ALTERNITY

Part 2

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado

Jarred awake, disconcerted because he had been sleeping instead of guarding his mate, Blair leaned up on one elbow and looked around the dimly lit room. There was no sign of what had awakened him, and thinking that maybe it was only the familiarity of being back in the Mountain, back in an SGC, even if it wasn't their SGC, that had even allowed him to doze off in the first place, he slowly lay back down, squirming backwards to refit himself into the curve of Jim's body.

It was only when his backside bumped into his spouse's very rampant maleness did he become aware of his own tenting the front of his boxers. Nonplused because it was the last thing he expected given how weak Jim had been when they'd first gotten to their room, not to mention they'd made love once already, Blair angled back into the hard-on, letting it nudge his cleft, not sure what he wanted to do about it. Then Jim draped a heavy arm over his waist and pulled him in tight, groaning softly in pleasure.

"God, Chief," he muttered. "You smell like you're dying to be loved." Sleepily he nosed aside curls until he reached the nape of Blair's neck, then he kissed it. "Taste like it, too."

Shivering in delight at the cold/hot race of arousal arcing from that spot, Blair said huskily, "Just smell and taste?"

"Mmmm... Sound - fast heartbeat and ragged breathing. Feel?" Jim cupped him intimately, long fingers mapping out Blair's full length. "Oh, definitely."

"Uh, that, uh, leaves...." Blair struggled to find a couple of brain cells that weren't screaming for him to shut up and get naked.

"Sight." Jim made a few million of his mate's neurons happy and tugged down Blair's boxers, using a deft foot to snag and get them entirely down the restlessly moving legs. "That's five out of five. Guess that means that you are really...." He pressed his erection hard against a firm bottom. "Really...." A slight shift in position had it sliding along the entire crease, ending with a gentle nudge into the underside of furred balls. "Really interested in getting laid."

With a strangled snort of amusement, Blair fumbled for the pants his mate had left draped over a chair next to the bed, and came up with a foil pack of concentrated KY. "So what's taking you so long?" He reached back to give Jim the packet, bending at the waist in blatant invitation.

"Damn," Jim said reverently. Then slick, eager fingers found their way to Blair's center, not that he needed much preparation. His blood was racing like he was seventeen again, hormones rioting in mad demand for physical satisfaction. Just the hasty invasion for lubing had him groaning, hips rocking back for more.

When the blunt crown of his mate's need came to rest at his pucker, Blair covered his mouth with his own hand to hold back a shout at the first wondrous rush of penetration. It was so incredibly good that it almost wasn't enough, then Jim's hand joined his as a gag, which was a very necessary thing. Withdrawing hurriedly, Jim slammed back in, nearly sending Blair off the bed with a blast of pure pleasure that was duplicated a second later when he thrust again.

After that, all Blair could do was give his body to his lover's care because he was beyond anything except pathetic whimpers of joy that seeped past the silencing fingers. Climax crashed its way down his spine, making holding off until Jim was closer to his own release impossible, much as Blair wanted to cross the finish line with him. Then for a moment everything stopped - lungs, heart, brain - and the universe was a blinding, deafening avalanche of ecstasy that was both timeless and heart-breakingly brief.

Panting, astonished at the force of his finish, Blair came back to himself, automatically adjusting to his mate's urgent pumping. There was a ragged edge about it that had him belatedly worrying about his sentinel's remaining resources, then Jim killed a scream deep in his chest and stiffened. His whole body shook with the force of his completion, which seemed to go on and on, jacking Blair's concern up another level.

Eventually, though, it ended, and Jim drooped over him, gasping for breath so harshly that Blair squirmed away enough to turn and run his hands through the air a few inches above his torso. Amazingly the thrum of life against his palms was stronger than it had been earlier, and even the blackness eroding the marriage bracelets hadn't gained any ground. Before he could ask anything, his mate volunteered breathlessly, "That wasn't us."

Despite it all, Blair couldn't help quirking an eyebrow and looking down at the wetness covering his belly, his lips pursed as if stopping a question. Gently cuffing the side of his head, Jim grinned broadly. "*That* was us; the inspiration wasn't. I think we accidentally tapped into our alternates while we were sleeping. Check for yourself."

At his suggestion, Blair closed his eyes and concentrated on the faint echo within his own mind that he had learned was the presence of his counterpart on whatever Earth they were on. It was vibrant, strong, and reaching back for him as if sensing his mental touch. "He's seeking," Blair said slowly. "Learning, but not an adept yet."

Running a finger over the metal circlet that marked Blair's adept status, Jim said, "That's good; it means the humans of this universe aren't completely ignorant of mental potential. Have you seen any sign that Daniel knows that he's gifted?"

"Other than his ability with language? No." Blair hesitated a moment, then added, "Maybe it's time you tell me the real reason you want me to teach him, instead of my alternate. It would be much easier to teach this world's Sandburg, especially if he's already seeking."

"What's wrong with the reasons I gave the first time we had this discussion?" Jim said gruffly, reaching for his tee-shirt to begin cleaning them both up.

"Nothing. It's perfectly logical to work with somebody that's already in SGC instead of having to fight to get a 'wild card' brought in. And it is a documented fact that alternates often can't stand each other, making working with them difficult if not impossible, though there's no reason to think that would necessarily be the case in this instance. We are talking about adepts and near-adepts here." Blair accepted the attention, keeping his tone mild.

But when Jim started to leave the bed to go back to the conference room, Blair stopped him by wrapping both arms around his neck, being careful of the spreading and worsening wound from the trizatas. "I know you better than to buy that's all going on behind those baby-blues of yours. Give." As lovingly as he could, he added, "This is not the time to have anything unspoken between us. Please?"

Leaning over him, two fingers finding a lock of hair to play with, Jim studied him for a minute, then confessed, "I don't want to mess with your counterpart's life. Remember the Earth where Maybourne summarily ordered the execution of their Sandburg and Ellison to negate the temporal distortion in us so they would have longer to try to force us to talk?"

With a shudder, Blair nodded, seeing where his mate was going. But he kept silent, wanting Jim to free himself from these last chains of guilt and pain.

"Then there was the one where they were both married to women and had families. When that Sandburg's wife learned you and I were together, she went berserk and shot and killed him, then their children, then herself."

He couldn't let that one pass; not after having so many nightmares about the children himself. "Jim, if she was that unstable, it would have happened sooner or later, regardless of us, or of that Sandburg's true relationship with his sentinel. You said yourself they would have been together if it hadn't been for taking wives before they even met. Carrie would have sensed that; she was as gifted as that Blair."

"I know, I know! But it doesn't make it any easier to leave destroyed lives behind us."

Seeing what was at the core of his mate's sorrow, Blair said carefully, "You didn't ruin my life, you know. I have never once regretted taking your hand in mine."

Bending his head so that his expression couldn't be seen, Jim admitted, "I've regretted for you. Regretted all those years you and your mom were estranged because of me."

"She saw the right of it, eventually," Blair said sadly.

"I never had a doubt that she wouldn't, remember?" Jim brushed a kiss over his forehead. "It was just so much at once. If she had found out that you'd chosen to marry a man, she would have sorrowed for the lost grandchildren, the end of her father's line of gifted and wise scholars, but she would have accepted it as your choice, and your love. Once she got over that, finding out that I was Catholic would have been hard, but she wasn't a hypocrite. She'd been fighting for religious tolerance and equality for years. Even when things were bad, I think she was proud of you for living up to her standards."

Wearily, but accepting it as the truth, Blair finished the litany of regret for him. "But I didn't just marry a male Catholic; I married a baby-killing enforcer of the corrupt establishment, then promptly joined that same despised establishment, and couldn't even give her a good reason why because SGC was still classified top secret. For her it was like I betrayed every principal she'd ever tried to teach me."

"I saw what having her turn her back on you did to you," Jim said. "I just don't want to have any of the Sandburgs have to face something like that because of us. If they're already with the SGC, that's one thing. But I'm not going to be the reason for ruining your life, even if it's an alternate's life."

Blair didn't know what to say to that, mainly because he'd initially agreed to keep their counterparts out of it for his own fear of what might happen to a Jim Ellison whose sentinel abilities were suppressed or being hidden. He'd been on too many worlds where being 'different' from the accepted norm could be a death sentence, and had never been on an Earth where sentinels weren't considered, at least, unusual. The irony of both of them trying to protect each other's double was too much, and he chuckled. "So the whole Blessed Protector thing applies to all Blair Sandburgs, huh?"

Jim gave him the half-grin that he used when he was caught being irrational and pre-civilized. "Well, you never mentioned any limitations on that particular responsibility."

"Which is probably a good thing. It's a good mental attitude for a sentinel not only trying to save the universe, but trying to save all of them," Blair shot back dryly.

"Speaking of which...." Jim gave Blair a last quick kiss and crawled out of bed. "They're waiting for us, Chief."

"Like always, lover," he grumbled, getting up himself. "Like always."

* * *

Putting the last label on the last manila envelope, Daniel lined it up with the rest, and sighed. The fanned out series of addresses was a veritable who's who of scientists, not just in America, but of every country that could boast of a major genius. When they were filled with the information from Dr. Sandburg, they would be messengered by armed soldiers to the recipients, and signed for.

It had taken most of the night, and wouldn't have been possible at all if Dr. Sandburg hadn't already had several excellent plans for Hammond and SG1 to choose from. It was eerie, Daniel decided, to have someone know you and your people so well, that they could practically read your mind. As it was, he had spent more time trying to find the whereabouts of the researchers that Dr. Sandburg wanted to give the packets to, than debating how they should be delivered.

“They deserve the credit for the work," the anthropologist had said solemnly, "because they *would* have done it if I hadn't interfered."

For the geniuses that didn't exist in this alternity, they had had to find substitutes, though again Dr. Sandburg had been prepared with viable replacements. Once the team had taken out Agaeis Prime to satisfy the President of the validity of the source, key formulas, theories, and facts would be sent to the chosen scientist with a cover letter explaining that the initial work had been done by a top-secret research facility, but that the individual responsible was no longer able to continue it. Ironically, that was nothing but the simple truth.

Making sure that the envelopes were received, acknowledged and acted upon was going to take a massive amount of organization, Daniel realized tiredly. As would the behind the scenes maneuvering to guarantee funding for the 'new' research, double-checking that it was going in the direction needed, and finding subtle ways to drop hints from the proposed main data base if things got stalled. Not to mention there was a back-up plan of e-mails and web pages of 'anonymous' tips to prevent the results of the unexpected gift of information from being suppressed or becoming the exclusive property of the wrong people.

All in all, it looked to Daniel as if a brand-new presidential position was going to be needed, or at least, an old one bent to fit the bill. And he was not, he told himself firmly, going to be the one filling it. Been there, done that, and he didn't like the human who had been both the creator and created of it, even if none of it had been real. Hopefully, since this information was being spread so widely, as opposed to sitting in a single man's head, no delusions of megalomania would cause it to be misused.

The reminder of the head it was currently sitting in made him look over at Dr. Sandburg energetically typing on a laptop, not spilling his information yet, but plainly structuring a spreadsheet to organize it when he did. Colonel Ellison was practically on top of both of them, so obviously guarding that Daniel had to look down to the other end of the table at where the rest of SG1 were arguing with Jacob Carter on how to take Agaeis Prime.

It had been clear from the moment the Tok’ra had arrived, that supposed allies or not, Ellison didn't trust any Ga'ould except one at the business end of a weapon. While that met Jack's approval in general, the situation was tense until Dr. Sandburg suggested that his mate work with him. That seemed to consist of offering an occasional name or reminding his partner of some detail—that and glowering at the Tok’ra if he moved too far from that end of the room.

The odd thing was that Teal'c not only knew what Ellison was doing, but he obviously approved of it. That his would-be lover would want him protected shouldn't be a surprise, Daniel supposed, and he could see where that could cause trouble on future missions. One thing he was sure of, he was not going to be the one staying behind, safe and sound.

No, what was strange was that Teal'c clearly agreed with Ellison that there was something for him and Dr. Sandburg to be protected *from.* And since neither Jack nor Sam were oblivious to the guarding nor protesting it, that meant they thought so, too, as if Ellison's wariness of the Tok'ra were contagious. Selmak's reaction to the briefing on the day's events hadn't been positive, Daniel admitted to himself, but surely it hadn't been so bad that SG1 should consider him dangerous now.

Puzzled by that, a little surprised by the good feeling their concern gave him, he studied the small group, trying to see what had SG1 and company on alert. Then Jack looked over and yelled, "Daniel, get down here and explain to this so-called gentleman simply blowing up the planet, workers and all, is not a viable option."

Rising to do as told, he caught Ellison and Teal'c exchanging a look. Teal'c then stepped back slightly from the table so that he could see everyone. The buck had just been passed, he realized with a start, and the buck was him. Even more bewildered, he walked down toward Jack and Sam, seeing both self-appointed sentries relax fractionally when he kept his teammates between him and the Tok’ra looking over Colonel Ellison's diagrams.

Looking down at the shipyard's layout, Daniel put away his newest mystery until later and concentrated on the problem at hand. "Most of the workers have to be aware that their 'gods' power is nothing but the machinery they're making—they'd be more valuable to us as dissidents living among their own people than they would be as corpses," he said flatly. "Not to mention, there's bound to be more than a few who would probably be willing to work for the Tok’ra, if it meant a chance to bring down those self-same so-called gods."

"Their skills are too important to Apophis for him to allow them to remain free if we should be able to liberate them," Jacob/Selmak argued. "They'd just be recaptured."

"If he knows we freed them," Daniel agreed. "We'll have to make him think they were all destroyed with the shipyard and mine."

Looking very exasperated, Jacob plopped into the chair at the head of the table and said, "And how exactly do you plan on accomplishing getting all of them off planet, let alone hiding that it was done? Or are you already counting on using some wonderful device from your new allies? "

Studying the layout and ignoring Jacob's last sarcastic words, Daniel said thoughtfully, "Your people have done reconnaissance already, haven't they?"

Seemingly taken aback at the assumption, Jacob moderated his tone and admitted cautiously, "We've confirmed the system was there, and a little judicious surveillance showed that for a presumably dead planet, it had a surprising number power sources on it."

From behind them, Dr. Sandburg asked as he and his partner approached, "Did they actually see the shipyard?"

"High resolution image of the largest power source showed a mother ship," Jacob said warily, "about two-thirds complete."

"Chief," Ellison said with some amusement, "you promised me you wouldn't steal any more starships."

"Technically, I'm not going to," Dr. Sandburg said, trying to sound very reasonable but not able to hide his grin. "The workers are. We're just going to help them."

"You've done this before?" Jack asked, sounding more curious than critical.

"No," Ellison said shortly. "It wouldn't have done us any good by the time our Tok'ra decided to share this particular tidbit; Apophis didn't need Agaeis Prime any more. We wouldn't have found out about it at all except that a rebellion there was preventing the Tok’ra from smuggling out the nacquada they'd been taking, and they wanted our help establishing contact with the rebels. Seems they didn't trust any kind of Ga'ould by that time."

"We can tell you how the Tok'ra got in and out of the system without being detected," Sandburg offered helpfully. "They imitated asteroids. They plotted the paths of some of the larger sized debris and leap-frogged from rock to rock until they reached the surface. Even with anomalous gravitational fields, it works because the ship isn't actually navigating; it's taking advantage of what's naturally provided. Slow, maybe, but effective."

"Kind of like hopping from stone to stone to cross a stream," Daniel said thoughtfully. "One question: How do they get the ships they build out, once construction is completed?"

"Apparently, they launch from the surface under full power," Ellison said. "It's one reason the mine and living quarters are so far from the dock. Still, there is evidence to suggest some of the ships haven't made it."

"So there's no guarantee that even if you can somehow gain their trust well enough to get them to make a break for the ship, that they'll survive the attempt," Jacob said bluntly. "And how many will die trying? It's not likely that Apophis' people haven't had slaves try to stowaway, or take a ship before; they have defenses for those contingencies. Since we have a way in, the best thing to do is simply detonate a nuclear bomb in the mine. Anything else is a waste of our very limited resources."

Sam, who had been uncharacteristically listening to both sides debate without offering an opinion, spoke up. "As delicately balanced as the gravity is on that planet, the kinds of quakes an explosion of that magnitude will cause will in all likelihood cause it to come apart at the seams. There won't be any survivors left, except maybe the few Ga'ould or Jaffa who can get through the Star Gate." Daniel thought there was an element of outrage carefully hidden under the formal respect she used.

"At least the ending will be quick," Jacob said sourly. "And our lives won't be risked unnecessarily."

Staring at her father as if she couldn't believe she'd heard him correctly, she said, "They deserve a chance."

"Fine," Jacob snapped. "Give me a way to give it to them that won't take months of covert ops. There's no point it destroying it after Apophis has had time to stockpile ships and nacquada."

"If they rebelled in an alternate," Daniel said quietly, wishing he could make her father's attitude less painful for Sam, "They may well be ready to rebel here. Colonel Ellison, do you have any names?"

"No," he answered, apparently deep in thought. "But getting them wouldn't be a problem if Sandburg and I could move among the slaves. He can get a tree to give up its secrets, and I have my own methods." A second later he added reluctantly, "On the other hand, getting them to trust us...."

"They would trust Teal'c," Daniel volunteered uneasily, catching his lover's eye and trying to look apologetic. "I doubt there's a single one of Apophis' slaves or Jaffa who doesn't know about the First Prime that turned on him. His... rage and thirst for revenge made it impossible to hide... even from other System Lords."

"Yeah, which makes him instantly recognizable," Jack objected, also glancing at their teammate. "He'd get tossed into a hole the split second after a 'loyal' Jaffar laid eyes on him."

"Which means we don't hide him," Sandburg said distractedly. "Is there any Ga'ould in your universe besides Apophis who might legitimately have access to the Star Gate at Agaeis Prime?"

"Trojan horse," Ellison murmured, nodding in agreement. "We used that successfully several times before the Ga'ould back home caught on. Here, it's a brand new trick, and if we do it right, there won't be anybody left to tell how we infiltrated the shipyard. For one reason or the other."

The last words were grim, and Daniel caught himself before he could protest. For the ones they saved to be safe, there could be no survivors left behind. Instead, he asked, "You have a way to create a 'false' Ga'ould?"

"I don't like the sound of that," Jacob barked.

"Tough," Jack barked back. To Ellison he said, "Glowing eyes and voice would be easy enough, but both Jaffa and Ga'ould can 'feel' snakeheads."

"We can fake that, too," Sandburg assured him. "Which brings us back to the original question: who else besides Apophis could have access to that Gate?"

"Klorel," Daniel said, watching Jack. "He's Apophis' heir. If he came through the Gate with the sho'var in chains, he could make a case that it was the one place Teal'c couldn't escape or be rescued from."

"I am not," Jack said angrily, "Bringing Skaare into this mess."

"Jack," Ellison said quietly, "You don't have to. The body doesn't matter; just the attitude. And Skaare hates - I should say, the Skaare I know - hates Ga'ould too much to ever be able to do this kind cov-op work."

"He's right," Daniel added hastily. "Besides, how many people are going to know what Klorel's new body looks like?"

"New body? He was removed from Skaare in this universe?" Blair asked.

"Not in yours?" Sam confirmed obliquely.

“No, we killed his snake." Ellison looked at his spouse. "You want to go in as Klorel."

It wasn't a question, and Sandburg perched edge of the table before he explained himself. "As a Ga'ould torn from his host, I can pass off a temporal distortion episode as damage from the removal. Same for any other weirdness we need to cover, like insisting that all the workers be at the ship at some given time. I can also learn from the supervisors who they consider to be the trouble-makers."

"Then Jack and I can be your 'guards,' faces hidden by the armor," Daniel added, seeing where the man's clever mind was taking them. "Ellison, too. What about Sam?"

"I can't go in as a guard," Ellison said, sitting in a chair near where his mate was perched. "While Blair's working on finding the leaders from the topside, we need to be doing the same thing from the bottom. One of us needs to be a body servant or someone like that who can move through the populace. My face is unknown, and since we have to factor in temporal distortion for me, too, I'm the best candidate for that. The episodes can be 'punishment' for some error. As for Sam..."

All eyes turned to her, and she shrugged. "I'm not as well known as Teal'c, but I could be recognized. Maybe another captive?"

"Actually, Sam, I'd like for you to join me on this mission," Jacob said unexpectedly. "What you said earlier about the quakes tipping the balance for Agaeis Prime.... If we can do that, especially if we can set some quakes off before the big one, Apophis will think he lost the shipyard to natural causes. He won't have any reason to look for the ship, the people, or the Tok'ra."

"Artificially caused quakes," Sam said thoughtfully, pulling out the star chart from under the shipyard layout. "Asteroid hits, maybe? Plenty of them close in and you could hardly call the orbit for any of them stable."

"Wouldn't they have automated defenses against that sort of thing?" Daniel asked, absently adjusting his glasses and bending over the plastic sheet with her.

"Only for the area immediately around the mine and shipyard; they wouldn't care about the rest of the planet," she said in excitement. "And I'd bet they routinely keep track of the really big ones and destroy them if they look like they might make landfall too close by."

"Bumper shot in pool," Sandburg offered. "Pick out a few that could dislodge others from their normal path. That way, even if they check the ones that fell, no signs of interference."

"They'd need to be fairly large, but we wouldn't have to hit them straight on..." Sam muttered to herself. She started scribbling figures on the side of the sheet, her father looking over her shoulder.

While she did that, Jack looked over at Teal'c and asked, "Are you okay with putting your head in a noose like this?"

"I will do whatever is required of me, O'Neill," the Jaffar said calmly.

"That wasn't what I asked," Jack said. "I know you're a soldier, proud to serve and all that. But since you're the one being dragged through the Gate like the spoils of battle, you deserve an opinion about this scheme we're cooking up over here."

Realizing that Jack was asking because of him, Daniel kept his head over the shipyard layout, pretending intense concentration. This was going to be the hard part he'd worried about earlier; accepting that he was going to have to let his warrior be a warrior, and not interfere. The only consolation he had was that Teal'c had exactly the same problem. Suddenly, Dr. Sandburg's words from earlier came back to haunt him, and Daniel wished with all he had that he and Teal'c had made love when they had had the chance.

"I believe," Teal'c said, "That the plan is a sound one. The Ga'ould often keep enemies chained close at hand so that they may be punished at the whim of their captor. Such unfortunates are often put on display as discouragement to other potential heretics. In addition, if Dr. Sandburg is capable of impersonating Klorel, his word will not be questioned by any one less than Apophis himself. The greatest danger lies in Apophis or Klorel, themselves, unexpectedly arriving on Agaeis Prime."

"Klorel’s whereabouts are known," Jacob said dismissively. "As are Apophis'. We can guarantee that for about forty-eight hours, no more."

"We don't have much more than that in this alternate," Dr. Sandburg said. "And we'll still need time to share our information."

"It's going to take at least eight hours to get the asteroids falling on the planet," Sam said absently.

"We can have our operatives in place by then, as well," Jacob added.

"Okay," Jack said definitively, "then we break for now. I'll go sell this to Hammond and start preparing a list of weapons and supplies. I recommend the rest of you get some shut-eye in the meantime."

"Colonel O'Neill," Dr. Sandburg said before the others could obey orders. "A Ga'ould Lord doesn't go anywhere without a ribbon device. I'm going to need two of them and some micro tools to adapt them for human use. And the return of the crystals you took from me."

"You can do that?" Jack asked skeptically.

"I thought you had to have nacquada in your blood stream to use a ribbon device," Daniel blurted, noticing that Selmak had taken over Jacob and was listening very closely to their conversation.

“Not after a few modifications," Ellison said flatly, carefully not looking at the Tok'ra. "Afterwards, as a nice side-bonus, they're useless to the snake-heads."

"It works on healing devices, too," Dr. Sandburg said. "I'd like to teach Dr. Jackson how to use both, if you don't mind, which is why I want the second one."

“Perhaps I could help with the lesson," Selmak/Jacob volunteered unexpectedly.

"I don't think so," Dr. Sandburg said evenly, standing and deliberately putting his back to the Tok'ra, effectively dismissing him. "The technique is different for an un-possessed human." He said aside to Daniel, "If you're willing to learn, that is. You're the best choice, but I don't want you to think that you have to."

Before Jack could voice the protest everyone could see forming, the anthropologist said to him, "Dr. Carter is going to be busy plotting asteroid courses, Teal'c will be standing guard to make sure it isn't a trick, and you would just get a headache."

"Just because my alternate couldn't do it," O'Neill argued anyway, "Doesn't mean I can't."

"You're going to have to sit still for at least forty-five minutes and concentrate on what the center of your chest feels like," Dr. Sandburg said, managing to hide his grin except for the sparkle in his eyes.

"I can do that." Jack thought a second longer. "I can." Another second passed. "Forty-five minutes?"

"Takes at least that long to sensitize yourself," Dr. Sandburg said helpfully.

"That's not so bad," Jack said firmly. "And it would be worth it to be able to knock some Ga'ould on his ass." He started to walk away, then asked, "Center of the chest?"

"That's where the third chakra is," Dr. Sandburg answered, studiously not smirking.

"Chakra?"

"Energy centers in the body," Dr. Sandburg said, taking on a lecturing tone. "Correlating to major nerve ganglia branching from the spinal column. Supposedly, they correlate additionally to levels of consciousness and..."

"I'll just go talk to Hammond," Jack said hastily. "Teal'c, you get those ribbon devices for them." He beat a quick retreat, giving everyone the freedom to snicker behind his back.

An hour later, Daniel made himself comfortable on the edge of the bed in Ellison's and Sandburg's quarters, not sure how or when this became the best place for the lesson, let alone whether or not he wanted to be the student. Hesitantly, he slipped the metal over his fingers and palm, trying not to shudder as a memory from the dream Shifu had given him filled his mind.

"Daniel," Dr. Sandburg said quietly, so as not to disturb his spouse working on the other device at the table on the other side of the room, Teal'c watching intently. "If you have any doubts about this at all, I'll teach Dr. Fraiser instead, or have Sam turn over her calculations to someone else."

"I know how to use this, Dr. Sandburg." Daniel turned his hand from back to front several times. "I can still feel the anger, no, the *fury* that fueled me, fueled the burst of hate from my hand."

"Blair," the other man corrected gently. "It feels waaaay too weird for you to call me that." He looked at Daniel quizzically. "Jim would know if you'd been Ga'ould; what happened?"

"A dream, vision—I'm not sure what you would call it. It was meant to teach me, and I'm still trying to absorb that particular lesson." He held up the ribbon device to study the new crystal in it. "And the only difference I can see or feel is this."

"It goes much, much deeper than that," Blair said. "A Ga'ould is basically nothing but a snake-shaped neural cluster. They hook into the base of the brain to become part of it; they have to in order to control the body. But that's the most primitive part of a human brain, the source of our pre-civilized impulses, our survival instincts. Rage, hatred, fear are born there, and so the Ga'ould only have those emotions to fuel the device."

"It works on emotional energy?" Daniel tried to fit that into his understanding of the technology.

"Call emotions the spark plug. But we've evolved past the reptile mind the Ga'ould use in their hosts. We have access to love, compassion, devotion—all the good stuff. When you use that for your sparkplug, you've got more control, can use the device more subtly, and, most importantly, don't have to worry about misusing the weapon. No losses from 'friendly' fire."

That sounded good to Daniel, almost too good to be believed, but Blair was wearing an earnest expression, as if he had had the same worries himself in the beginning. "Okay," Daniel said finally. "What do I do?"

“Have you ever meditated or used self-hypnosis?" Blair effortlessly drew his legs up into a lotus, stretching his arms over his head as if to limber up his spine.

"Never had the patience for it. You were serious when you told Jack about chakras?" Not bothering to hide his surprise, Daniel imitated the pose as much as he was able, though he crossed his ankles under himself, tailor-fashion.

"Actually, we just borrowed the terminology for the most part; it helped to have familiar referent. If you're not comfortable with that, the concept of 'chi' is a good one too." Eyes closed, Blair drew in a deep breath, then bent over his folded legs, arms behind him, still stretching.

Thinking furiously, Daniel said slowly, “Higher cerebral functions as opposed to autonomic and instinctive. Emphasizing the *human* aspects, mind versus brain."

"If you're faced with the extinction of your kind," Blair said, his sorrow showing through the peace that he'd been trying to achieve, "the question of what makes you human and unique becomes very important. And when you marry hard science with that, you make some astounding leaps of developmental progress."

"Mnemonic chains, meditative trance, emotion as a trigger for a technological device... We've seen hints of this in the Nox and some other species." Trying to hide his doubt and knowing that the next step in most mental disciplines was to relax, Daniel did his best to do so, but couldn't help feeling silly.

"It's all right to feel silly," Blair said with a grin, reading his mind. "I was born and raised with this, man, and I've never seen a beginning student who wasn't self-conscious and worried about taking that New Age shit too seriously. The important thing is to get comfortable and admit the negative stuff. Once you do, you can let go of it and get beyond it." His grin widened. "Guess I should have some sitar music in the background when I say things like that, huh?"

Despite it all, Daniel smiled. "We were good friends, weren't we, Blair?" A split second later, he wished he could call back the question; the other man's merriment dimmed considerably.

"If it weren't for you," Blair said quietly, "I wouldn't have met Jim. Your paper on the Chopec social hierarchy led me to you, then you introduced us."

"I never wrote that paper, though I remember making some notes on it when I spoke to the James Ellison in this universe." His curiosity was too much for him and he asked, "Did I abandon my theory that the pyramids were built by alien technology?"

"Uh, no." Blair looked uneasy. "How much do you want to know about your counterpart, really, Daniel?"

In his mind's eye, he saw Ellison's compassion for Jack and his own vow not to ask. "Never mind. So, I close my eyes, control my breathing and recite a mantra to get the ribbon device to work—not much use as a weapon then. Too time consuming to operate."

"No mantra required," Blair said easily. "Like I told Jack, the first step is sensitizing you to how it's supposed to feel. After a while, it comes naturally, like learning to type or play the piano.”

Getting back to business, he leaned forward enough to put three fingers over Daniel's solar plexus. "Close your eyes and concentrate on my touch, the exact spot where my hand is. Try to make the feeling three-dimensional in your head, see it like a glowing sphere resting between us, but penetrating into your skin, too. If something breaks your concentration, just let it, and go back to visualizing the energy."

"And when I've done that?" Daniel asked, trying to shove down everything and just listen to the other man.

"Then we move it from your center through your body, but first things first; concentrate."

The odd thing was, that, after a while, he *could* feel a small globular something pressing into him, warm and slightly vibrating, like a chiming ball. It was nice, very nice, soothing and calming, and a distant part of him worried about that enough that he drew away from Blair, breaking contact. "That was weird."

"Not unpleasant?"

The question was serious, and Daniel realized that his reaction hadn't been unexpected. "No, just... I was thinking it was going to be a metaphorical thing. That felt real."

"It is," Blair said very seriously. "Direct stimulation of your nerves using that 'spark' that fuels the ribbon device. It wouldn't work if it weren't a very measurable, tangible thing, Daniel. If Janet had us hooked up to monitors, she would be able to pinpoint the neural activity. And yes, all humans are capable of it to a greater degree or less, but, again, like playing a piano, it takes time and inclination to be able to learn to do it. That and the belief it can be done."

"So why do the Ga'ould need the nacquada to do it?" Daniel asked, taking another look at the changed crystal nestled in the palm of his hand.

"They don't." Blair's tone was very matter-of-fact. "Jim's by-passing the circuits that disable the device if the nacquada isn't present. They need us; a human mind."

Daniel's head shot up at the simple statement, and Teal'c turned toward them. "Are the Tok'ra aware of this?" the warrior asked imperiously.

"Not in our universe, nor in yours, I think," Ellison said distractedly. "Otherwise, Selmak would have been screaming to high heaven when he heard Blair ask for a device to modify. Like you, he probably thinks it’s the tool and not the user."

"We think that the Ga’ould don’t want admit to themselves why they use human hosts," Blair added. "It would make them lesser than us. So they hide the fact that they steal their technology, their knowledge, even from themselves; it’s all rote and genetic memories for them, not true understanding. Why do you think the Tok'ra keep coming to SGC for research help? We're their source of original thinking, intuition, genius.

“Anyway, whoever originally designed the devices may have needed the nacquada trigger for their own purposes which we can't even begin to imagine, and the Ga’ould left it that way because it was useful to them as well."

“Do you understand it?" Daniel asked, for the first time beginning to fathom just how much their guests had to offer them.

"Me? No," Blair answered cheerfully. "But the Sams did, and personally gave the key to it to me to share. Which brings us back to proving ourselves to the President so we can do exactly that. Which means, concentrate, Dr. Jackson, concentrate!"

An hour later, Daniel collapsed backwards on the bed, panting, tee shirt stuck to his body with sweat, and willing to swear that he'd just fought off an entire cadre of Jaffa single-handedly. But all he'd actually accomplished was to move a pen three inches, using the ribbon device. Still, he was satisfied; the whole process had all but erased the nasty taste that his vision of slamming Jack into a wall had left in his mind.

Tossing a blanket over him, Blair said, "Rest here for a while. You have the basic technique now; the rest is practice. Now, at least, if something happens to me, I've been able to leave this much behind."

"Is that why you insisted?" Daniel mumbled sleepily. "Your own personal legacy?" There was no answer, and broad fingers that he happily recognized removed his glasses. He nuzzled into a huge, callused palm, not really hearing Blair's answer. Through a muffling fog, he heard Jim and Blair tell Teal'c they were going to take a shower and get a bite to eat before sleeping, then the door closed. He drifted, not quite asleep, but too exhausted to call himself awake, either, vaguely aware of Teal'c kneeling on the floor beside the bed.

That didn't seem quite right, for some reason, and Daniel pried up a heavy eyelid to tell him to go get some rest, himself. But the sight of Teal'c, eyes closed, expression serene as if he had nothing better in the universe than to wait by his side, was Daniel's undoing. Clumsily, he reached out and traced an elegant eyebrow, fingers shaking from the effort. He was rewarded by dark eyes opening to meet his, and as he watched, they warmed with desire and another emotion he was afraid to name.

Cupping Teal'c's jaw, Daniel ran a thumb over ripe lips, wanting very much to taste them, but unable to muster the will to move from where he lay. As if reading his mind, or perhaps because he needed the same thing, Teal'c caught and held the hand on his face, turning his head to kiss the palm. It burned like a fiery coal, not with pain, but with pleasure that coursed from the source all the way into Daniel's middle, and he cried out softly from it.

"Daniel..." His voice had a note of warning in it, but Teal'c didn't pull away.

"Please." It wasn't what he meant to say, what he needed to say about not missing what opportunities they had because the Ga'ould could take away all of them tomorrow. But it would have to do, because he couldn't find another word that could convey as much. "*Please.*"

The want in the ebony gaze intensified, and Teal'c pressed a kiss into Daniel's flesh, this time at the wrist. A shiver both felt resulted, and another hungry noise that pleaded for an unknown something escaped. Careful fingers turned Daniel's arm, bringing up the inside of an elbow for a soft touch of lips, and this time he held in his cry, afraid that it would be too loud. Then those same fingers gingerly dragged up a sleeve to bare a shoulder, and knowing that yet another kiss would follow, Daniel found the strength to roll toward his lover, free arm out-stretched. Capturing and cradling the back of the dear head, he urged Teal'c to aim higher, then whimpered when his mouth was taken.

Opening immediately to his lover's plundering, Daniel felt the mattress shift as Teal'c climbed onto the bed, and knew one insane moment of pure panic at what was about to happen. Teal'c shoved away the blanket and settled over him, his weight pinning Daniel flat, and his fear cranked up another notch. Then a nearly sobbing sigh was breathed into him, forever dissipating any worries he might have about his lover's greater size and strength. And the solid mass of him was so good on Daniel's aching body, strangely satisfying for the tight points on his chest and the straining erection trapped between them.

Uncertain what to do next, too physically weary to think, let alone initiate a new level of love-making, Daniel waited to see what Teal'c would do, willing to go along with whatever he wanted. The lips devouring his own grew more and more demanding, hard-on drilling into his abdomen, as if his very passiveness was arousing to his companion. Because of that, when Teal'c pulled his shirt off over his head, Daniel let his arms fall limply from the fabric, leaving them slightly akimbo on the pillow.

It left him open and vulnerable from throat to waist, and Teal'c showed his approval by sitting up astride Daniel's hips, huge hands slowly mapping that defenseless terrain. Long before rough thumb tips skimmed over his nipples, he was writhing under the commanding power of those hands, panting harshly to keep from begging and babbling at the top of his lungs. Then the taut nubs were given attention, and his back bowed to shove the tender bits into Teal'c's care, hardly caring what was done to them as long as they were well loved.

Eventually the surprisingly nimble fingers wandered south for his belt, and Daniel moaned, "...scream.... need to... damn...Teal'c...scream..."

Amazingly, his lover understood, and he stripped his own shirt off and wadded a corner of it for Daniel to bite. A moment later, his pants were undone, his cock was freed, and that was all that he could take. Dimly grateful for the fabric absorbing what had to be an ear-splitting bellow, he came, the hard spurts of his seed leaving his body firing ecstasy over every nerve. An eternity later, the last ripples of joy faded, leaving him too weak to do anything but stare up at Teal'c in amazement as his makeshift gag was removed.

With a smug smile, Teal'c bent and began to lap away the wetness on Daniel's stomach, working himself urgently in search of his own finish. Much as he wanted to help, all Daniel could do was watch, but that seemed to be enough for Teal'c. Murmuring Daniel's name, he straightened to show off his erection, his action on himself, eyes fixed on Daniel's lips as if hungry for their submission again.

"Yes," Daniel whispered, and that was the trigger his lover sought. Though no sound left him, his chest quaked with a held-in shout of completion, and a small stream bubbled over his fist. For all that it was a small amount of liquid, it must have been a tremendous release: Teal'c's eyes rolled up, and he threw his head back, the tendons on his neck standing out in stark relief.

Then he collapsed slowly, one arm stiffening to brace himself before he could crush the man under him. He reached for the nightstand, presumably for the box of tissues there, but Daniel caught his wrist, and brought it to his mouth to lick it clean, eyes never leaving his lover's. It was an odd taste, not at all like what he'd found on the lips of lovers who had pleasured him before kissing him. But not a bad taste, and he admitted with a shy smile that he wouldn't mind taking it from the source.

Understanding that, Teal'c smiled the most open and gentle smile Daniel had ever seen gracing the strong features, then lay beside him. "Perhaps Colonel Ellison and his companion will gift us with another opportunity for privacy before we embark on this morning's mission."

"We may not give them a choice." Daniel yawned broadly and shifted enough to fit himself perfectly alongside his lover. "They're going to have to sleep someplace else. I don't think I can move."

"I believe they may have anticipated that." Holding up a small packet so that it could be read, he asked, "Is this what I believe it to be?"

"Concentrated Astrolube," Daniel murmured, trying not to smile. "No, it's exactly what you think it is; save it. You never can tell when we'll get a chance to use it." He yawned again, and repeated himself as he drifted away, "You never can tell."

* * *

Agaeis Prime

He was going to kill someone, Jim decided bitterly. At the moment he didn't particularly care who, though he had a certain Ga'ould, Akenu, who ran Agaeis Prime, in his sights. One of the Jaffa guarding him would do, though. Or the so-called humans who served Apophis, knowing full well he was just a parasite with access to superior technology. He was never going to be able to understand capos like that, no matter how many times his mate tried to explain them to him.

The unreasoning rage he felt wasn't new to Jim; he'd done cov-op too many times not to be sickeningly familiar with it. Incacha had warned him long ago that a sentinel could not abide the presence of a false god without the 'fury of the true Earth Spirits' filling him. Which was probably why the Ga'ould had tried so determinedly to root out the entire genetic pattern, along with the one for psychic abilities, he thought, shifting fractionally to ease his aching knees.

It was just that he'd never been so damned miserable while trying to cope with the imperative to eliminate Ga'ould. The wound from the trizatas now covered most of the surface of his back like an oozing, blistering sunburn, the nagging pain of it was eating at his control, and the deeper cellular damage was eroding his strength. Not that he had much of it after two more temporal distortion episodes. Mercifully, the first had been before they left SGC, and the second had been while he and the rest of the team were alone, more or less, as had the one Blair had suffered through.

In fact, both of them should have been much, much weaker, causing his mate to speculate that their alternates in this universe were somehow leaking strength into them, though that had never happened before. Probably, Jim decided sourly, because they were obviously in the honeymoon stage of their relationship, minds and emotions all over the place, and that was the true crux of his problem. As weak, tired, and hurting as he was, he also had a hard-on that wouldn't go away, even when he imagined a Ga'ould noticing and drooling over it.

It didn't help that Blair had seldom looked more erotic.

With a black Egyptian style wig covering his auburn curls and kohl outlining his eyes, he was epitome of a beautiful, ancient god with only his full lips promising human tenderness. A wide gold collar and matching belt slung low on his hips left his torso completely bare, and the sheer linen panels that hung from the belt didn't leave much to the imagination. Wide, jeweled bracelets emphasized Blair's strong hands, somehow negating the implied threat of the ribbon device, and the flashes of light from the gems as they swooped and glided through the air from his mate's normal expansive gestures kept threatening to pull him into a zone.

Blair looked exotic, compelling, and delicious, but was completely, totally untouchable because of the mission. Despite that, Jim kept fantasizing about wrapping a hand around the slim ankle just above the straps for the gold sandals and sliding his hand up a strong, lean leg. He could almost see his fingers moving under the bare concealment of the translucent cloth until he reached the semi-hard cock that he could see and smell under the heavier loincloth that covered Blair's groin. Mentally groaning, he resisted the urge to adjust his own erection, and shifted his stance again, instead, putting one hand on the floor.

On some level, Blair had to know that his spouse was having trouble controlling his rage; he had the leading end of the supposed choke chain wound tightly around his fist, pulling Jim into a semi-crouch. It was probably a good thing. The discomfort of keeping his balance was distracting and the position hid the hard-on that threatened to break free of the breechcloth that was his only garment.

It also added to the illusion of captivity that they wanted to create, which, so far, everyone had bought without question. Of course, the assorted scars from past missions and new bruises that Blair had carefully, painlessly created with the ribbon device, helped there. He didn't have to listen with sentinel ears, though, to know that the slowly decaying tissues on his back were the most convincing evidence.

Teal’c was having a much harder time of it. Even the most arrogant and self-confident of the Ga'ould gave him a wide berth or personally double-checked his chains, as if unable to believe that he wouldn't simply shrug them off and viciously attack. And each and every last one of them had to add their own stamp of cruelty to the false bruises and cuts, as if it disproved that fear, despite doing it under the careful scrutiny of their personal guards. It got to the point that 'Klorel' had had to say dryly and pointedly that Apophis might not appreciate having his plaything dirtied up too much before he'd had the opportunity to indulge himself.

That stopped the worse of the abuse, but Ga'ould are literally born knowing a thousand and one petty ways to make someone suffer. Teal'c simply endured it all, from the spit in his face to the long, shallow cuts from expertly wielded knives.

Almost against his will, Jim accepted that Jack had been right to have this particular Jaffar join SG1. The man was dignity and honor embodied, and the rest of the team's devotion to him was obviously born from the kind of bond that forms when you know a teammate will die for you.

It didn't hurt that Teal'c had Daniel's scent all over him, now, easing Jim's instinctive response. Or that, even when blood was slowly dripping from an open wound, the Jaffar's first act during the team's rare private moments to discreetly make sure that Daniel was handling their situation. Which he was, as well as could be expected; O'Neill was the one who was nearly as murderous as Jim felt. It gave the sentinel the idea that this copy of his old friend was beginning to get an idea that he had missed out on something, *someone,* that could have been important in his life.

As it was, he'd seen Teal'c hold back his teammate with a carefully guarded glare when Jim had been sure that Jack was just going to snap and kill the next Ga'ould that walked through the door. If he broke, Jim didn't see how he was going to be able to hold back himself, then all hell would break loose before its scheduled time.

Thankfully, a faint tremor underfoot told Jim that neither of them had much longer to wait. Selmak and Sam had arranged for four relatively minor asteroids to fall, then an hour later the big one would drop on the shipyard. In their pre-arranged signal, he pretended to collapse, realistically struggling to breath against the pull of the choke collar.

Blair tossed Daniel the chain and snapped, "See to this filth. And get that traitor out of my sight for a while; it sickens me." With Jack in tow, he stomped off, dragging Akenu, the Ga'ould supervisor of the shipyard and mine, along with him by simply assuming that he would go wherever 'Klorel' went. The last thing Jim heard was his mate chewing out the hapless supervisor for wasting the miner's labor by not putting them to work on whatever menial chores needed doing at the ship works. As if he hadn't earlier torn Akenu a new one for wasting miners by allowing them to work while the ground quakes were closing down mineshafts and tunnels.

Once they were out of sight, Daniel dropped the helmet armor, and rubbed at his nose, which didn't stop the immediate sneeze. "Sorry," he muttered. He led the way into a small anteroom where they were supposed to meet Reuel, the spokesman for the dissidents on Agaeis Prime. As soon as they were safely hidden from prying eyes, he undid the chains on Teal'c, throwing them aside violently. "I never, ever want to do this again," he said in disgust.

"It is too useful a tool to discard simply because it is distasteful," Teal'c said firmly.

Reaching up for the hidden catch on his chain, Jim said, "It's almost over; right now Sandburg is being given a tour of the automated defenses, and, trust me, by the time he's through with them, they wouldn't operate again if rebuilt from scratch. The great thing is, no one will know until they're needed, because it's a worm program that doesn’t go into effect until the machines are activated."

"The more complex the machinery, the easier it is to throw a monkey wrench into the works," Daniel quoted.

"It's what the snake heads get for taking their technology instead of learning it." Jim stretched high on his toes, fingertips reaching for the ceiling, trying to get the kinks out of his legs and back. He was going to need as much strength and mobility as he could muster; at the moment he wasn't sure that he could walk back to the Star Gate, let alone run. Furtive footsteps in the access hall caught his attention, and he nodded at Daniel, stepping back to one side of the door to be out of sight.

Reuel slid over the threshold, almost jolting a laugh from Jim. The human overseer had an unfortunate resemblance to Gandhi, and seeing him sneak, elderly dignity flustered but intact, struck Jim's admittedly odd funny bone. His usual control kept the momentary amusement hidden so as not to insult their ally, and he focused his attention on the area around them, guarding while Daniel and Teal'c conferred with the rebel.

"As you said—the ground trembles again," Reuel said, seating himself on the ground with the two members of SG1. "And none of my people were hurt, again, just as you said."

"Even now the miners are being transported to the docks," Teal'c said, his vibrant voice making the words a promise. "If their courage holds, all will be free of this place within the hour."

Scraping a bony hand over a bald head, Reuel said gruffly, the rapid beat of his pulse loud in Jim's ears, "My heart wishes to believe that. But I have stood between the gods and my people for so long, doing what I can to see to the comfort and safety of the later while not rousing the first, it seems unbelievable that the task is nearly done."

"If you had not had the strength to be the guardian that you were, this chance could have never come, Reuel." Daniel leaned forward, daring to touch the frail shoulder, his earnest intent clear in the gentle gesture. "You convinced the false ones to consider the workers valued, not just mindless slaves. Small as the concessions were, they were enough to give your people hope, and keep them at peace until the time to fight was right. If there were more Jaffa here, if the barracks and shops were more closely monitored, leaving as you will do shortly would be impossible."

Taking a deep breath, the ancient man asked, "What would you have us do?"

"Get everyone to the ship, whatever pretense you can think of, as quickly as you can," Daniel said quickly. "Don't worry about the false ones looking for you; they're going to have bigger problems to deal with than a missing servant or two. You don't need to worry about the guards, either; they'll be taken care of. Once you're on board, a woman named Samantha Carter will pilot the ship off this world to another one where you can live without fear of Apophis or his kind."

"The ship is not ready," Reuel gasped, fear returning full force, the stench of it hitting Jim's nose before he could filter it out. "We will die."

"You will not." Teal'c's tone brooked no argument. "You are not going into battle, nor must you survive for more than a few hours on the air and warmth readily available. The engines and shields are functional; that is all that matters."

"More importantly," Daniel put in, "If you don't leave while you can, you will die anyway. Apophis' enemies will not allow this base to exist. Do you understand? Even if we fail to destroy it today, the secret of it is known; another enemy will succeed sooner or later."

"You do not soften the truth at all, do you?" Reuel said bitterly. "But you speak only what all on Agaeis Prime know in their hearts; that death will come for them sooner or later for no other reason than because the false ones cherish nothing but power.”

His demeanor changed, becoming the patriarch that Jim had seen obliquely, politely approach Teal'c the first time the SG1 team had been left alone. Apparently, he had been lured in by the fact that Teal'c was obviously *not* being guarded, but rather protected by the 'Jaffa' accompanying him. It had been a risky ploy to gain trust, but at the moment, it was plain that it had been worth it.

"Very well," Reuel said calmly. "We know the areas of the ship that can support life; we will gather there and await our fate."

Standing, Teal'c carefully helped the rebel to his feet, then regally inclined his head. "Your trust is not misplaced, Reuel, though I have only my word on that."

A thin finger ran along the outer rim of the golden brand. "This marks you as my enemy." Then a long cut along a broad biceps was mapped out in the air. "But the hate behind this marks you as my hope made live. Your word is enough." Reuel turned away, paused at the door until Jim motioned that the way was clear, then left as quickly as old bones would carry him.

Keeping his post by the door, Jim said after he'd gone, "You're sure the Jaffa won't try to stop any of them from getting out of here?"

"As long as they do not become furtive and arouse suspicion. To a Jaffar, servants and their comings and goings are beneath notice." Teal'c didn't look away from where Daniel's slender fingers were smearing salve into the newest cut on his chest.

Hiding a small smile, Jim thought to himself that it wasn't stoicism hiding any pain to the attention. Teal'c probably didn't feel a thing except the tenderness from his lover's touch. Another faint rumbling tickled the soles of his feet, and the hint of humor died. "I hope they have time," he said, nearly to himself. "The smaller asteroids that shepherd a large one are beginning to hit, like Sam said they would. It won't be much longer before somebody notices there's a continent-sized problem looming down on them."

"We'd better start getting ready then," Daniel said reluctantly, twisting the cap back onto the small tube in his hand. "If we're right, things are going to get very confusing in very short order. I just wish we'd been able to find a few Jaffa to side with us so we'd be sure that the Ga'ould don't try to take the ship themselves."

"They will not," Teal'c said confidently, reaching for the shackles himself, apparently to spare Daniel from having to deal with them. "It is not armed yet, and no Ga'ould would think a ship space-worthy if it cannot defend itself. When they become aware of their danger, they will turn to the Star Gate for escape, first. We must be ready."

"That blind spot is going to be the death of them," Jim muttered. Then, because it had to be said before battle could forever silence it, he admitted gruffly, "And for all the years I've fought the Ga'ould, I didn't know about it. Sandburg was right, Teal'c. Having you as part of SG1 may be the saving of this Earth. I know you're in it to free your own people, but that doesn't change the good you're doing for us."

"Then why did you refuse to try to recruit the few Jaffa that did approach us?" Daniel said tightly.

"They were not sincere," Teal'c answered for Jim. "Though they tried to conceal it, their contempt is too deep to be hidden."

"This whole base is a vulnerable spot for Apophis," Jim added. "Makes sense that only his most loyal men would be here. I know that you're just trying to save lives, Daniel, but they are soldiers, and by choice. Sometimes it's the job of a soldier to die."

Daniel looked ready to argue, but Jim heard voices raised in anger and fear, coming from a distance but rapidly approaching. Bracing himself, he released his shaky control over his senses and *reached,* locking onto Blair's voice almost instantly, despite the distortion in it.

"...is not my concern!" his mate was saying in the deep, echoing bass of a Ga'ould. “Such carelessness borders on insolence, and will not be forgotten."

"My Lord," Akenu said placatingly, desperation threaded through it, "It is a simple malfunction, readily repaired! An evacuation would merely be a precaution."

"One which *I* will take. It is not my place to set aside my father's wishes, and he has been very clear that no one leaves here without his permission."

The emphasis on the 'I' was not lost on the supervisor or the gaggle of his Ga'ould staff clustered around them, and he began to all but babble excuses and pleas.

"Heads up; it's show time again." Jim said wearily, dragging himself back from the conversation in time to see Teal'c gently brush a fingertip over Daniel's cheek—apparently the closing statement of the discussion that had gone on without him while he'd been listening in on Blair. Distantly, he wondered what he'd missed, but the grudging acceptance in the linguist's expression was really all he needed. Then it was hidden by the helmet being raised again.

Jim snatched up the choke chain, this time fastening it so that it would break away at the slightest tug, watching from the corner of an eye as Teal'c's shackles were similarly attached. It bothered him that both of them were unarmed, but if things got nasty, it wouldn't take them long to rectify that. One nice thing about being a beaten 'slave;' no Jaffar would worry about danger from him until it was too late.

A moment later Blair swept by, gathering Daniel and his 'captives' with a grand gesture. "This facility," he said coldly to Akenu, "was declared to be secure. By you, I might add. If you do not have the confidence in your own decision to remain behind, that is unfortunate, but it is a singularly effective way to insure that you will be punished if you are in error."

"My Lord!" Akenu cried, both in outrage and true fear. He pointed a shaking finger at Teal'c, who was being 'dragged' along by Jack. "You will take that, that, *sho'var* with you to safety but leave loyal, devoted followers behind?"

By now they were almost at the Star Gate, and Jim could hear that the other three Ga'ould of Akenu's staff were muttering similar objections, and see that the Jaffa were nervously shifting their staffs. He gave a subtle tug on his chain to warn Daniel that the natives were getting restless, noting that Teal'c was already watching alertly from under lowered lashes.

"Do you really wish to suffer the same deaths waiting for these two?" Blair said with silken threat. "I would think that the asteroid would be a preferable fate."

Akenu paled and his protests ended until they were at the Gate itself. It wasn't until Blair stepped up to the DHD that his nerve broke, and he pulled a zat gun from under his robes. Before he could fire, it was shot out of his hand by Jack, then the entire situation dissolved into chaos. Most of the Jaffa, surprisingly enough, tried to defend 'Klorel,' but the Ga'ould overseers were behind them, and several Jaffa, apparently siding with the parasite's innate drive to survive, turned on their fellow warriors.

Seconds later, the only soldiers still standing were SG1, and they stood with their backs to the Gate, picking off anyone who tried to fire on Blair. Every shot that had gotten through that screen during the first few moments of the battle had been reflected by his personal shield, and he imperturbably punched in the 'glyphs for the planet that their base camp was on. Seeing that, Akenu and the remaining Ga'ould dropped the staffs they had taken from fallen Jaffa, and rushed the podium, trusting their own shields to protect them from weapon fire.

The look on their faces when he and Teal'c personally took them out with well-directed punches was a pleasure that Jim knew he'd appreciate for the rest of his life. As Akenu fell, Jim heard the ship blast away, and motioned to the now open Gate. "Go, go! We'll cover!"

Without hesitation, SG1 went through at top speed as Blair ran for the Gate himself. As soon as he was past, Jim blasted the DHD; there was no way anyone would be able to jury-rig a repair or manually dial the Gate before the planet shook itself apart from the cataclysmic collision about to befall it. They ran through the event horizon together, Blair flinging out a hand to command it to collapse behind them.

Then they were on the other side of the Gate, trying to slow their headlong rush before they crashed into the troops in position to prevent anyone besides SG1 from coming through. Both men from the alternity whirled to defend against anyone following them, but the Gate was closed, and Jim planted his staff upright on the steps, leaning on it heavily.

Behind him he heard O'Neill bark, "Stand down, but stay on your toes. If anybody but Major and General Carter come through that Gate, blast them!" There was a chorus of 'yes sirs,' then Jack stomped over. "We've got a couple of hours before Sam and company get here. I'm going to go get out of this tin can; there's gotta be a gallon of sweat in the boots alone."

"Getting back into uniform sounds good to me," Jim agreed absently. He had eyes only for Blair who was angrily ripping the ribbon device off his arm. "I'm going to hit the showers while it's still standing. Coming, Sandburg?"

"No, I want to give Daniel a lesson with the healing device, give Teal'c a hand with those cuts." His mate sounded remote, disconnected, and Jim stifled the urge to gather him into a hug to help him through the letdown from the fight. Years of experience told him that Blair wasn't ready for that, yet, so Jim reluctantly headed off to clean up.

When he stepped out of the shower, hair damp, earring comfortably back in place, and bare back bitching seriously at him, but feeling better for all that, the base camp had been reduced to a stack of supplies on M.A.L.F buggies. He nodded in satisfaction. Maybe they were using both belt and suspenders by staging the assault on Agaeis Prime from here, but this way there was no chance that the Tah'ree would be connected to its loss. All the trails would lead back to this insignificant, barely alive world.

He made his way to the one other tent left standing, passing Teal'c who was going the way Jim had come. They nodded at each other in passing, and he noticed that the Jaffar looked good as new. Willing to bet that Daniel hadn't had any trouble with the lesson on the healing device, Jim wasn't surprised to find the linguist sound asleep on a bunk. Blair was carefully, methodically removing the rest of the costume he wore and repacking it into the special containers to return it to the museum it was borrowed from.

From the way he held himself, Jim guessed that teaching had gone a long way to restoring Blair to himself. Not quite enough, though, to judge from the way he was handling the antiques - as if they were contaminated. Moving cautiously, Jim came up behind him and helped close the last case, then took his mate by the shoulders and turned him to face him. With the damp washcloth he had brought from the shower, he wiped away the makeup, not surprised when a few tears warmed the wetness in the fabric.

When that was done, Jim went nose to nose with his spouse, foreheads bumping. 'I hurt with you,' the touch said.

Blair locked his hands behind Jim's neck. "So many lives lost," he murmured.

"So many saved. And you know perfectly well that more than one of the hosts would have chosen to end their torment rather than go on."

Nodding at the truth in that, but still grieving too much for it to be a comfort, Blair broke away. "I want to wash the filth of being Klorel off me; think we've got time before the others get here?"

"Sam won't mind waiting if you don't; go on. I'm going to take a bunk next to Daniel's and catch some shut eye." The look Blair slanted him said that he'd believe that when he came back and found Jim asleep, but with a last squeeze on his mate's arm, he left. He had to go past Jack who was hovering uncertainly in the doorway, and the colonel pivoted to watch his progress to the showers.

"Still guarding, Jack?" Jim asked, wondering what was on the man's mind.

"Gets to be a habit," O'Neill said distractedly. When he turned back, eyes on the floor, he admitted, "I have problems imagining a universe where the military takes married behavior between male soldiers for granted."

"I have trouble imaging one where it's not," Jim confessed in return. "I mean, why waste your breeders by sending them to die in war?"

Jack sat heavily on the cot opposite Daniel's, mouth open. It took him a minute to regain his composure, then he said quietly, "That's the first thing you've said or done since you got here that really, truly makes me believe you're who you say you are." He thought for a second more, then asked, "Does this mean that everybody in the military is gay?"

"We call them naturals, as in natural-born soldiers," Jim said. "No, of course not, but the majority is. And our earth didn't have problems with spouses fighting together in a team as long as they proved they could obey orders, no matter what their personal stake in a mission is. I've been around your people long enough to see that you're contrary in that, too."

"Was, I, ah... I mean, Sara, Charlie..."

"You were married to her in our world, too. Charlie died? Gun accident?" Jim asked.

"Yeah." Jack rubbed a hand over his hair. "Yeah. You know, no matter how many times I run into this mirror thing, it's still freaky to think of a million ‘me’s, all making the same stupid mistakes."

"There's a million 'yous' where you didn't make those particular mistakes." Jim sat on the cot nearest Daniel's, unintentionally putting the linguist between them.

"If there isn't enough common ground between your world and their's, the mirror can't connect. And the you that exists here is part and parcel of why your Earth isn't a cinder; you've kicked some serious Ga'ould butt here."

"All because I didn't blow Abydos up and Daniel married Sha’uri," Jack said reflectively.

"Married Sha’uri? Amonhet's host?" Jim asked, startled. "But...." He shut his mouth over the rest of it, not sure he should talk about his dead commander's life.

"He didn't in your world? Marry Sha’uri?" Speaking very slowly, as if that idea was even more radical than married gay men in the armed services, Jack asked, "If he didn't stay on Abydos, what did he do after we destroyed Ra? Join up? Is that how he became part of your SG1?"

"Went back to Earth and, uh, married the soldier that he came back for," Jim said cautiously. "Wrote a bunch of papers about a lot of different things, including some stuff he learned from me at the request of his PhD advisor. When Apophis crashed through the mothballed Gate, Hammond called the two of you back in, and you went back to Abydos. Skaare had dug the Gate back up because he'd found something he thought you had to see. Daniel took one look and guessed that he was looking at the addresses for an entire Gate system."

"Yeah, my Daniel, I mean, this Daniel, I mean.... Damn, this kind of conversation can get confusing!" Jack swung his feet up and lay down, determinedly closing his eyes. "Forget it. You've got the right idea; catch some 'z's until we clear off this rock." He rolled up an eyelid. "Want me to bandage that back of yours or something until Sandburg can use the healing device on it? That's gotta hurt; looks like you're melting or something."

Jim lay down on his side and admitted tiredly, "Pretty close. And it can't be helped with Ga'ould technology, even the stuff we adapted. The cellular degradation was caused by it."

"Huh?" Jack grunted, obviously nodding off.

Despite that, Jim decided to answer him anyway. "You know how you can't use radiation to kill a cancer caused by radiation? Same thing. The weapon that caused it was a perversion of the healing device so one can't be used to repair the damage. And we don't have any human medical techniques that work on it."

Jack's only comment to that was a raucous snore, and Jim snorted into his pillow. Best way to deal with O'Neill was always to give him too much information.

Then Jim froze in place; his senses told him Daniel was awake, though he was acting as though he wasn't. Respecting the linguist’s pretense, for whatever reasons he had, Jim didn't comment, but instead relaxed and let himself drift toward the edge of a zone to escape the misery of his back.

Never quite making it, he stirred restlessly when Blair came back into the tent, but waited where he was until his spouse sat in lotus beside the cot. With a fingertip touch so light only his sentinel could have felt it, Blair stroked his right arm for no other reason than to give and receive comfort. When he reached the marriage bracelet, he kissed it gently - worth it always, beloved—not retreating from the fact that there was barely a thumb's width of untarnished metal left.

Jim shivered, the desire that had never quite faded leaped high, and he could tell that Blair felt it as well. This wasn't the time or the place, though, and he contented himself with simply cherishing his spouse with eyes and heart until he heard and felt the Gate power up. With a light tug at one of Blair's curls to alert him to it, Jim painfully sat up and shook Daniel by one shoulder to wake him. "Off world activation," he explained.

As the linguist sat up, taking his glasses from a pocket, he reached for Jack, giving him a careful shove.

"Wha?" O'Neill mumbled.

"Company," Daniel said, sounding a little groggy, but he was on his feet and moving, helping Blair pick up the museum-bound packages.

"Better be Carter," Jack grumbled, but he got up and picked up his own kit, taking a fast look around the small tent to make sure there was nothing being left behind to get lost when it was packed up. A moment later, the four of them were on their way to the Gate, O'Neill throwing a casual salute to the marine trotting their way. "I know, activation."

The soldier's slightly agog reaction to the statement won a small smile from Blair and Daniel; like Jim, Jack pretended it was perfectly normal for a commander to know everything. That made Jim wonder how O'Neill explained to himself where the information was coming from. It had been so long since he had had to hide what he was and what he could do, that he kept slipping.

With a mental shrug, he decided it didn't matter. Everyone could rationalize it any way they wanted; only Teal'c was likely to hit on the right answer. Jim looked ahead to where the Jaffar was waiting, staff leveled at the Star Gate, unsurprised that SG1 was approaching before the marine could have had time to fetch them. Maybe Teal'c already knew, and, along with the effect a trizatas had on a human, was keeping the information to himself for whatever reason.

Too weary to care if that was good or bad, Jim turned his attention to the Gate just as the seventh chevron locked. A moment later, Sam popped through, her father on her heels, looking very pleased with herself. "Target destroyed," she reported professionally, with just a hint of a smile quirking her lips. "All civilian personnel relocated without incident."

"Good work, Carter. You make arrangements for us to be able to check in on them later, make sure they're settling okay?" Jack was practically glowing with smugness, in direct contrast to Jacob Carter, who looked as if he'd deep-throated a zucchini. A large zucchini.

"Yes, sir. And thank you. Oh, and, get this. The reason why the ship was behind construction schedule..."

"Which had Akenu groveling before Dr. Sandburg had to open his mouth once to explain 'Klorel's arrival," O'Neill interrupted happily.

"...was because there were *two* full compliments of death gliders on board!" Samantha didn't seem at all put out by her commander's sidebar.

"Good; I'm sure the Tok'ra will put them to good use," Jack said magnanimously, obviously startling the hell out of the elder Carter. It prompted him to add, "You were right; we should have learned our lesson when a Ga'ould engine hijacked us."

Jacob looked even more sour, but all he said was, "Took you long enough to appreciate that."

"You know, some of us can't afford to think of things in terms of centuries of stealth, sabotage, and behind the scenes manipulation," Jack countered in a surprisingly level tone of voice. "How many died or were enslaved while the Tok'ra waged their long-term campaigns?"

Not bothering to answer that, Jacob gave his daughter a fast hug and went to the DHD to begin dialing as she headed toward Jack. "I need to report to the Council," he said shortly.

The faint rumble of bass underlying the words was the only warning Jim had that Selmak was in charge, and, alarmed for no specific reason, he eased his way closer to the Tok'ra. Automatically checking for where Blair and Daniel were, he scowled to himself. They were on the side of the Gate closest to Selmak, backs to him, bending over the museum cartons.

Jack seemed to sense something was wrong as well. Frowning, he said, "No hurry; they're going to want a full report on the stuff Sandburg has for us."

"That can be done at a later time," Selmak/Jacob said expressionlessly.

With another protest on his lips, Jack took a step closer just as the Gate opened. The moment the rush of power settled back into the nacquada circle, the Tok'ra ran, not for the Gate, but for Blair, the ribbon device on his hand already flaring.

Shouting a useless warning, Jim raced toward his spouse, O'Neill and Sam arrowing in from another angle, neither of them close enough to stop Selmak. Both Daniel and Blair pivoted from their task at Jim's yell, Blair's hand going up in automatic defense. Scooping up a box, Daniel hurled it at the oncoming Tok'ra, and a moment later was strong-armed off the dais for his troubles.

From the corner of his eye, Jim could see Teal'c was taking position in front of the Gate itself, his intent to prevent passage clear. Then Jim forgot him, forgot the exhaustion of his body, forgot everything but wringing enough speed out of his muscles to get to his mate before it was too late and the Tok'ra succeeded in kidnapping him.

Blow from his ribbon device deflected, Selmak resorted to brute strength and swept Blair into a bear hug, literally taking him off his feet and carrying him toward the Gate. Using him as a shield against weapon fire, obviously not caring if Blair lived or died as long as he wasn't in Tah'ree hands, the Tok'ra charged, firing a small handgun at the living barrier between him and escape. A bullet caught Teal'c in the thigh, toppling him from his position, though he immediately began struggling to his feet again.

All of their efforts didn't amount to anything; Selmak made it to the Gate and stepped through the event horizon with his victim. Or tried to. The moment Blair made contact with the shimmering pool of light, it transformed to flypaper, and the two of them stuck, Blair's left hand floundering wildly as if seeking to make contact with something.

That something was him, Jim knew without questioning, without thought, and he flung his right hand out as he skidded to a halt to prevent getting trapped himself. Fingers met, intertwined, and Jim pulled with more than his physical strength, jerking both Selmak and Blair free of the changed Gate. As he did, Blair twisted away from the shocked Tok'ra and shoved him through the event horizon. Then he and Jim fell backwards together from the momentum, the sentinel doing all he could to cushion the uncontrolled tumble for his mate.

It wasn't enough, not even close to enough, he realized on the way down. In the split-second he had before they hit, he could sense that the tremendous outpouring of energy from both of them - Blair to control the Gate and his burst of strength to reach him and pull him free - had been more than their over-taxed bodies could take. His mate was nearly unconscious, he was as close, and though SG1 would do all in its power to protect them, Jim couldn't depend on that alone to keep them together.

As the impact with the ground shattered his control, he gripped Blair's hand more firmly, bringing their marriage bracelets into contact. The thin line of untarnished metal flared at Jim's brief mental command, intensified as Blair backed it, then the two separate bands merged, flooding intense pleasure through both wearers. It overwhelmed their exhaustion and agony for the merest of moments, gave each a shining glimpse into the heart and love of the other, then cushioned both into darkness.

As it claimed him, Jim could hear SG1 reach their side, felt Daniel gently tug at the joined bracelets, and tried to smile when he heard his friend whisper, "I won't let anyone separate you."

*No worries, Daniel,* he thought as his mind and senses shut down. *Can't be done.*