The reflection of Jack blinked back at him. "Aw, crap!" He ran a hand through his hair. "This is not good."

"Maybe the mirror wasn’t destroyed." Annika clung to that hope. "Any second now they’ll switch it back on and step through."

They stared at the Ancient device that now was just acting like any other mirror, willing it not to show the museum foyer behind them, to show them the lab on Ba’al’s ship thirty years in the future. Long anxious seconds turned into minutes with no change.

"You don’t think they’re…" the redhead cut off and started again. "They made it, right? The blast wasn’t directly on them and our warning gave them a second to dodge out of the way…"

"Of course they made it." The colonel sounded more confident than he felt.

"What do we do, Jack?" Annika whispered. "We’re stranded here with no time device, no way of knowing where we can even find another one even if we could get to the Stargate…"

"Casper, let’s keep our heads…"

A cold hard knot of dread filled her stomach as the redhead realized what she still had clasped in her hand. "Jack…" A very evident tremble to her fingers she held up the original control device. "They can’t turn the mirror on."

Jack let out a not so steady breath, refusing to let the reality of what that meant claw its way out of his mind. "Maybe Ba’al has a spare lying around somewhere." He plucked the control from her clammy fingers and tucked it into his pocket. Out of sight, out of mind, at least that was the theory he was clinging to. "Now, as I was saying, let’s keep cool, and recap the basics. We’ve got time to work this out." He paused gathering his thoughts. "We don’t have to worry about that enscollop-cassie-thingy, right?"

"Um…no." Annika fought down the panic that threatened to escape and focused on the question. "We’re not in a parallel universe, we’re in our own, just back in time."

"Right. And since we didn’t get knocked on our asses and we’re still wearing the same clothes we left in, we’re not gonna merge with the us of this time."

That seemed logical to Annika. "No."

"You’re sure?"

"Yes…I think."

"I’m overwhelmed by your confidence," Jack said dryly.

"Jack, I hated science in school." She gave a frustrated huff. "Barely scraped through. You know more science from your pilot training than I do."

"Okay, Carter explained this time travel thing…" Jack tried to remember how Sam had described it when they had had a private moment, at the time he’d been a little distracted by other things. "Your bubble kept us protected, existing outside of time. Balls must have changed time by precisely counting down from the true time, making the three ripples happen simultaneously, otherwise we would have been in your bubble for way longer…and when your bubble turned off there was no choice but for the other us to merge with the real us, ‘cause we were them and they were us."

"Okay, so in this time we’re not us, because the other us are thirty-odd years younger." Annika gave herself a mental shake as it registered that her ‘summary’ only referred to Jack, since she hadn’t even been born yet.

"Right! Right?" He raised an eyebrow for confirmation.

"Sounds right," Annika agreed. "So we can-"

A loud voice behind them interrupted. "Freeze!"

At Annika and Jack’s shout of warning, the three members of SG-1 dove for cover a split second before the grenade exploded. Daniel and Sam ducked behind the metal med bed they’d tipped over and were using as a barricade. Teal’c dropped and rolled, covering himself with the body of a dead Jaffa. The Jaffa who’d thrown the grenade had miscalculated, making it detonate early, just before it entered the room. A mistake that had in all likelihood saved their lives, for the explosion became confined to the corridor and the radius of the doorway.

However the mirror wasn’t quite so lucky. Slightly off to one side from the doorway, it had been in the path of the blast. The searing shockwave had propelled the Ancient machine backwards to smash against the wall, cracking the stone frame.

Daniel scrambled over his debris, his heart missing more than one beat at the sight of the damaged mirror, of the reflection that showed not Jack and Annika in the peaceful interior of the New York Museum, but the chaos of the battle behind him. "God, no!"

Sam glanced back, wouldn’t let herself think the worst just yet. She fired at an oncoming Jaffa. "Is the attachment broken?"

The archaeologist reached for the device sitting drunkenly in its slot, the glyphs slightly scorched. Gave it a quick tap testing how hot it was. It was surprisingly cool despite the intense heat that had just engulfed it. Sure that he wouldn’t get burned he clicked it free then dove back behind the bed and began a quick examination. "I think it’s okay, but won’t know unless we can test it."

"Thank god," Sam heaved a sigh of relief. So possibly they weren’t completely screwed. "We’ve got to get to the hanger bay."

"Why? Without the mirror-"

"Trust me. I’ll explain later."

That was good enough for Daniel. Teal’c was already edging forward, firing randomly into the hall to get a better look at the situation outside.

Over twenty of Ba’al’s Jaffa were closing in from the right, half fighting Apophis’s men and rebels, the rest gaining ground on the med lab. To the left there was a heavy skirmish between the rebel Jaffa and the loyal men of Ba’al and Apophis.

"We are cut off."

"We can take the vents at least part of the way," Daniel suggested, already yanking the closest grate free from the wall. It wasn’t ideal, none of them liking the idea of being jammed in the tiny crawl space should they be discovered, however they didn’t have a choice.

The three of them scooted along the horizontal shaft until they met up with the joining vertical one leading to the lower levels. Using the internal ladder they climbed down and Sam peeked through the slats looking for a reasonably safe place to get out.

Everywhere around them was a battle zone. Whether they were fighting for freedom or their gods, the warriors were brutal, all fighting to win or die in the effort.

The major ducked as a spray of stray bullets ricocheted between the slots.

"Sam, you okay?" Daniel felt one of the bullets zing passed his arm tearing through his sleeve but miraculously missing his bicep.

"Yeah. You?"

"Fine. Teal’c?"

"I am uninjured."

"We’re better off staying in here until the hanger bay," Sam whispered. "No one specifically is taking pot shots at us, at least not yet anyway."

The men agreed and they once again started to slither through the confined space. One level down they halted, spreading out along the horizontal pipe to assess the area.

The degree of battle going on, while still intense, was not quite as bad as above, all of the warriors Jaffa rather than the Earth rebels. All but six of the death gliders had been deployed, and there was a lone teltak sitting off to one corner. Ba’al’s Jaffa were divided into two distinct groups. Both were involved in skirmishes, though approximately one third of them were defending the teltak, doing their best to keep Apophis’s men at bay.

"Teal’c, do you recognize any of Apophis’s men?" Sam asked.

Teal’c studied the men bearing the same mark as he. "I see two who were sympathetic to our cause in our time."

"So if they’re rebel Jaffa, they are less likely to deliberately shoot at us?" she asked hopefully.

"I would not rely on that assessment. As far as these men are concerned you and Daniel Jackson are sided with Ba’al."

"Damn, I was afraid of that." She watched as another glider flew out. "We have to get to that teltak, but if need be we could all cram into one of the gliders."

Daniel pointed across the room. "We could circle around and sneak out near the maintenance pit."

"The machinery will provide some cover." Teal’c gave his stamp of approval and they moved out.

They had managed to get out of the vent and were skulking along the back wall when one of Ba’al’s Jaffa spotted them. Firing his staff, he gave a bark of order at his colleagues and suddenly half of the guards around the ship focused their attention on the trio. Without pause they returned fire, ducking behind the bulky maintenance machinery

Daniel’s dodge had him landing heavily against the side panel of a diagnostic console and it gave a lurch at the impact. "This is on wheels." He exchanged a glance with Sam, who had rolled in beside him. Saw by her quick nod that she shared the same idea as him.

"Teal’c, we need your muscles!" Sam fired over the top of the large device, laying down cover fire so the Jaffa could join them.

Daniel and Teal’c put their weight behind the machine and pushed it towards the teltak, while Sam kept up a spray of bullets trying to keep the Jaffa back. It was slow going, the machine a lot heavier than it looked. However it wasn’t long before their effective, moveable barricade bumped into the hull of the scout ship.

The entrance to the teltak was thankfully along the inside wall of the hanger bay and after Teal’c took down the two Jaffa stationed there, the three of them began creeping to the door. They still had half the length of the scout ship to traverse, when from the opposite direction a new group of Jaffa appeared from a side alcove.

Sam gave a huff of annoyance as she caught sight of who this group were protectively escorting. "Damned, sarcophagus. Jack should have triple zat’ him."

Without hesitation the three members of SG-1 gunned down the wall of Jaffa who had hardly the chance to power up their staffs. Then had to duck as their bullets ricocheted off the personal shield that Ba’al had activated.

The Goa’uld gave a triumphant smirk as he hurried towards the teltak door, abandoning the rest of his escort behind him, entirely confident that SG-1’s weapons were powerless to stop him. He raised his hand, the ribbon device glowing ready to release its deadly force upon the vulnerable Tau’ri, who in the ‘corridor’ created by the hanger bay wall and the teltak hull, had nowhere to go.

The three blurs of sliver and black spinning through the air barely registered in the Goa’uld’s mind before the blades penetrated his shield and all three blades met their mark. One pierced Ba’al’s outstretched hand hitting just below the jewel of the ribbon device. His howl of agony was cut off as the second knife skewered his throat, severing not only his voice box but impaling the symbiote coiled around the host’s spinal column. The third landed off center in his chest, the sharp blade stabbing through his heart. With a gurgle of blood frothing from his mouth, Ba’al collapsed dead across the small entrance ramp.

The Jaffa who’d been behind Ba’al had their staffs raised ready to fire, just as SG-1 had their P-90s pointed at the warriors. A classic Mexican standoff. Neither group would survive if they opened fire.

"Our quarrel is not with you," Teal’c spoke to the warriors, who were clearly torn between the desire to seek vengeance for their god’s death and their natural instinct to want to live. "Leave now and we will not slay you as we did your false god."

The warriors exchanged wary glances, then slowly they began backing away. Sam, Daniel and Teal’c just as untrusting started edging forward, each of them aware that at any second, the Jaffa battling at the front of the teltak could appear behind them.

Daniel kicked Ba’al’s body off the ramp to clear the doorway and the three of them entered the small scout ship. Still keeping their guns trained on the retreating Jaffa, Sam hit the release button and the door slid shut. Teal’c was already positioning himself at the control before the mechanism locked them in.

"To where shall I set the coordinates, Major Carter?" The Jaffa powered up the engines, activating the shields before doing an automatic systems check.

"New York City." Sam couldn’t help but wave cheekily through the view screen.

The Jaffa who’d been so valiantly battling to take control of the scout ship were completely stunned to see two slaves and a rebel Jaffa at the helm.

Daniel’s grin was equally mischievous, making a shooing motion with his hands at the warriors, signaling them to get out of the way or get bowled over. "New York?" Recognition dawned. "Of course."

Teal’c smoothly maneuvered the Goa’uld vessel from the hanger bay, flicking on the ship’s cloak before they had even left the deck. The sky was as much a battle zone as the ha’tak they’d just escaped from, with death gliders of both Ba’al and Apophis engaged in a vicious aerial war. However with the teltak cloaked, Teal’c was able to fly the ship to the outer stratosphere of the planet without detection, setting an easy course to their destination. The ride was relatively quiet within the scout ship. Though the immediate danger was behind them, they were each concerned about what lay ahead. There was no point in voicing them, no amount of ‘theory’ discussion would help. It was a strictly practical exercise they had to do, and it would either work or it wouldn’t.

Daniel was working on the positive assumption and was thinking through the practical side of what they would need to do once they rejoined Annika and Jack. The one good thing about this mess was that those two were safe. They maybe trapped in the year 1973, but Ba’al hadn’t invaded there. Their biggest threat was the Jaffa who had been sent to alter the timeline, and he was confident that his wife and best friend could handle that…oh, and not getting caught by the museum’s night watchmen. He gave his head a small shake, bringing himself back to his own situation. There had been something nagging at him since they had formulated the plan of changing the timeline back, and now as they coasted over the vast terrain of America it finally hit him what they had forgotten. "Sam, do you have any money on you?"

Both the major and Teal’c arched an eyebrow at the anomalous question.

"No."

"Teal’c?" Daniel wasn’t too hopeful that he would have any either. Taking normal currency with them off-world was pointless, no planet other than Earth recognizing the US dollar as anything except bits of paper.

"I do not."

"Um…we’re going to need it. Specifically, we’re going to need notes that predate 1995 and 1983.…and not get them mixed up."

Sam’s eyes widened. "Yeah, we will." Let out a deep breath, the myriad of consequences immediately running through her mind if they had arrived penniless. The idea was to spend the least amount of time in the past as possible to minimize the risk of them changing anything besides what they had to. If the last day had proven anything, it was that even the slightest change could seriously impact the timeline. Without money, they’d have to travel across two states and every person they had contact with jeopardized the true timeline…and even with money, passing notes that had been printed in the future would be just as bad. She stifled a shiver. "Nice pick up."

"Yeah," Daniel shrugged. "But now where do we get money that is over twenty years old."

"Should we not also procure money that predates 1973?" Teal’c asked.

They contemplated both questions.

"Well, we’re not planning on leaving the museum except via the mirror, but I guess if we can we should get some, just in case things don’t go as planned." Daniel gave a weak smile. "Things haven’t exactly gone smoothly."

Sam and Teal’c gave a grimace of agreement.

"There are only two places I can think of that have a high turn around of money," Sam mused. "Casinos and banks."

"On a normal day, I’d hazard a guess that a casino would probably have less security." Daniel was thinking out loud. "But there are no casinos in New York. Closest place would be Atlantic City."

"But this isn’t a normal day. Do we know if Atlantic City is currently under attack?" Sam looked hopefully at the men. The chaos of being in a war zone would only work in their favor.

"We do not," Teal’c replied. "However we do know that New York is, and it is unlikely that Ba’al would have two strongholds so close to each other geographically."

"Then a bank it is." The major gave a deep sigh, one that was echoed by Daniel.

Teal’c studied his teammates, confused by their troubled expressions. "Are you not happy that this forgotten detail was discovered in time?"

"Um…yeah, we are," Sam exchanged a pain look with Daniel.

He adjusted his glasses on his nose. "It’s just adding ‘bank robber’ to our resumes isn’t something I’m looking forward to."

The Jaffa was silent a moment, searching for a way to ease his friends’ moral dilemma. "When we rectify the timeline, this day will not have occurred, ergo you will not have to adjust your credentials."

"Good point," Sam conceded.

"I suppose," Daniel nodded. "All the same, let’s leave this part out of the official report. No point giving people like Kinsey any ammunition against us."

"Agreed." Sam and Teal’c nodded.

"So, Clyde, do ya’ know a money pot close to the museum?" Sam nudged Daniel with her elbow.

"Why, Bonnie, I do believe I know just the joint," Daniel chuckled.

Teal’c raised an eyebrow, not understanding the reference to the infamous bank robbers, however he said nothing, simply adjusted their heading to take them down to the island city.