PART I

Chapter 1:

Colonel Jack O'Neill walked into the briefing room hands stuffed deep in his pockets head down. He wearily sat down in the chair closest to the television that had been set up to play the video tape. He closed his eyes for a brief moment inhaling deeply before he turned on the recording. He leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees exhaling the breath he had been holding and pressed play.

The picture was jerky, dark, and unfocused for a few moments until a light came on and a face came into view.

The face began to speak, weak and in pain. "My name in Samantha Carter, Major, U.S. Air Force, member of SG-1. I am dying."

O'Neill paused the tape and leaned back in his chair unsure if he really wanted to view the remainder. He rubbed his calloused hands through his hair and over his face as he fought his internal battle of want versus should. Minutes passed as Carter's frozen image stared back at him. Reluctantly he pressed play.

6 Months Ago

Jack O'Neill was bored. "Carter, remind me again why we're on P4X…"

"532, sir." She volunteered the remainder of the planet designation knowing the colonel would claim to not know the rest. "Trade negotiations for Naquadah and the opportunity to study their Naquadah enhanced pulse cannon."

"Right, the big honking space gun," he replied ginning at Carter. He knew she was thrilled. He would even describe her as giddy to have the opportunity to study the pulse cannon. The military was as excited as Carter was. Although the Volostrians would not trade for one of their cannons, they did agree to allow Carter access to study the design during SG-1's stay. If they were able to reverse engineer the design, Earth would have a viable weapon to use against the Goa'uld. "Yes, well, off you go to do what ever it is that you do while we guys have all the fun." He motioned at her as if shooing her out of the room.

"Yes, sir," she replied failing to keep the smile from her face.

'Mission accomplished,' thought O'Neill. 'Make Carter smile.'

"Stay in radio contact."

Carter nodded and turned to leave the meeting room but stopped suddenly and walked over to Daniel. "Daniel, did you bring you camcorder?"

"Always."

"Would you mind if I borrowed it?"

"Sure Sam, are you planning on doing some sight-seeing on the way?" He asked jokingly as he dug through his field pack and handed her the recorder.

"I was hoping the Volostrians would allow me to record some of my observations of the pulse cannon. It would be a lot easier so I wouldn't have to write down so much."

"Don't have too much fun."

"Thanks, Daniel, same to you," she replied giving him a bright smile and left the room.

"We were on a trade mission to P4X-532. Don't know what happened to Colonel O'Neill, Daniel, or Teal'c. Lost radio contact after the attack."

The explanations were short in between gasps for breath.

He could sense she was fighting to stay conscious, trying to explain what happened before she…before she could not fight any longer.

The attack happened fast. A Volostrian research scientist was giving Major Carter a tour of the weapon's facility when several heavily armed groups stormed the building. Weapons fire and shouting could be heard throughout. Carter instinctively keyed her radio to appraise SG-1 of the situation. "Colonel O'Neill, come in. The weapons facility is under attack. I repeat we are under attack."

She quickly motioned for her escort to retreat as they took cover in a secluded alcove in the hallway they had been proceeding down. She could hear heavy footsteps approaching their position and raised finger to her mouth motioning the scientist to remain quiet. Three heavily armed soldiers approached their position and passed. Carter stepped from her hidden position and opened fire at the group felling the three men. She turned back to the scientist, "we have to go," grabbing his arm to lead him away. Her radio came to life as they began to make their way down the hall.

"Carter, this is O'Neill, respond."

As she reached for her radio to respond, she was thrown forward by an energy blast. She hit the floor with a sickening thud landing on her P-90 pain emanating from her back and chest. 'Dammit, where the hell did that come from?' she thought as she tried to quickly turn onto her back. A ruthless kick to her side first prevented her from moving. She was too dazed to fight as her arms were forced roughly behind her back and quickly and efficiently bound and a heavy, suffocating hood was placed over her head.

As quickly as the attack happened, she was hustled out of the weapons facility and into some type of transport vehicle, moving away from the building, away from Volostra, away from SG-1.

Throughout, she could hear Colonel O'Neill calling for her on the radio. "Carter, come in. What the hell is happening?" She listened as his calls grew more frantic ordering her to communicate helpless to respond. "Dammit, Major, report!" The calls became filled with static the further the transport moved away, "Car…t…, SG…way…e..a.. 10 mi…s…" then silence.

The negotiations were going nowhere. God, what O'Neill would give to be with Carter right now touring the weapons facility instead of being here. Space guns he could deal with even if he didn't understand anything about them. Posturing bureaucrats only interested in , he hated.

"Minister Hvas, we are prepared to offer our assistance in the development of improved Naquadah based energy technology for access to your Naquadah mining operation." Thankfully Daniel was handling most of the negotiations. O'Neill would have left an hour ago.

"Dr. Jackson, your offer is enticing, however…" Minster Hvas was interrupted by O'Neill's radio blaring to life Carter's voice filling the room.

"Colonel O'Neill, come in. The weapons facility is under attack. I repeat we are under attack." O'Neill shot a Daniel and Teal'c an alarmed look and reached for his radio to respond.

"Carter, this is O'Neill, respond." The radio was silent as he waited impatiently for a reply. He looked sternly to Minister Hvas for an explanation. "Minister, what is going on? Who is attacking your facility?" A look of fear on the minister's face told O'Neill he knew something.

He tried his radio again. "Carter, come in. What the hell is happening?" The radio replied with silence. "Dammit, Major, report!"

O'Neill rose from his position at the conference table and angrily walked over to Minister Hvas. He grabbed him, roughly pulling him up. "I want to know what the hell is going on and I want to know now!" He spat the words in the minister's face.

"I…I…don't."

O'Neill cut him off. "I don't want to hear that crap. Who attacked the facility?"

"Colonel, you must understand. This was not meant to happen. We were aware of them, but we assumed they…we had hoped Major Carter would be able to…" The minister babbled incoherently as SG-1 looked on in frustration.

"Stop. Just stop. What are you trying to say, Hvas?"

Minister Hvas looked at O'Neill and dropped his head in resignation. "The Naquadah pulse cannon is not fully operable. The facility is still conducting research. We were hoping Major Carter's expertise in Naquadah would allow us to finally complete the project."

"You were just using her to fix you big gun? Why not just ask?"

"We were afraid you would say 'no'." 'Hindsight is twenty twenty.' He irritatingly muttered under his breath.

"Who attacked the facility?" O'Neill demanded again.

"It must have been the Midgren. They…" The minister hesitated choosing his words carefully before continuing. "They have extreme views…"

O'Neill had heard enough. "Carter, we're on our way, eta 10 minutes."