at some of the damaged power conduits and see what she can do about patching them up. Sam points out that she already has an engineering team sweeping the ship, but she won't say "no" to a little more help. Not seeing much use for himself in the tactical center anyway, Daniel decides to tag along, following Vala out of the bridge and asking if they can have a minute to talk. Sighing, the former smuggler says that this really isn't the best time, with the alien fleet searching for them and all, but Jackson reminds her that with their job, there's always going to be something like that getting in the way of everything. The two step into an elevator and hit the button for one of the lower decks, but Vala doesn't know what he wants her to say. She appreciates the offer, but she isn't sure she can just move on this quickly, and she thinks she needs some time to reevaluate things in her life, her relationships included.

Daniel, a little taken aback, begins to apologize, but Vala needs to vent. Laughing, she says that she really though Daniel was one of those people who always knew exactly what to say, but apparently she was wrong. Tomin was there for her when she most needed a savior, and he took her in and sheltered her when everything else in the universe seemed to have left her to die. He risked his life time and again to defy his gods to help her and Earth, and he loved her like no one she's ever known. A year ago he promised to be there for her no matter what happened, and then they were ripped apart, just like that, and she's left here to try and pick up the pieces.

Angry, she asks Daniel how she can think she could just move on, especially considering all the time it took him to get past the loss of his own wife. Maybe she and Tomin didn't have all that long of a time together, and maybe it wasn't the most-successful marriage in history, but it meant a heck of a lot for her. Jackson starts to point out that he wasn't asking her to forget about him, but she doesn't let him finish. The elevator doors open, and Vala grabs a toolkit out of the hand of a passing engineer, telling Daniel that she doesn't need an archaeologist's help with this. Then she storms off down the corridor, leaving Jackson very confused and with nothing to do but head back to the bridge.

Outside, one of the F-302 pilots is in the process of telling a joke to relieve some tension when a massive chunk of wreckage drifts out of the gas right in front of him. Surprised, he yanks up on the controls, barely getting up and over the hulk, but finds that he now has nowhere to go but into the violet beam of plasma directly in front of him. Only able to get out the first word or two of the Lord's Prayer before his fighter is vaporized by the energy column, and Mitchell, not having noticed his deadly course, sits in shock. Then he shakes his head and realizes that they're entering a particularly dense region of plasma, and he radios the others to get ready for some fancy flying. As they begin to weave in and out, though, one of the officers on the Jupiter's bridge looks over the telemetry they're sending back and tells Carter that they can't follow through this section. None of the openings are large enough for them to fit through, and they'll have to find another way deeper in.

Arriving back, Daniel remarks that there may not be an easier route, if the web of energy gets tighter the further in you go, but Sam isn't convinced. The Der'kal are in there somewhere, and their ships are even bigger than an MBP-305. There has to be an open section, and she's going to find it. She radios Mitchell to have his pilots loop around, but is cut off when a proximity alert blares, alerting the crew to the presence of Der'kal ships coming up on them from behind. Cursing their luck, Sam asks how recharged their shields are, to which an officer reports that they're back at 100%. Unwilling to take on a battle group in such a confined, explosive space, she sets her teeth and orders full speed ahead... right into the plasma beams. The helmsman stares at her blankly for a moment, as if waiting for clarification, then realizes she's serious and punches the engines.

The F-302s return to their previous course and dart through the web, Mitchell pointing out the largest opening he can see for Sam to try and slip through. There's no way they can avoid contact, but hopefully they're moving fast enough that the shields will be able to hold. As the Der'kal open fire on them, causing explosions all around, the Jupiter plunges into the energy barrier, causing power to several secondary systems to fail as capacitors spike. Eaton shouts that this was a very bad idea, and everyone is thrown to the floor while the engines strain to pull the ship through in one piece. The shields begin to flicker outside, indicating they're on the verge of collapse, but the 305 just barely manages to get through before they go completely. Two frigates, breaking off from the rest of the Der'kal formation, attempt to follow, but they only land one or two hits on the human craft's stern before they hit the plasma beams, and they don't fare nearly as well. They almost make it through, but their shields collapse before they get out, and their rear halves are vaporized instantly. Two massive fireballs are quick to follow, finishing off the frigates and deterring the rest of the alien ships from attempting the same maneuver.

On the bridge, Sam sighs thankfully, asking if everyone's alright. Pulling himself upright, Daniel says that he thinks he's fine, and Eaton confirms that the crew is uninjured, as well. The lights are only half-on, small electrical fires have ignited on almost every deck, and several computers look inoperable, but it appears they made it through alright. Sam taps on her headset and asks the engineering teams how they're doing, and the reply comes back that several personnel took some pretty bad blasts near the conduits, but nothing the infirmary shouldn't be able to handle. Relieved to hear that, Daniel picks up his own radio and asks Vala if she's okay, then asks again when she doesn't respond. Seeing the worried look on his face, Carter gives him and Rebbecca the OK to go check on her, and they rush toward the stairs, Sam reminding them that this deck's elevators went offline due to the overloads.

Standing on the bridge of his own flagship, the Der'kal warlord the humans are chasing is looking at a tactical readout of the nebula. From what can be seen onscreen, the plasma beams are coming from pairs of massive emitter stations located at seemingly-random positions in the gas cloud, no one close enough to another that a chain reaction could take out the entire web. And Daniel was right in that the web gets tighter the closer one gets to the wide-open center, where the warlord's fleet can be seen surrounding his ship. Although the alien sensor data is just as blinded by the nebula, seeing as the position of their quarry is indeterminable on the map, they certainly seem to have a fuller picture of things. Calling out to a subordinate, he orders another battle group dispatched through the barrier to assist in the hunting down of the Tau'ri warship, smugly assured of victory.

In the bowels of the Jupiter itself, though, Daniel has only one thing on his mind; finding Vala. He and Eaton are dashing through the maintenance tunnels that make up the portion of the ship she was working in, calling out her name and wondering where she could be. Over the radio, Sam says that she'd be happy to use the internal scanners were they not on the fritz, and says she's sorry for not being able to do more to help them. But Jackson tells her to just focus on the mission at hand, and he and Rebbecca will deal with checking on their teammate's condition.

A few more frantic minutes of searching later, Daniel looks down one of the tunnels and spots a female figure lying on the ground, sporting a black ponytail and the SG-1 patch on her arm. Grabbing his radio, he notes the corridor's number and tells Eaton he's found her. He runs up and brushes the hair out of her eyes, cradling Vala's head in his hands and checking her pulse to make sure an electrical spike didn't do any serious damage. His fears are allayed a moment later, however, when she reaches up and pushes his hand aside, weakly muttering they she's just fine and doesn't need his help. She smiles nevertheless, thanking him for the frenzied rush down here he must have just undertaken, and apologizes for snapping at him earlier like that. Daniel just smiles back, though, and steps out of the way to let Eaton handle First Aid when she arrives.

[s09119]

(End of "Labyrinth," see previous two posts for beginning)

Spoiler:

Upstairs, Sam is watching anxiously as the F-302s try and find them a way through the latest web of plasma. Their shields have barely begun to recharge, and it'd be suicide to try and just run through the beams again. She still has no idea what species created this place, but they had to have been advanced well beyond any race in the Alliance to keep weapons as powerful as those barriers going indefinitely for such a long time. Then Mitchell radios her with an update, breaking her concentration, and she absently asks what's up. Looking out of his cockpit at something, he informs her that he thinks he sees something up ahead, something a lot bigger than anything else they've found in here. His fighter swings around the edge of what must be one of the emitter platforms, which has several beams coming out in every direction but one.

Looking it over as the ship comes within visual range, Sam points out the one side that isn't connected to a column of plasma, and guesses that they may have just found the portion of the web the Der'kal are keeping open so ships can pass in and out. And sure enough, a few seconds later they see a large group of alien battleships up ahead, guarding the entrance and launching fighters and bombers to take out the Jupiter before it can get through. Carter's determined not to let them stop her when she's this close, and instead of fighting, orders the Asgard beam crews to repeat the combustion trick they used earlier, blowing up large portions of space between themselves and the enemy and buying them time to push the engines and head toward the nebula's core.

They finally enter into the mostly-clear central area a moment later, bursting out of the gas and immediately launching nukes to target the Der'kal cruisers waiting for them. The other F-302 squadrons are lunched to reinforce Mitchell's group, and they do their best to slip past the inbound interceptors to hit the flagship and its escorts hard. The battle groups that were hunting them must be on their way back to flank them, and Sam wants to finish this here and now before she's forced to retreat. But with their shields at only half strength, all their weapons on manual targeting, and power flow still unstable, they aren't at nearly maximum fighting efficiency, and even a ship as advanced as the Jupiter is going to have trouble with this battle.

Mitchell leads the 302s in as close as he dares to the alien formation, using their combined missile barrages to overwhelm the shields on several of the smaller ships and break them in half. Simultaneously, their carrier brings the Asgard weaponry online, punching holes into the frigates to clear the way to the flagship. They're taking heavy fire, but Sam has trainer her crew well, and they expertly put the MBP-305 through its paces, pulling off dives and turns that a vessel its size shouldn't be able to make. As one corvette is pummeled by a nuclear strike, Carter orders the railguns to switch targets from the gunships and bombers to the unshielded cruiser directly ahead of them. The engines are ripped through in seconds, and the entire craft explodes a moment later, destroying a squadron of passing fighters that had come in to rearm.

Eying the flagship, Sam finally sees her shot, and she gives the order for all gunners to target said cruiser and open fire, drilling into its shields until they flicker out. Even as their own defenses begin to collapse, Carter watches as the Asgard beams slice through the enemy ship's armor, sending a fireball up its side that leaves it all but dead in the water. Tapping on the radio, she thanks the warlord for the challenge, then gazes on triumphantly as the vessel careens downward, ready to blow. That's when she notices what's directly underneath it, though; a massive mechanical structure of spinning parts that must be the nerve center that keeps the nebula's defenses working. Realizing a second too late that the Der'kal ship is going to slam right into it, she recalls the F-302s and tells her helmsman to bring them about immediately and gun the engines.

They race back into the gas cloud just as the other alien ships begin to emerge for battle. There isn't enough time for the Der'kal to escape, though, as their flagship's collision with the central structure cases a massive explosion that quickly reaches the gaseous areas, obliterating the rest of the enemy fleet and sparking a fireball that is rapidly consuming the entire nebula. As the hellfire races toward them, Sam goes over the math in her head, knowing they can't possibly get out of here before they're caught by the shockwave. And with no shields, that would mean instant destruction. Seeing no other option, she orders a hyperspace window to be opened inside the cloud itself. One of the officers starts to tell her that such an action would result in enough unstable energy to cause a significant reaction with the gas, then seems to realize what's already happened and stops talking.

Grimacing, the helmsman punches in the hyperspace coordinates for a point just outside of the nebula and engages the hyperdrive, praying that they don't get sandwiched between two explosions. The window forms directly ahead of them, and although it begins to ignite the nearby gas, they make the jump just before the shockwave reaches their position, washing over the area and destabilizing the portal.

A second later, the Jupiter shoots back into space beyond the nebula, the crew watching in awe as the entire gas cloud erupts into flames, sucking in on itself from the pressure. Sam jokingly remarks that she's finally made up to the universe for blowing up a Vorash's sun ("Exodus"), as they most-likely just jumpstarted a new star's formation. Whatever happens here, though, she's just glad the mission was a success, and she happily gives the order to make the jump back to Earth.

In the infirmary, the ship's doctor has just finished taking care of Vala's injuries, and tells a waiting Daniel that she should be cleared for offworld duty again inside of a week. Jackson thanks him for the update and goes up to his teammate's bed, where she's already fussing about being stuck in bed for the duration of said week. Throwing up her hands, she apologizes for complaining, then further apologies for what she said earlier, admitting that her emotions got the better of her. But Daniel also admits that he should have been more tactful in what he said, recognizing that Tomin meant more to Vala than he had previously realized.

That said, she'll be in her room at the ISGC for the next week, and he can't think of anything better to ease the horror of having to eat infirmary food than having someone to share it with. After a long moment of staring at him, trying to decide on a reply, Vala finally mutters that yes, it wouldn't hurt to have someone to eat Dr. Lam's rations with. If Daniel Jackson is asking her to dinner, as horrid a dinner as it will probably be, she supposes she can put up with him for an hour and get it over with. Laughing, Daniel grabs a fruit cup from a nearby tray and tosses it to her, all smiles.