(More of "Shore Leave," see previous post for beginning and next post for conclusion.)
Spoiler:
In the control room, Manning watches while her men pilot the al’kesh through hyperspace. She’s just preparing to leave when a subspace transmission comes in from a Trust facility, flagged as urgent. She has it patched through to her headset, affirming to whoever’s on the other end that she was successful in abducting Carter and O’Neill. Bringing up a small holographic map of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way, Manning checks their current location and reports that they should arrive at their destination in another hour or two. Provided Earth doesn’t find a way to interfere, she sees no problem in completing their mission and returning the captives before anyone knows they’re missing. As for ensuring they won’t tell anyone what happened to them, that would apparently be what the tank of Goa’uld symbiotes in the far corner is for. When this is over, the plan is for Samantha Carter and Jack O’Neill to be the newest members of the Trust.
At Stargate Command, Gen. Landry is welcoming SG-1 back from a mission offworld, Mitchell’s first command of the team since Carter returned from work at Area 51 (“Beachhead”). He’s been in charge for a week now with Sam on leave, and Vala muses that she already misses having a woman calling the shots. While they banter, Teal’c informs the general that their assignment was completed as ordered; they destroyed a Lucian Alliance weapons plant supplying munitions to anti-Tau’ri factions on several Free Jaffa planets. They doubtless hoped to spark enough discord to force a rift in the alliance between Earth and its ally, probably to distract Stargate Command from its ongoing pseudo-war against the Alliance (“Bounty”). They’ve taken significant losses, but they’ve also gained a flood of new recruits from independent worlds. A small but growing group believes that Earth is planning on enforcing its will on the galaxy, and it’s something that needs to be addressed.
Landry thanks him for the excerpt, looking forward to greater detail in the debriefing. He dismisses the team but has Mitchell hang back for a moment, asking how it was being back in charge of SG-1, even if it’s only temporary. Taken a little by surprise, Cameron replies that he missed having a command of his own, he won’t deny that. But if Landry is implying that maybe he should take over permanently, he thinks that it’s Sam’s team first and foremost. She was next in line for years, and even setting aside her much greater offworld expertise, she deserves it. The General just laughs, explaining that he never intended to strip Carter of her role or anything of that nature. But SG-2 is in need of a new leader and Mitchell’s name came up on the Joint Chiefs’ short list of pre-approved candidates. Now even more surprised, Cameron says he’s honored to learn that, but his place is on SG-1. Landry figured he’d say that and takes his hand, telling him there’s no place he’d rather see him anyway.
On the al’kesh, Salander leads Carter to a small lab filled with testing equipment and monitoring devices. Some are of Goa’uld origin, but the vast majority are from Earth companies such as Farrow-Marshal Aeronautics (“Ex Deus Machina”), the Salander Group, and a few other multi-national corporations with diversified holdings. Sam whistles when she sees a new scanning device that’s still on order for her at the SGC, realizing that the Trust has gained access t o technologies that even the Air Force is struggling to get a hold of. Jack was right in that their infiltration on the planet has given them quite an edge. Showing her to a chair, Henrik makes a show of sincerely apologizing for the rough treatment and her being taken hostage. He wanted to avoid involving anyone of her caliber, preferring to rely on SGC scientists they could easily pluck from remote offworld outposts.
But his work requires someone more familiar with what he’s trying to do, and at the end of the day, she was the only truly qualified person. When their intelligence showed that she and Jack O’Neill would be out in the Atlantic Ocean with a week or leave time, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Samantha tells him to get to the point, folding her arms and making a note of which technologies are where in the lab. Sighing, Salander tells his guards to wait outside, then takes a seat at the other side of a workbench. He points to a laptop in front of Carter and tells her to open it up since he’s taken the liberty of prepping the necessary documents. She does so, scans a few lines of text, and suddenly her eyes widen. On the screen are schematics for what looks like a near-perfect replica of Merlin’s anti-Ori weapon, the Sangraal.
Looking up in astonishment, Samantha demands to know how they got their hands on something so accurate and precise. Henrik smiles, thanking her for confirming that the plans are genuine, then declares that the answer to her question is fairly simple. As she knows, former System Lord Baal has been the head of the Trust for some time, and he learned a great deal from his time under Anubis. More importantly, though, he learned much from working with SG-1 to locate Merlin’s original weapon (“The Quest, Part 2”). He was able to combine the archaic Ancient technologies investigated by the former with what he saw of the latter when Daniel Jackson finally put it together. His plan was, much like that of Anubis before him, to wipe out an element he deemed annoying and potentially devastating; the Ancients. The ascended have made it clear that they have a special view of Earth and its people, and Baal feared that if he ever came close to toppling the Tau’ri, they would interfere. And, of course, if the Ori survived the Sangraal’s activation (“The Shroud”) and ever came to the Milky Way in the flesh, he would have a way to neutralize them on the spot. Ditto for the Orici, Adria.
Carter thinks for a long moment, staring at the schematics, and asks why they need her help. From what she can tell, the weapon Baal built should function as designed. But that’s exactly the problem; it should work, they just can’t get to it. The facility where it’s being stored is deep underground inside a dense vein of naquadah. They assume that Asgard beams were used to transport out a pre-shaped quantity of the material so a structure could be built inside without the need for explosives or drilling. It created a natural barrier against any attempts to penetrate from outside, as any significant force against the naquadah vein would cause a catastrophic chain reaction destroying everything within. It’s rather brilliant, and the only way in or out is via a passcode that can be transmitted to lower the base’s internal shielding. Then it’s just a matter of beaming in and out as required. Sam’s job will be to hack Baal’s security system and gain entry so she can ascertain whether or not the weapon is operational. After that, it’s just a matter of activating it.
Still locked in the cell, Jack is pacing anxiously when Manning and her guards enter, the former telling him to get up and come with her. They’re about to arrive at their destination, and O’Neill can at least make himself useful while they have him. Following her out of the room, he asks why they went through the trouble of kidnapping him if they had no plans for what to do with him. Manning replies that they saw an opportunity to take not only what they needed, but also the head of Earth’s offworld affairs. Why would they pass up such a prime chance to get inside access to such top secret dealings? Besides, they couldn’t very well transport Carter into space and leave him behind to inform the authorities.
The two arrive at the control room shortly after, where an icy planet can be seen out the forward windows. Carter is at the main terminal already patching into the underground base’s remote access subroutine, staring at a row of Goa’uld text and typing quickly. Casting a hopeful eye at O’Neill, she asks Salander why they weren’t given the codes for this project, forcing them to find other people to do the work for them. He answers that this was Baal’s pet project, not something he wanted to share with those beneath him. They could wait and see if he were to reappear, but that’s becoming increasingly unlikely with each passing day. He would want them to continue his plans, and that’s what they’re going to do.
Manning waits patiently for Sam to infiltrate the main system, watching closely as she begins searching for the correct passcode. It appears to be a mix of Goa’uld, Ancient, and English characters, explaining why it would have been so difficult for the Trust to decipher without assistance. But Sam knows how Baal would have thought, and it’s not long before she recognizes a familiar pattern from the security systems on the ha’tak where they captured him in Adria’s body. Smiling, she types in a string of lettering and breathes a sigh of relief when the mainframe opens up. Now comes the more difficult task of hacking the secondary trio of passcodes required to gain power over the remote control protocols. That could take some time, though Manning no longer seems concerned about how long it may be. They have up to a week to complete this mission, and she’ll wait as long as it takes.
Two nights later, Jack and Sam are trying to catch some sleep in their cell before it comes time to get back to work. Rolling over, O’Neill says that they can’t just let the Trust destroy the Ancients. Carter agrees, of course, but acknowledges that their options are limited and the ascended aren’t omnipresent or omniscient. They most likely haven’t noticed the threat to their existence and won’t become aware of it until the device has activated and it’s too late. It’s going to fall to the two of them, but Sam isn’t sure what they can do. She’s already made enough progress that Salander could probably finish without too much trouble, so there’s no use in refusing to cooperate. And even if they’d refused from the start, their captors would eventually have found a way to get to the weapon. The key is to find the device and ensure that it can’t be used, and to that end they start to plan.
The next morning, guards again pull them from the cell toward the control room. Yawning, Jack remarks that there’s one upside to all of this; since there’s no bunks or beds in the room, there’s no need to decide who has to sleep where. Sam laughs before a cold stare from one of the soldiers silences her. Once they’re on the pel’tak, Henrik puts Carter to work at one of the consoles, leaving Jack to sit near the back with the guards. After an hour or so he clutches his side, as if pained, and continues until Manning finally asks what’s wrong. Gasping a little, O’Neill says that he has a heart condition that’s been inflamed of late due to his age. He needs medication in the bags they brought or he may collapse. The Trust agent looks him over suspiciously, pointing out that his files make no mention of any such illness, but he dismisses her doubts. As the head of Homeworld Command, he didn’t want anyone to know that he was sick for reasons of morale. Growling impatiently, Manning tells one of her guards to bring the “old man” to his medication, then turns back to watch Sam’s work.
The soldier guides Jack to a storage room where their belongings had been tossed, then roughly pushes him inside and tells him to be quick. Once the guard’s back is turned, O’Neill can’t resist making a face at him, quitting the act and rushing to his pack. He zips it open and feels around until he finds the Ancient device he took from Carter, slipping it into the interior pocket of his fishing jacket. Then he buttons up his coat just enough to keep the artifact from showing and heads back into the hall, muttering that kids today don’t understand elderly issues.
At Stargate Command, Gen. Landry is welcoming SG-1 back from a mission offworld, Mitchell’s first command of the team since Carter returned from work at Area 51 (“Beachhead”). He’s been in charge for a week now with Sam on leave, and Vala muses that she already misses having a woman calling the shots. While they banter, Teal’c informs the general that their assignment was completed as ordered; they destroyed a Lucian Alliance weapons plant supplying munitions to anti-Tau’ri factions on several Free Jaffa planets. They doubtless hoped to spark enough discord to force a rift in the alliance between Earth and its ally, probably to distract Stargate Command from its ongoing pseudo-war against the Alliance (“Bounty”). They’ve taken significant losses, but they’ve also gained a flood of new recruits from independent worlds. A small but growing group believes that Earth is planning on enforcing its will on the galaxy, and it’s something that needs to be addressed.
Landry thanks him for the excerpt, looking forward to greater detail in the debriefing. He dismisses the team but has Mitchell hang back for a moment, asking how it was being back in charge of SG-1, even if it’s only temporary. Taken a little by surprise, Cameron replies that he missed having a command of his own, he won’t deny that. But if Landry is implying that maybe he should take over permanently, he thinks that it’s Sam’s team first and foremost. She was next in line for years, and even setting aside her much greater offworld expertise, she deserves it. The General just laughs, explaining that he never intended to strip Carter of her role or anything of that nature. But SG-2 is in need of a new leader and Mitchell’s name came up on the Joint Chiefs’ short list of pre-approved candidates. Now even more surprised, Cameron says he’s honored to learn that, but his place is on SG-1. Landry figured he’d say that and takes his hand, telling him there’s no place he’d rather see him anyway.
On the al’kesh, Salander leads Carter to a small lab filled with testing equipment and monitoring devices. Some are of Goa’uld origin, but the vast majority are from Earth companies such as Farrow-Marshal Aeronautics (“Ex Deus Machina”), the Salander Group, and a few other multi-national corporations with diversified holdings. Sam whistles when she sees a new scanning device that’s still on order for her at the SGC, realizing that the Trust has gained access t o technologies that even the Air Force is struggling to get a hold of. Jack was right in that their infiltration on the planet has given them quite an edge. Showing her to a chair, Henrik makes a show of sincerely apologizing for the rough treatment and her being taken hostage. He wanted to avoid involving anyone of her caliber, preferring to rely on SGC scientists they could easily pluck from remote offworld outposts.
But his work requires someone more familiar with what he’s trying to do, and at the end of the day, she was the only truly qualified person. When their intelligence showed that she and Jack O’Neill would be out in the Atlantic Ocean with a week or leave time, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Samantha tells him to get to the point, folding her arms and making a note of which technologies are where in the lab. Sighing, Salander tells his guards to wait outside, then takes a seat at the other side of a workbench. He points to a laptop in front of Carter and tells her to open it up since he’s taken the liberty of prepping the necessary documents. She does so, scans a few lines of text, and suddenly her eyes widen. On the screen are schematics for what looks like a near-perfect replica of Merlin’s anti-Ori weapon, the Sangraal.
Looking up in astonishment, Samantha demands to know how they got their hands on something so accurate and precise. Henrik smiles, thanking her for confirming that the plans are genuine, then declares that the answer to her question is fairly simple. As she knows, former System Lord Baal has been the head of the Trust for some time, and he learned a great deal from his time under Anubis. More importantly, though, he learned much from working with SG-1 to locate Merlin’s original weapon (“The Quest, Part 2”). He was able to combine the archaic Ancient technologies investigated by the former with what he saw of the latter when Daniel Jackson finally put it together. His plan was, much like that of Anubis before him, to wipe out an element he deemed annoying and potentially devastating; the Ancients. The ascended have made it clear that they have a special view of Earth and its people, and Baal feared that if he ever came close to toppling the Tau’ri, they would interfere. And, of course, if the Ori survived the Sangraal’s activation (“The Shroud”) and ever came to the Milky Way in the flesh, he would have a way to neutralize them on the spot. Ditto for the Orici, Adria.
Carter thinks for a long moment, staring at the schematics, and asks why they need her help. From what she can tell, the weapon Baal built should function as designed. But that’s exactly the problem; it should work, they just can’t get to it. The facility where it’s being stored is deep underground inside a dense vein of naquadah. They assume that Asgard beams were used to transport out a pre-shaped quantity of the material so a structure could be built inside without the need for explosives or drilling. It created a natural barrier against any attempts to penetrate from outside, as any significant force against the naquadah vein would cause a catastrophic chain reaction destroying everything within. It’s rather brilliant, and the only way in or out is via a passcode that can be transmitted to lower the base’s internal shielding. Then it’s just a matter of beaming in and out as required. Sam’s job will be to hack Baal’s security system and gain entry so she can ascertain whether or not the weapon is operational. After that, it’s just a matter of activating it.
Still locked in the cell, Jack is pacing anxiously when Manning and her guards enter, the former telling him to get up and come with her. They’re about to arrive at their destination, and O’Neill can at least make himself useful while they have him. Following her out of the room, he asks why they went through the trouble of kidnapping him if they had no plans for what to do with him. Manning replies that they saw an opportunity to take not only what they needed, but also the head of Earth’s offworld affairs. Why would they pass up such a prime chance to get inside access to such top secret dealings? Besides, they couldn’t very well transport Carter into space and leave him behind to inform the authorities.
The two arrive at the control room shortly after, where an icy planet can be seen out the forward windows. Carter is at the main terminal already patching into the underground base’s remote access subroutine, staring at a row of Goa’uld text and typing quickly. Casting a hopeful eye at O’Neill, she asks Salander why they weren’t given the codes for this project, forcing them to find other people to do the work for them. He answers that this was Baal’s pet project, not something he wanted to share with those beneath him. They could wait and see if he were to reappear, but that’s becoming increasingly unlikely with each passing day. He would want them to continue his plans, and that’s what they’re going to do.
Manning waits patiently for Sam to infiltrate the main system, watching closely as she begins searching for the correct passcode. It appears to be a mix of Goa’uld, Ancient, and English characters, explaining why it would have been so difficult for the Trust to decipher without assistance. But Sam knows how Baal would have thought, and it’s not long before she recognizes a familiar pattern from the security systems on the ha’tak where they captured him in Adria’s body. Smiling, she types in a string of lettering and breathes a sigh of relief when the mainframe opens up. Now comes the more difficult task of hacking the secondary trio of passcodes required to gain power over the remote control protocols. That could take some time, though Manning no longer seems concerned about how long it may be. They have up to a week to complete this mission, and she’ll wait as long as it takes.
Two nights later, Jack and Sam are trying to catch some sleep in their cell before it comes time to get back to work. Rolling over, O’Neill says that they can’t just let the Trust destroy the Ancients. Carter agrees, of course, but acknowledges that their options are limited and the ascended aren’t omnipresent or omniscient. They most likely haven’t noticed the threat to their existence and won’t become aware of it until the device has activated and it’s too late. It’s going to fall to the two of them, but Sam isn’t sure what they can do. She’s already made enough progress that Salander could probably finish without too much trouble, so there’s no use in refusing to cooperate. And even if they’d refused from the start, their captors would eventually have found a way to get to the weapon. The key is to find the device and ensure that it can’t be used, and to that end they start to plan.
The next morning, guards again pull them from the cell toward the control room. Yawning, Jack remarks that there’s one upside to all of this; since there’s no bunks or beds in the room, there’s no need to decide who has to sleep where. Sam laughs before a cold stare from one of the soldiers silences her. Once they’re on the pel’tak, Henrik puts Carter to work at one of the consoles, leaving Jack to sit near the back with the guards. After an hour or so he clutches his side, as if pained, and continues until Manning finally asks what’s wrong. Gasping a little, O’Neill says that he has a heart condition that’s been inflamed of late due to his age. He needs medication in the bags they brought or he may collapse. The Trust agent looks him over suspiciously, pointing out that his files make no mention of any such illness, but he dismisses her doubts. As the head of Homeworld Command, he didn’t want anyone to know that he was sick for reasons of morale. Growling impatiently, Manning tells one of her guards to bring the “old man” to his medication, then turns back to watch Sam’s work.
The soldier guides Jack to a storage room where their belongings had been tossed, then roughly pushes him inside and tells him to be quick. Once the guard’s back is turned, O’Neill can’t resist making a face at him, quitting the act and rushing to his pack. He zips it open and feels around until he finds the Ancient device he took from Carter, slipping it into the interior pocket of his fishing jacket. Then he buttons up his coat just enough to keep the artifact from showing and heads back into the hall, muttering that kids today don’t understand elderly issues.
As to your question, I'll probably be adding some new characters, yes. That's all I'm saying about that, though.
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