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Per Ardua Ad Astra

(Through Adversity to the Stars)

Prologue:

It was night on P9G-387 as SG-1 started the trek back towards the Stargate. For the last week the team had been observing a group of Ori fanatics sweeping through the abandoned villages in the area. Five weeks ago, the area had been teeming with life, locals shopping, talking, walking, and singing in the marketplace. Now, the place had blast marks and bullet holes from the initial encounter between SG-1 and the Ori army.

The entire team was covered in dirt and grass, with only their guns even appearing remotely clean. In the lead, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell trudged as fast as his tired legs would take him. Despite the very real danger of having seen a third planet taken over by the invading force larger than the US Air Force, the only thing on his mind was a long hot shower and a warm soft bed. If he didn't drop from exhaustion on the way to the gate, he would even take them in that order.

Behind Mitchell, Lieutenant Colonel Doctor Samantha Carter and Doctor Daniel Jackson moved equally grudgingly, both thinking the same thing. It was apparent to the large, dark-skinned man at the end of the quartet that all three of his human companions were a little better than asleep on their feet. Not that Teal'c could blame them, after all. Even he was feeling the effects of a week of escape and evasion while trying to gather as much information on the enemy as possible.

Because of this, even the stalwart Teal'c failed to hear the noise ahead of them for many critical seconds. As he started to see the top of the Stargate over the ridge in front of them, the noise of a large group of people transiting through the gate became apparent. Reaching out, he pulled Daniel to a stop, using pressure on the younger man's shoulder to tell him to go to ground. A stride later, Teal'c did the same to Carter before he grabbed Mitchell by the back of his vest. The sudden shock was enough to wake Mitchell up as he went to ground willingly before beckoning the others to join him.

Teal'c went prone a short distance away, peering over the lip of the ridge. His eyes widened imperceptibly as he saw the large force in front of him transiting in squad sized chunks. When he pulled out his binoculars and looked over at the man in front of the DHD, a very small snort of incredulity escaped his lips.

Moving carefully, he crawled over beside Carter. "Colonel Carter, do you see the symbols dialed on the DHD?" He held out his binoculars, saving her the trouble of having to pull hers from her pack. Without saying anything, she took them and looked over the DHD much as Teal'c had. Watching closely, Teal'c could tell when she had noticed the address as her eyes widened and a small "oh" escaped her lips. She looked down at her GDO, pressed the transmit button and saw the closed signal from the iris control system come on.

The gate shut down suddenly, giving them a brief respite from the back lighting of the wormhole. They took advantage of the extra darkness to move to a position where the could see everything clearer. A minute later the Stargate whooshed to life, and troops started to go through again.

And again 38 minutes later, the gate shut down only to be dialed back to Earth. Once it finally shut down, the team made it's way to the DHD and dialed home. Carter sent their IDC through, received no iris closed signal for the prescribed ten second wait, and lead the team through the wormhole to Earth.