"Impossible! I killed you!" Ba’al jumped to his feet in disbelief, saw with horror that not only did the rest of SG-1 have guns, but so did the rest of the slaves, the weapons yanked from within the hoard of treasure that was now acting as a barricade. Half of them were trained on the other Goa’uld who had frozen at this unexpected turn of events, the other half aiming at the Jaffa within the room.

"Apparently it didn’t take," the colonel quipped.

"You messed with the timeline..." Daniel’s voice was hard.

"We’re here to fix it," Sam finished

"Teal’c, what’s the meaning of this?" Apophis was also on his feet, shocked to see his missing First Prime consorting with Ba’al’s rebellious slaves.

"You are a false god. It will give me great pleasure to see you dead again," the Jaffa replied coldly.

"Can we get on with it?" Annika butted in with a malicious smile.

"You heard the lady!" Jack gave the command, and the room erupted into a reign of gunfire.

Five of the visiting Goa’uld were dead on the ground before the colonel had even finished giving the order. The others had been preparing to make a run for it, edging from their seats and had managed to duck behind the solid thrones at the first gunshot.

Ba’al had grabbed the Goa’uld to his left, using the unlucky Zipacna as a shield to escape the spray of bullets. "SHA’LOKMA’KOR!" His roared command at his Jaffa to kill the rebels was louder than the gunfire.

Apophis was the only one to remain standing still, barking out orders to his men. His hand brushed against his wrist to activate the personal shield, protecting him from the ensuing firefight. His loyal Jaffa began firing not only at the rebel slaves but at the Jaffa of the other Goa’uld. His original plan to overthrow Ba’al and takeover the First World was still uppermost in his mind and this added distraction could only work to his advantage. However he saw his advantage drop when Bra’tac gave his own battle cry and half of his Jaffa turned on their own. Was stunned when Bra’tac himself fired his staff weapon at him. His shield protected him, but Apophis decided retreat was the better part of valor and started hedging his way to the closest exit, hoping that Ba’al had his ‘secret’ escape tunnel in the same vicinity as his own.

For SG-1, while killing all the Goa’uld in the room would have been a fabulous bonus, it wasn’t their primary objective. They sprayed the central area around the middle thrones leaving the outer area clear as an avenue of escape.

"Go!" Jack barked, and Daniel, Annika and Teal’c hurdled over the gold barricade heading for Ba’al’s throne.

Charlie and four of his men immediately followed. The rebels ducked behind the smaller thrones, laying down cover fire so that the three could concentrate on locating the mirror attachment. After making sure that their teammates were in good hands, Jack and Sam began making their way towards the back of the room intent on their own assignment.

Peter gave Charlie a nudge. He was one of the original ‘Mickey Mouse Club’ and as such understood precisely the look his leader gave over his shoulder at the colonel. "We’ve got their backs." He gestured with his head to the three members of SG-1, shooting a single bullet to take down one of Ba’al’s Jaffa. "You watch theirs."

"Thanks, Pete." Charlie let off a round of bullets to clear a path and he headed towards Jack and Sam who were fighting their way through. Two more of his original crew jumped the barricade to help.

The military couple was steadily making progress, taking out two more Goa’uld who were stupid enough to get in their way, dodging staff blasts from the loyal Jaffa trying to protect their gods.

"Dad, duck!"

Jack heard the calm authority in his son’s voice and didn’t question the command. He dropped and rolled as a fire bolt whizzed above him. Didn’t need to look behind him as two shot’s rang out from Charlie’s gun, the loud clatter of armor hitting the floor telling him that the bullets had hit their mark. He gave his son a proud smile of thanks, catching sight of another Jaffa peeking out from behind one of the room’s massive pillars aiming a staff at Charlie’s back. "Son, down!"

Sam was the first to reach Ba’al’s private chambers, and she hurriedly tapped out the opening sequence. As soon as the doors began to slide across, the group was dashing inside.

The sight that befell them was unexpected and they immediately spread out, guns trained around the room rather than the open entrance. The chamber looked like a tornado had hit. The smaller pieces of furniture were overturned and clothes and sheets were haphazardly strewn all over.

"Isn’t the battle outside?" Charlie whispered, checking under the bed for anyone in hiding.

Sam caught a rustling sound from within the bath chamber. "Sir." Using her gun she indicted the adjacent room to the others.

Cautiously they peered through the doorway, to see a disheveled Ba’al madly searching through the towels and discarded clothes on the floor. "Where is it?" he growled to himself.

"Looking for this, Balls?" Jack drawled, holding up the key to the temporal box.

Ba’al spun around at the colonel’s mocking tone, his eyes flashing in rage. "Give me the key and I will let you live," he arrogantly demanded, as though he didn’t have five guns aimed at him.

"What, so you can warn yourself this is going to happen?" Jack scoffed. "I so don’t think so." Keeping the Goa’uld in his sights he tossed the key to Sam.

The major caught it and strode over to the corner table where the temporal box sat. Carefully she removed a small cube of C4 from her pocket and quickly began setting up the explosive.

Jack motioned to the rebels. "Watch the door, I’ll take care of the god-wannabe."

Charlie was about to object about leaving him alone with Ba’al, but the flat look on his dad’s face had him snapping his jaw shut. Silently the three rebels did as ordered, making sure anyone who made it within twelve feet of the chamber was welcomed with a bullet between the eyes.

Ba’al was trying to use what knowledge his counterpart had sent him to play on Jack’s weaknesses. The colonel did his best to ignore him, though it was hard because the Goa’uld knew which button to push.

"I saved your son, O’Neill. Do you not want to see him live the long life you failed to give him? For you not to have the guilt that has haunted you for being responsible for his young life being cut so tragically short…"

Jack gritted his teeth. In his ear, he heard Teal’c report in that they had the attachment. "Roger that. Get your butts to the mirror and start working out how to use it. We’ve got things covered here."

"You and your team can all grow old with your families. I’ll even let you use the sarcophagus for even more longevity." Ba’al threw out what he thought would be a tempting lure.

The colonel didn’t acknowledge the false promise. "Carter, how’s it coming?"

"Almost done, sir." Sam inserted the detonator pin.

"What, no mocking retorts to try and goad me?" the Goa’uld sneered. Upon sneaking into his quarters, he’d first located his hand device arming himself before remembering the key was not hanging around his neck. The weapon had been forgotten as he had frantically searched for it. However upon the annoying intrusion of these slaves, he’d been unobtrusively inserting his fingers into the caps, using his ‘plea’ to O’Neill as a distraction.

"I’m saving my taunts for when you’ll remember them," Jack replied coolly.

"You were described as a worthy adversary." The last cap slid onto his pinky and he powered up the device, hiding its glow in the side of his robes. "You disappoint me, O’Neill."

"Like I give a shit what you think." Jack wasn’t falling for the distraction. He knew precisely what the snakehead was doing. And I’ve just about had enough of this crap…

Ba’al clearly was thinking the same thing. Yet before his hand with the deadly weapon had even raised beyond his waist, Jack fired a round into the Goa’uld’s chest. For a second Ba’al wore a stunned expression of disbelief. The last thing he saw was Jack’s hatred and loathing.

"See you in the real timeline." He fired another shot hitting Ba’al right between the eyes. As the Goa’uld’s body crumpled to the floor, Jack waited stonily to make sure the symbiote hadn’t survived to escape. After a few seconds without movement, he gave a sigh of disgust. "You got off easy, you bastard." Turned on his heel to check on how Sam was doing.

The major had her hands within the temporal field. She’d opened the wooden box and attached the C4 to the lid. "All set."

Jack gave a nod. "Okay, everyone take cover. We don’t know big she’ll blow."

The rebels ducked into the bath chamber, hoping the dividing wall would offer enough protection from the blast.

The colonel leapt onto the bed, grabbing hold of Sam’s flack jacket. "Ready?"

Sam nodded. "Three, two, one…" She flicked the switch, flipped the box shut and sprang back.

Jack used her momentum to haul her through the air, jumping off the bed himself. They both landed on the floor on the far side of the king sized bed. Instinctively he rolled them so his body was between Sam and the direction of the blast that rocked the room a split second later.

The force of the explosion propelled the pure gold bed across the room, taking the two of them with it. The side of heavy bed rose up at a ninety degree angle, still flying through the air. Sam and Jack could only cling to each other as skidding across the floor, they helplessly watched the bed come crashing down on top of them.

A second later when the only thing that landed on them was a rain of feathers and silk sheets, they cautiously lifted their heads to see the bed that had been going to squash them like bugs, leaning teepee style against the wall they had bounced into.

"Got all your fingers and toes, honey?" Jack brushed a feather from her shoulder.

"Yeah, you?" Her hands already running over his arms and legs to answer the question herself.

"Carter," he drawled. "Explain to me again why we decided on a two second timer."

"We didn’t want to risk giving the Ba’al’s of the past time to diffuse it."

"Risk. Right." He tapped at a nasty gold shard of what could have been a table leg that had skewered the base of the bed and was currently poking through the mattress a few inches above their heads. "Did we consider the risk a two second timer would be to us?"

"Yes, sir, it was mentioned," she grinned.

"Sweet, as long as we mentioned it."

The sheet that was pinned between the mattress and the wall, acting like a curtain was pulled aside and the couple looked up to see Charlie peering down at them.

"Ya’ know, if you wanted a private moment, you only had to ask," he teased, though it did nothing to hide the anxiety creasing his face.

Sam gave an exaggerated eye roll, accepting his helping hand to get up. "Now you tell us!"

"You kids okay?" Jack crawled out, his eyes assessing the state of the rebels, confirming their nods with his own eyes, then he caught his first look at the rest of the room. "Whoa."

Sam was also studying the devastation. The entire corner of the room was now a gaping hole of torn and melted gold sheeting. She surmised that rather than contain the blast, the temporal field had enhanced it. "Guess we could have used a smidgen less C4."

"Ya’ think?"

The dual response from both O’Neills had them all grinning.

The sound of gunfire brought them back to the current situation. Reloading their weapons with new rounds, father and son poked their heads around the chamber entrance to see how the battle was going outside. If anything it looked like there were even more Jaffa and rebels fighting than when they entered.

"That’s gonna be tough," Jack mused.

"Why not take a short cut?" Sam was also looking through an ‘entrance’, though this one was newly formed and still had smoking bits of wire at its threshold.

Jack grinned, partly at the easy solution, partly at the rather nice view of his fiancée bent over examining the hole in the floor. He nudged Charlie with his elbow. "See, always knew there was a reason I chose her for my team."

"Hammond, assigned me, remember?" Sam used the butt of her gun to fold back a sharp piece of metal. "You had no choice."

"Then remind me to thank him for foisting you on me." Jack warily stuck his head down the hole, making sure the room they were about to descend into was safe.

"Uh huh. Colonel, you are so sleeping on the couch." Sam sat back on her heels flashing Charlie a grin. He smiled back, though she saw a sadness filter across his face. "Um, I’ll sweep the room below."

Charlie saw that he’d made the woman uncomfortable, which hadn’t been his intent. He guessed correctly that Sam had thought he was upset about her relationship with his dad. But it wasn’t that at all. It had just hit him that this time with his dad was coming to an end; that in a few minutes if the plan didn’t run into any hiccups, Jack would be through the mirror to fix the timeline. A timeline where he no longer existed except in the hearts and memories of his parents. "Samantha," he placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from jumping down the hole. "Things are bound to get even more bat shit crazy before we’re through, so I just want you to know I would have loved to have you as my step-mom."

The blonde raised her hand to gave the young man’s hand a squeeze, a lump forming in her throat at his sincerity, at realizing what that look of sadness had really been about. "And I would have loved to have you as my step-son."

"Oh, and take care of Dad, he’s not the spring chicken he thinks he is," he grinned, temporarily lightening the mood.

"Always, I promise." She gave another hand squeeze, then sharing a wistful smile with Jack, slid down to the next level.

"Fellas, give Samantha a hand?" Charlie asked his men.

They nodded and lowered themselves down without comment. They didn’t know the full details of the changes in the correct timeline, but clearly father and son right now wanted a private word.

For a moment neither man said anything, then Jack cleared his throat.

"Goodbyes suck. I’ve never been any good at them."

"So don’t say it," Charlie shrugged, holding out his hand. "It’s been an honor working with you, Colonel."

"The honor’s all mine, Sir." Jack took the hand and shook it, then yanked him forward into a tight hug. "A dream come true."

"Just make my dream come true," he whispered gruffly. "Fix what Ba’al screwed up."

"Will do," Jack replied equally hoarse. Their embrace tightened for a long moment then they pulled away and went to join the others below.

Sam had her ear pressed against the join of the door, listening for any sounds to identify what they’d be heading into. So far she’d heard nothing. No matter the urgency of their predicament, Sam wouldn’t rush Jack and Charlie’s goodbyes. Daniel and herself had said theirs while they were staggering their morning arrival onto the ship. She didn’t care if a troop of Jaffa burst through the door, she wouldn’t deprive Jack of this special moment. Telltale thumps of boots hitting the floor told her Jack and Charlie were ready to keep going.

"All that housework for nothing!" Jack quipped when he realized they were in one of the rooms they’d cleaned not two hours ago. "Carter, anything?"

"No. But I don’t know if that’s because the walls are soundproofed or because the fighting hasn’t made its way down here yet."

"Well, let’s think the worst and hope for the best." Jack rechecked his gun, made sure everyone else was at the ready. "Let’s move out, campers."

Sam hit the glyph to open the door. Only silence greeted them and they warily began moving down the corridor, keeping their eyes and ears trained for the slightest movement. They made it all the way to the elevator without running into a single enemy. Riding the lift down one level, they were under no illusions that their luck would hold. When the doors slid open it revealed a war zone of Jaffa and rebels.

They immediately took offensive positions, firing at anyone dressed in chain mail.

"Carter, I don’t suppose the mirror is in the room closest to us?"

"Nope. It’s right in the middle."

"Of course it is," the colonel sighed, taking down another of the warriors.

Steadily they began to clear a path down the corridor, leaving a pile of bodies in their wake. They’d made it about halfway when another full troop of Jaffa emerged behind them.

His men took a few precarious moments to stack some of the armored bodies scattered around them and ducked behind them using them as barricade.

"Go! We’ve got your backs!" Charlie commanded, over his shoulder, firing at the closest Jaffa. His clip empty he slid down twisting on his back to reload. He gave his dad a smile, lifting his hand in a short salute.

Jack returned the salute, and with an ache in his heart, took one last look at his son and returned his attention to the battle ahead of him.

Daniel fired his P-90, taking down one Jaffa and winging another. He and one of the rebels were covering their front and left, the other two rebels their back and right. He darted a look at Annika, who was crouched low, making herself as small a target as possible at the side of Ba’al’s throne. She was pointing out the sequence of the first compartment to Teal’c.

The Jaffa efficiently repeated the code and the drawer slid open. A quick rummage and he shut it. There was no need to ask if the attachment was inside. As the psychic used her third eye to focus on the next drawer, the warrior fired at anyone within close proximity who wasn’t a rebel.

"Okay, Teal’c, I’ve got the code." Annika had rose up a little to get a better view of the glyphs on top of the armrest.

Teal’c fired another volley then turned his attention back to the throne. "Show me."

Daniel couldn’t help a second look back, impatient to know if this was the one so they could get out of this exposed area. From the corner of his eye he saw Peter aim at one particular Jaffa. "No!" He lunged back, knocking the man’s gun so it fired harmlessly above the Jaffa’s head.

Peter glared at him for screwing up his shot. "What the fuck?"

"He’s with us," Daniel snapped. He would have thought the rebel had figured that little detail out when he’d been escorted through the checkpoint. Firing another spray of bullets in front of them with one hand, he beckoned Tarn’el over with the other.

The Jaffa gave a nod of acknowledgement and began carving a path through the carnage to them.

"Got it!" Annika exclaimed, tucking the Ancient technology into the pocket of her trousers.

Teal’c was already radioing Jack to inform him of their success.

Now that they didn’t have to ‘congregate’ at Ba’al’s throne, the group spread out a little behind the thrones while they waited for Jack’s update.

"O’Neill wants us to move on to the quantum mirror."

"What about Jack and Sam?" Annika asked, ducking a thankfully poorly aimed staff blast and returned fire on the Jaffa, her aim spot on accurate.

"They will follow." Teal’c scanned the room, looking for a path with the least resistance.

"Six of one, half a dozen of another," Annika muttered. The pockets of fighting seemed to have grown exponentially with the number of bodies. Troops were pouring in from side exits, mostly bearing the crest of Ba’al and Apophis.

"Tell your men to fall back." It didn’t matter to Daniel that within a day this timeline would cease to exist and this battle would never happen. If he could stop any deaths at any time then he would. "They can’t win with so few."

"Still gotta get you lot to the mirror," Peter reminded. He grinned as his teammate beside him gave a crow of triumph when he killed one of the few remaining Goa’uld trying to scurry away. "Besides, we’re having way too much fun."

Daniel let it lie, the rebels had after all been waiting a long time for this payback. He turned his attention to what Tarn’el was saying.

"I know of a possible safer route. An escape chute."

"Where’s it come out?" At this point, the archaeologist didn’t really care. Anywhere had to be better than here where they were sitting ducks.

"Glider bay." Tarn’el fired his staff at one of Apophis’s men, hitting him directly in the symbiote pouch.

The men of SG-1 gave a nod of agreement and they all followed Tarn’el’s lead to mow a track to the back corner of the room.

"But we don’t want the glider bay," Annika whispered to her husband, not understanding the strategy that would end with them the same distance away from their target as they were now.

"It’s likely the fighting will be less intense on the lower levels," Daniel patiently explained. "We can work our way back up."

Annika thought that logic through as they skulked, ducked and fired their way to behind the final column. If anyone was in the glider bay then they’d either be trying to get to the gliders or protecting them, and the next level up was the Jaffa quarters, which given the battle raging should be empty.

Tarn’el pushed aside one of the tapestries decorating the wall. He was surprised to see the secret door slightly ajar. "Someone has already used it."

"Who knows of its existence?" Teal’c asked with a frown.

"Only Ba’al, his First Prime and me."

On instinct, Annika reached down to touch the base of the chute that was angled sideways, running diagonally downwards along the inside wall. Her face broke out into a grin as a vision flashed in her mind. "The last ass to touch this was Apophis. He took a lucky guess that Ba’al’s escape chute was in the same place as his. He’s trying to get back to his ship to continue the assault from there."

"No one else, My Lady?" Tarn’el had long ago learned to trust the psychic’s word.

"Nope, not that I can sense."

"To be sure, I shall go down first and secure the area if it is needed." Teal’c didn’t give anyone a chance to object. He disappeared feet first into the chute.

Daniel and Annika grinned at each other. Their friend hadn’t been quick enough for them to miss the shine of hope in his eyes that his former Master was still in the vicinity.

"I shall assist." Tarn’el barely waited a five count before sliding down after him, a wicked smile on his lips.

"What was that about?" Peter asked. The Jaffa’s reasoning was sound given the circumstances but he’d picked up on their almost vindictive anticipation.

"It’s a Jaffa revenge thing." Annika positioned herself in the chute, holding herself steady until a solid ten seconds had passed. "See you on the other side!" She let go and disappeared into the hole.

The rebel’s were still looking confused.

"You’ve been slaves for eight years." Daniel gestured for them to go next. "I don’t know about Tarn’el, but Teal’c was a slave for about a century."

The three rebels nodded their understanding, however they held back, indicating that Daniel should go before them. "We’re supposed to be protecting your back, not the other way around."

"We protect each other’s backs," he contradicted, eyeing the battle that was closing in with every passing second.

Peter stood his ground. "Sorry, but CJ will tear us a new one if anything happens to you or your team."

"I can look after myself, you know." He found it absurdly amusing to be ‘mother hen-ed’ by people almost half his age.

"We don’t doubt that, Doctor Jackson," Peter replied solemnly. "Now get your ass down the chute."

With a chuckle Daniel did as ordered.

A  A  A

The ride down was an exhilarating rush, and Annika had to fight the urge to give a whoop of glee. Keeping her arms tucked into her chest as she gained speed, she absently thought that as fun as this slippery dip was, it wasn’t a very dignified mode of transport. She supposed that the need for speed superseded Ba’al’s obsession to remain dignified at all costs. When she came shooting out the other end into a small alcove, both Jaffa were there to catch her. She did her best not to smile at their rather disgruntled expressions at finding the room free from any Goa’uld. A few seconds later Daniel and then the rebel trio joined them and they peeked out into the huge hanger to assess the situation.

The first pockets of fighting were just emerging at the far end. Ba’al’s Jaffa were trying to get to the gliders to launch an aerial attack on Apophis’s ship. Apophis’s men were doing everything they could to stop them.

The group skulked around the gliders, managing to stay out of sight from the warring men.

"This way." Tarn’el directed them to a maintenance lift. "This will bring us to the far east corner of the science level. We will need to go three corridors across to access the mirror that you seek."

They all hopped on and the Jaffa removed a small hexagonal crystal from within his gauntlet and inserted it into the control panel. "An override key," he said by way of explanation. His finger paused over the button that would take them up. "The mirror is guarded by at least twelve Jaffa at all times. With the alarm raised, regardless of what else is happening on the ship, that number would have doubled, with a third contingent on its way."

"Well, that’s a bit excessive for a piece of décor," Annika grumbled.

"I think we all know it’s more than a mere decorative furnishing." Tarn’el’s lips twitched, then he became serious again. "The Jaffa will fight to the death to stop us from reaching it."

They all nodded in understanding. Tarn’el hit the glyph, and as they ascended they took defensive positions against the recess of the lift, preparing themselves. When the doors opened up the sound of discharging staff weapons could clearly be heard though it was muted by distance. Cautiously they crept down the hallway, checking each room to make sure no one was hiding within to ambush them once they’d passed. Edging towards the sounds of the fighting, they were partly down the second corridor, when there was a distinctive whine over the noise of battle, quickly followed by loud clomping boots.

"Jaffa just ringed in." Daniel’s needless warning came too late.

From the room directly ahead of them Apophis’s warriors seemed to pour out. Given no chance to hide their presence, the rebel group opened fire, starting a gunfight of their own that not only engaged the new arrivals, but drew the Jaffa from the final corridor they had been trying to sneak up on. And so began a deadly dance of zigzagging staff blasts and zats’, of ducking into side room entrances for a second of cover to reload, before jumping back into the fray with bullets flying.

They were only a few feet from their objective, miraculously with no injuries to themselves, when an armored body smashed into Annika from behind.

Daniel had been two steps back, firing at a Jaffa who’d appeared from a side passage. He had seen the man who had been Annika’s guard take a direct hit to the gut; a hit that would have struck his wife without the warrior’s intervention. Still firing with one hand he pulled the man off Annika so she was no longer pinned, and with her help they dragged him into the dubious safety of the lab.

Annika snatched at a lab coat that had been discarded over the room's only gurney, and pressed it against the gaping wound of the Jaffa, knowing that it was a futile effort. The staff blast had decimated his symbiote pouch. Even if they could stop the bleeding, the prim’ta was dead and without an immune system he would never survive. "I’m sorry, Tarn’el."

"No, it is I who am sorry," he rasped.

His words confused her. "You saved my life…"

"My Angel, we have to get the mirror set up." Daniel didn’t want to interrupt, but there was a battalion of Jaffa closing in.

Tarn’el raised glassy eyes to Daniel. "The duty of My Lady’s protection is passed on to you…"

Annika, distracted by pulling out the mirror attachment, missed her friend’s next words, however Daniel did not.

"…as it should have been."

He gave the Jaffa a sharp look, but the dying man grasped at Annika’s arm just as she tossed the device at Teal’c.

"My Lady, when the time comes, please do not hesitate…" His hand turned slack and the light of life flickered from his face.

Annika didn’t have time to ponder his cryptic last words as Jack and Sam came barreling into the room, firing wildly behind them.

"Please tell me the mirror’s fired up and ready to go!" Jack pulled the trigger over Sam’s shoulder taking down the first in a long line of Jaffa.

"Not yet." Annika scrambled to her feet to join Daniel who was already studying the tiny glyphs to work out the date sequencing. Now that they knew what the device was actually for, the four concentric oval rings of Ancient numbers made sense, though he had to take precious time to make sure he didn’t enter the ‘year’ in the ‘time’ circle. Distractedly he said, "We need the original stone to activate the mirror normally."

Annika searched the immediate vicinity, and found it sitting in a pouch that had been stuck to the back of the mirror itself.

"Can’t we close this door?" Jack asked, ducking a staff blast.

Teal’c, who had moved back to the lab entrance after attaching the device to help hold off the Jaffa, was the closest to the door control. He thumped his fist against the glyph. The doors began to slide out, then stopped after only a few inches. He tried again, but there was a harsh grinding sound as the mechanism jammed up. The Jaffa managed a peek out into the hall and saw the outer control panel had been melted by a staff blast. "The mechanism is damaged beyond repair."

"Daniel, I hate to nag-"

"Almost there." The archaeologist cut Jack off. He’d tried activating the attachment without first turning on the mirror but the device had lain dormant, which led him to the conclusion that it drew its power from the mirror itself. He’d been hoping to avoid opening the portal to a parallel universe, simply because they had no way of knowing what any other universe was going through at the moment. Reluctantly he concluded they had no other choice but to risk it. "Annika, turn it on."

She twisted the dial and the reflection changed to a mirror opposite of the room they were in, though there was no one in it.

Daniel had just flipped open the casing of the protected symbol when the door in the reflection slid open to reveal Ba’al.

Annika’s reaction was automatic. "Hi, Ba’al!" She smiled brightly, giving a wave with her left hand holding the mirror control. "Bye, Ba’al!" With her right she pulled the trigger of her P-90.

Before the shocked and now dead Goa’uld hit the floor, she was already switching to another reality. Only this time the scene was reminiscent of their own.

Both Daniel and Annika had to jump out of the way, giving a yell of warning to their team as staff blasts shot through the portal. Annika tried again and again, but each reality she switched to was a battle scene, though more often than not their counterparts were not in evidence. The couple were having trouble even getting close to the attachment, let alone close enough to activate it, too busy holding off the ‘intrusions’ from the other universes.

"Need some help here!" Daniel called, shooting at a Jaffa through the mirror.

Jack dodged away from the rogue staff blast that had shot through the portal, leaving Sam and Teal’c to deal with the Jaffa in their universe, to help with the alternate Jaffa.

Now that he was able Daniel hit the protected button, which glowed brightly at his touch, and the mirror flickered to a completely different scene. "That’s a good sign, well sort of." He recognized the room. It was the main foyer of the New York Museum of Art, or rather what was left of it. Recently, if the tendrils of smoke were anything to go by, the building had been hit by Goa’uld laser fire. Part of the outside wall was now a gaping maw, the rubble of bricks and broken artifacts creating a floor of devastation.

"I guess Apophis really meant business with his takeover bid," Annika murmured. She knew from her earlier visions that Apophis had planned a simultaneous strike on all of Ba’al’s primary bases not just on the ha’tak, she just hadn’t known where any of those bases were.

The moment the last glyph lit up, the mirror flickered and the devastation was gone, the foyer resumed to its former glory.

"Look." Annika motioned with her gun to the side of the room. The ticket and information counter no longer had computer terminals set up on the desk. In their place was a series of cash registers that were antiquated by their modern standards, however for the year 1973 they were brand spanking new.

Daniel quickly entered the month of August into the second ring of glyphs and then the specific date. The mirror again flickered, though there was no telltale evidence that the time had changed. Yet when he tapped the time they had chosen into the innermost ring, the foyer was plunged into darkness with only the faint glow of a few night lights. "That‘s it."

"Look out!" Sam’s warning had all of them ducking out of the way.

Annika and Jack, being directly in front of the mirror lunged through the portal. Daniel dove to the side, narrowly dodging the incoming staff blast.

Jack automatically did a sweep of the room as he rolled to his knees and spun back to the face the mirror. None of the others seemed to be injured. "Campers, let’s go!"

Sam and Teal’c laid down a final rain of cover fire before moving away from the door. Daniel could just be seen to the left scooting to his feet.

The safe pair in the museum, crouched by the side of the mirror, guns aimed at the now undefended entrance, ready to fire on anyone that showed even a toe beyond the threshold. The small black ball seemed to fly in slow motion through the air. Instantly they recognized it for what it was and shouted out a warning, for this they could not shoot.

"Grenade!"