"How many?"

The immediate question from both father and son gave the man pause.

Jack’s eyes flicked to the faded stripes on the rebel’s uniform. "Sergeant, how many?" he repeated, his hands automatically sliding to his P-90 to prepare the weapon.

The colonel’s authoritative tone had the rebel snapping to, responding to Jack rather than his official leader. "Twenty within earshot of each other. At least another thirty visible but not in hearing range of the first squad."

"Are they searching or routine patrol?" Jack didn’t need to look at his team to know they had also checked their weapons. He did note that the rebels were a tad slower off the mark.

"Seems to be routine."

"How secure is the entrance to this place?" Jack barely caught himself from the habit of asking Hammond the question and directed it to Charlie.

There was a touch of defiance in his eyes at having his authority usurped, however Charlie had been in enough of these situations to know now wasn’t the time to get in a pissing match over who was in charge. "It’s only visible at a certain angle from the outside, but we can see anyone approach."

"Show us." Jack gestured for Charlie to lead.

The young man and Hammond exchanged glances. A quick, silent debate on what to do, to put their trust in these people or not. They reached the same conclusion. At the moment they didn’t really have a choice.

"This way." Charlie strode across the room, his nine mil gripped tightly in his hand. He nodded at his men in the main cavern who were arming themselves. "Hold up while we check it out." They gave a returning nod of acknowledgement and Charlie led SG-1 to a side passage wide enough for four men to walk abreast.

"How did you get the refugees in here?" Daniel asked, keeping his voice low.

Everyone else followed suit in an effort to minimize any echo filtering out beyond the cave.

"Why?" Charlie queried.

Teal’c answered. "So many people would leave signs of their passing. Tracks, broken foliage."

"They were brought in by small groups," Hammond spoke over the Jaffa, not needing the explanation. "Never used the same path twice. Approximately a hundred feet before the entrance is solid rock. No tracks in the immediate vicinity."

Jack nodded, holding his hand up for silence as the darkness of the tunnel receded. The guard posted at the entrance moved aside, and SG-1 and the rebels peered out.

SG-1 had already surmised that the base was situated in the belly of a mountain, however their assumption that the base was set up like the SGC, that is, below ground, was incorrect. In fact the opposite was true. The entrance was approximately a third of the way up the rocky slope, giving them a view of the land below. Sometime in the distant past, part of the mountain face had broken off, revealing the tunnel and creating the plateau Hammond had spoke of. The dislodged rock had crashed down creating an intermittent wall of boulders. Beyond the rock, the land tapered down into a sparse forest with a few thickets of shrubs. The Jaffa could be seen in pairs as they moved between the trees, their armor glinting in the sunlight.

"You’re sure this entrance is hidden?" Sam’s whisper wasn’t overly confident.

Hammond nodded. "We tested it before setting up base. The shadows of the boulders hide it. Except for sixty degrees southeast, but the glare from the sun makes it all but impossible to see."

"Peachy," Jack sighed. "Which is right where those tin cups are heading."

At that moment the bright sunlight dimmed, a cloud passing in front of the sun.

"Crap. Carter…"

"On it, sir." Sam had already thought of and discarded a half a dozen plans in her head. "Daniel, you have your camera handy?"

"Always." The archaeologist had learned early on to have the recording device on his person at all times rather than in his pack. Even though this ‘mission’ had originally been recreational, habit had seen him tuck it safely in his side leg pocket. He pulled out the high-resolution digital camera that had a few tweaks added to it, and flicked it on. "What do you need?"

"Picture of the rock face from outside." Sam was backing up the way they had come. "McKay, I need you. Back in a minute, sir."

"A minute’s all we’ve got, Carter." Jack gave a wave of acknowledgement, his eyes still scanning the terrain. He did a rough guesstimate of the how fast the Jaffa were moving. Okay, a minute wasn’t being fair, they had maybe a full four minutes. Plenty of time to work out some sort of plan.

Daniel scooted down and using the low wall of boulders as cover, eased out onto the plateau to snap the required picture. Teal’c stepped closer to the mouth of the cave with his gun raised, watching his friend’s back.

"Casper, I don’t suppose you could give that cloud a little nudge?" Jack asked hopefully.

"I guess I could," Annika contemplated the request. "But do you really want me to mess with the weather?"

"What weather? Use your hocus pocus and give it a shove."

"It’s already being blown by the wind," she explained. "I’d be screwing with the wind currents."

Daniel crabbed-walked back in. "Jack, did you ever wonder about the origins of the theoretical adage, a butterfly flaps its wings…"

"Yeah, yeah, tidal wave in Timbuktu," the colonel grumped. "A simple, ‘no, Jack’ would’ve sufficed."

"No, Jack." Annika grinned impishly.

"Smartass." Jack rolled his eyes. "Any chance you have any Goa’uld weapons?"

It took a moment for the rebels to realize that Jack was addressing them. The finishing of each other’s sentences and the switching from casual banter to strategy flowed so naturally between SG-1 that they were having trouble keeping up. But it did ram home to the rebels that this group of people truly were a team; a team who acted in total synchronization like a well oiled machine.

"We’ve got a few," Hammond answered.

"T…"

"Take me to them." Teal’c stepped back from his post at the front and turned to the general.

"And, T…"

"I shall check on the progress of Major Carter." He set off at a fast jog with Hammond by his side.

"How many scouts you got out there?" Jack returned his attention to the roaming Jaffa.

"Six. Hand picked for their ability to blend in."

Jack gave his son a nod of respect. "They’ve been trained well. I haven’t spotted one."

Charlie flushed at the compliment, not only because it came from his father, but from the black ops commander that he was. "Why do you want the Goa’uld weapons? Our guns have better range and aim."

"If we have to take out only one or two, better to make it look like one of their own shot them." Jack didn’t know how to feel about sharing military tactics with his boy.

"Uh oh." Daniel nudged Jack and pointed to the right of the forest.

All heads followed his finger to a thicket that was a rough half circle of tall shrubs. On the side facing the cave was Jeff. How the teenager hadn’t been spotted by the roaming patrol must have been the biggest fluke of all time. Oblivious to the Jaffa prowling around him, he was crawling over the grass picking wild flowers. From their elevated position they could see three pairs of Jaffa, for the moment equally unaware of Jeff’s presence, closing in.

"McKay, keep up." Sam set off at a quick trot back down the tunnel. What she needed for her idea to work was hopefully still sitting on the table in the main cavern amongst the Goa’uld items she had seen earlier. She could have run, but there was one obstacle she had to overcome before even touching the devices. "I’m going to use one of the holo-devices you have to project an image of the rock face."

The major waited for McKay’s inevitable bitching and moaning. She swore the man was more conditioned than Pavlov’s dogs, however rather than salivate at the sound of a bell, McKay would declare her plan unachievable.

"Impossible!" McKay huffed beside her. "By the time you reconfigure the display you’ll have the Jaffa here to hand you the tools."

"Don’t need to reconfigure the device. Daniel’s camera is already equipped with the modified program. I just have to connect the two." First objection out the way, she added silently.

"The color matrix is all wrong for the impression of matt rock. It’ll glow like the proverbial message from God, ‘Entrance to secret rebel base here’."

"A simple tweak to the diffuser will take care of that." Objection two shot down. If she were lucky he’d run out of excuses before they even reached the table.

McKay took a deep breath to launch into his next ‘problem’. "The size of the hologram is automatic. It won’t be large enough to cover the entire entrance."

"Built in, but not permanent. We can override the control." That’s what Sam was hoping anyway. Not that she would ever admit it to McKay, for it would only give the whiny scientist something to latch onto to, but she’d never actually done it before. The theory was sound, based on the mission when SG-1 had stumbled into a Jaffa training camp. The fifty foot hologram of Apophis that they had manipulated had been projected by a vocume which was a similar device as the numerous holo-emitters they’d gathered over the years that displayed smaller images.

They ran out into the cavern, dodging the anxious rebels waiting for an update.

"Rodney, what’s happening?" Corbin asked, his weapon locked and loaded, ready to fight.

"Busy trying to save our lives." McKay flapped at the rebel like he was a mosquito. "I’ll let you know when to thank me."

Sam couldn’t stop her eye roll at McKay’s arrogance. "We’re working on it," she replied as she dashed by Corbin. "McKay, I’ll need your tool kit."

"I hate to be the voice of negativity," McKay dug a small roll kit from his pocket. "But assuming you can do what you proclaim," he didn’t attempt to hide his skepticism, "a small glitch. None of the holo-devices are functional."

A  A  A

"Shit." The curse hissed from Charlie’s mouth. "Who was supposed to be keeping an eye on him?" He recanted the question as soon as it was out. "Scrap that. Doesn’t matter. We’ve gotta get him in here." He started to move to rescue his simpleminded friend but Jack blocked him before he stepped from the shadows.

"No way you can get down there without being seen." Fatherly protectiveness made his tone gruffer than usual. Altered timeline or not, he couldn’t, wouldn’t, let his son risk his life like that.

"I…we can’t let him be caught." Charlie struggled against Jack’s iron grip. "He barely survived the last time."

Jack saw beyond the worry of Jeff’s safety and the very real risk that his trusting friend would give away their location. The guilt that haunted Charlie’s face was reminiscent of what Jack saw in the mirror everyday.

"Allow me." Annika moved forward so that she had a clear view of the boy. She twisted her hand in the Nox trick, directing the fold of air to encompass Jeff. A second later his crouched body disappeared. Still holding the weave, she focused her will, lifting him gently up into the air just as the first set of Jaffa entered the thicket.

Though they couldn’t hear it themselves, Jeff must have made some sort of exclamation because the Jaffa immediately started searching the area, and the other two pairs clambered through the shrubs, their actions full of intent to locate the source of the noise. The warriors’ heads swung upwards, raising staff weapons to the sky, which as far as they could see was clear.

"He’s giggling," Annika said quietly in explanation to her anxious colleagues.

"Make him stop," Jack whispered urgently.

The Jaffa were charging their staffs, preparing to fire into the air.

A  A  A

"What? But you’ve got three." Sam blinked at McKay in disbelief.

"Thank you for the math lesson."

"What’s wrong with them?" She skidded to the table and grabbed the closest of the golden technology, hitting the small glyph that should have activated it. She prayed that this McKay had the same penchant for inappropriate humor as the one from her timeline. To her dismay the device lay dormant in her hand.

The scientist gave a huff of annoyance at her failed test. "Oh, yeah, I’d really joke about something like that at a time like this. I had no other plans today so I decided it would be a good time to die at the hands of Ba’al’s Jaffa."

Sam ignored his sarcasm and repeated her question, already flipping open the casing. As soon as she looked inside she had her answer.

"Broken crystal," McKay answered needlessly. His jaw dropped when he saw Sam deftly give the crystal a rough yank, using more force than he would have been prone to use with the alien technology.

Discarding the useless power source she tossed it to the table and her fingers carefully but quickly probed the inside the device, muttering under her breath. "People shouldn’t play with things they know nothing about. Damned thing was jammed inside backwards." She gave a sigh of relief when her fingertips attuned to the familiar alien technology didn’t feel any further damage, though it would take extra precious time to realign the circuits that had been knocked out of place. "Why didn’t you scavenge a replacement crystal from one of the others?"

"Oh, gee, why didn’t I think of that?" Despite his grumbling he was reaching for one of the other holo-devices and was removing the casing. "Let’s see, because I was busy trying to mask the Stargate resonance rather than fiddle with inconsequential Goa’uld happy snaps."

"Not so inconsequential now," Sam quipped, her attention more on the small screwdriver she was using to adjust the minute components of the power board than on her words. She inwardly cursed her careless mouth, she was just feeding McKay’s fire.

"Not all of us have the genetic anomaly of precognition."

This time Sam did manage to bite her tongue to stop her automatic defense of Annika’s abilities. McKay didn’t mean it as an insult, and even if he did, time was too critical to get into another debate. "McKay! Crystal!"

The scientist had gingerly removed the crystal and was holding it up to the light studying it for flaws. "It’s cracked." He immediately shoved the defected device aside and picked up the last holo-device.

Waiting impatiently for McKay to remove the crystal, keeping her fingers and toes crossed that this last power source was intact, she glanced up at the sound of running feet. Teal’c and Hammond ran passed her and disappeared into one of the side passages.

"Eureka!" McKay exclaimed after a quick examination of the pale yellow glass. He handed it over to Sam, who slid it into place and activated the power button.

The glyphs lit up but no hologram sprang forth.

"Now what’s wrong with it?" McKay spoke in that slightly panicked pitch Sam was used to hearing from him.

"Calm down." She removed the crystal once more and made another tiny adjustment.

"Major Carter, your progress?" Teal’c was heading back to the tunnel entrance with Hammond, their arms laden with staffs and a zat’.

"Just a few more seconds," Sam answered, not looking up from her task.

McKay for once didn’t contradict her. He was too busy running doomsday scenarios in his mind while hovering over her shoulder.

Sam gave a final turn of the screwdriver and blew gently into the small box to dispel any dust. Holding her breath she once again hit the on button. A short beam of light shot upwards raising her hopes. Then they were crushed when the hologram that extended out started to flicker. Before she could utter an automatic curse, McKay reached out with the sleeve of his shirt and wiped it over the glass eye of the device, cleaning off a smudge. The hologram, which was of a ship schematic, flickered once then held steady.

For a moment the two scientists forgot their mutual love-hate relationship and exchanged relieved ecstatic smiles.

"Okay, let’s go." Sam turned the unit off and picked it up in one fluid move, and started sprinting to where her team waited. "Still need your tools."

"Got them." McKay snatched up his kit and followed hot on her heels.

A  A  A

"I’ve only got two hands," Annika’s reply was strained from the effort of maintaining the dual weaves. "Hang on." She flicked her index finger upwards. Lya insisted that Annika had progressed beyond the ‘training wheels’ of using physical gestures to control her telekinesis, however Annika had only rarely accomplished a task without it. And right now she didn’t want to run the risk of her gift failing her, not when she was carrying such precious cargo. She propelled Jeff higher into the sky, sending him beyond earshot of the Jaffa below.

Everyone waited with baited breath as the confused Jaffa faltered, hesitantly lowered their weapons, then congregated in a huddle. A few seconds later, they dispersed throwing wary glances over their shoulders and resumed their patrol.

"Daniel, ya’ think they’ll report that?" Jack pretty much knew the answer but it was always good to confirm these things.

"Unlikely. Hearing voices isn’t easy to explain in any society, especially Jaffa society."

"Uh…where’s Jeff now?" Charlie hesitantly asked. He couldn’t bring himself to look Annika in the eye.

"He’ll be here in just a sec," Annika replied softly. She had flown him in a wide arc and was just pulling the currently invisible boy towards the cave mouth. "If you could just clear the entrance for me…"

Jack and Charlie pressed themselves against the rocky walls.

The sound of gleeful laughter began to reach their ears, growing louder, and a light breeze drifted by them. Annika released the Nox weave and Jeff was suddenly hovering five feet within the cave still clutching the flowers he’d been picking. The absolute joy on his face made everyone grin even as they shushed him to be quiet. The psychic carefully set him down on his feet. Upon seeing Charlie, who had hurried over to him, his smile grew wider. "I was flying, Charlie! Didja see? I was flying just like Superman."

Charlie masked his relief at having his friend safe. "Yes, I saw," he lied, not sure if Jeff would understand that he’d also been invisible. "Next time we’ll get you a red cape, but now we have to be quiet." The young leader placed a finger to his lips.

"Okay," Jeff readily agreed.

"What were you doing in the forest?" Charlie scolded in a whisper, sounding very much like a parent. "You know you’re not supposed to leave the cave by yourself."

"I’m sorry." Looking contrite, Jeff mimicked Charlie’s tone, then turning shy spoke into his friend’s ear. "But I wanted to give flowers to the pretty lady." He peeked over at Annika with the adoration of child with a crush. "Can I give them to her?" He held up the flowers that were looking a little worse for wear from being clutched to his chest.

Charlie sighed, an internal debate raging within him. "Yes, you can give the pretty lady the flowers."

"Seems like you made quite the impression," Daniel murmured giving his wife’s hand a light squeeze. He could feel through their bond how touched she was by Jeff’s sweet gesture, especially given the animosity from the others.

Annika swallowed the lump in her throat as Jeff practically skipped the couple of steps over and proudly thrust out the flowers to her. "Thank you very much, Jeff. They’re beautiful." And she meant it. The blossoms may have been squashed and bruised, but the sentiment behind them made them the most perfect bouquet she’d ever received.

Jeff beamed back at her and pointed to a lopsided lilac bloom. "I picked that one ‘cause it matches your painted star." He wiggled his finger at her forehead.

She picked out the flower and tucked it behind her ear, then singled out a creamy white blossom and slid it into the top pocket of his shirt. "And this one matches your wonderful, generous soul."

Delighted by her comment and ‘returned’ gift, he threw his arms around her neck with a child’s glee.

Annika hugged him back, though the instant they touched a vision flooded her mind. She did her best not to stiffen as the horrific image played out before her eyes.

Daniel sensed the immediate shift within Annika at the realization of what she was being shown; her horror, anguish and revulsion…no, it was self-revulsion. What had been revealed that would make her hate herself? Concerned for her, he went to stop Jeff from touching her, but at the quick, single shake of her head he reluctantly held back. Over Jeff’s shoulder he saw her violet depths lock on Charlie, whose gaze was riveted on Annika and his friend, his expression just as tormented as Annika’s.

Though she wanted to recoil to banish the vision, Annika made sure Jeff was the first to pull away so as not to hurt his feelings.

Daniel waited until the hug was over then quietly suggested, "Maybe Jeff should wait in the main cavern." Besides the still very real threat of the patrolling Jaffa outside, he knew that the ensuing conversation between Charlie and Annika was best done without Jeff nearby.

Charlie’s gaze didn’t break from the psychic’s. "Peter, why don’t you take Jeff to find a vase of some kind for the flowers?"

Without question, the rebel who’d been on lookout at the cave entrance took Jeff by the hand and led him into the belly of the mountain. They passed Teal’c and Hammond returning with three staff weapons and a zat’, reminding all of those present just how little time had actually passed. So much had happened in that minute and a half.

Teal’c bypassed Annika and Charlie, taking in at a glance that for the moment the defense of their position would rest with himself, O’Neill, Daniel Jackson and General Hammond. "Major Carter will return presently." He handed a staff to Jack.

"We also have these." Hammond removed two Goa’uld grenades from his pockets.

"They could come in handy, sir." The salutation was automatic for Jack. He accepted the weapon, motioned for Daniel, who had joined Jack by the entrance to give Annika and Charlie a little privacy, to have the zat’. He’d been switching his attention between the goings on with those in the cave and out. The Jaffa were moving a little too fast for his liking. His estimated four minute window had been optimistic. They had barely a minute before the Jaffa wandered into the southeast corner. With the way this day was going, it would be Murphy’s Law that one of them would look up and spot the cave. "If we’re made, we can hold them off for a while, or at least until one of them gets wise and aims at the rock rather than us."

"That could be our plan B," Daniel mused. He also scanned the area below, then darted a concerned look at Annika. She was upset, but he couldn’t tell if it was because of the vision or because of what Charlie was saying to her. "Jack, just warning you, if Charlie says one more thing to upset my wife…"

"I hear ya’ and you have my blessing." Jack adjusted his grip on the staff. "Oh, and your plan B sucks. Since when is getting shot at a viable plan?"

"Not getting shot," Daniel rolled his eyes. "Creating a cave in."

It took only a second for the colonel to see the logic of that plan. "It would keep them out, trap us in, but-"

"We have a Stargate," Teal’c finished.

"Okay, that’s officially plan B." The team leader heard the barely perceptible but familiar tread of his fiancé’s running boots. "If Carter’s plan doesn’t work."

Sam appeared from the gloom, holding a small rectangular device. "Daniel, your camera," she said without preamble, dropping to her knees and placing the golden rectangle at the edge of the cave mouth.

Daniel handed it over. "I took a couple of shots."

The major gave a curt nod, her fingers flipping open a small compartment of the camera and withdrawing a tiny electrical lead. One of the modifications she had made was to permanently affix the cable needed to download the images from the camera to a computer. It extended and retracted like the cord of a vacuum cleaner, only adding a centimeter or so to the length of the slim line device. She’d come up with the idea after losing the cord for her own camera and then had taken it one step further for Daniel’s. Since most of the archaeologist’s pictures were work related she had rigged this particular cord to download to a holo-device. Besides providing a higher resolution than any computer on base, the small, lightweight technology was a more practical visual aid for the briefings that Daniel gave than the slide projector. With practiced ease she attached the cable to the holo-device and flicked it on.

A soft beam of light shot up then opened up like an umbrella into a foot high image of the rock face.

McKay passed her a small thin screwdriver. "You need to tweak the…"

"I know, my idea, remember?" Sam had flipped open the miniature control panel and was carefully shifting the crystal inside. "McKay, hold this right there."

The scientist gingerly used needle-nosed pliers to hold the crystal in place.

Sam began probing beneath the crystal with the screwdriver, making minute adjustments to the delicate components. The hologram flickered for a second then shrunk to half its size.

"Twist it the other way," McKay suggested, leaning close to see what she was doing.

"Thank you, Einstein," she muttered. "And quit breathing in my ear." She reversed what she’d just done and the hologram blinked back to its previous size. When she gave it a further turn, which logically should have made the image bigger, nothing happened. "Damn."

"Don’t wanna hear that, Carter," Jack butted in, his eyes not straying from the ever closing in Jaffa. "We’ve got about thirty seconds."

"Not the blue one!" McKay sounded panicked. "It’ll overload the circuit and if the flying sparks don’t draw the Jaffa’s attention the mini explosion of naquadah will."

"I wasn’t going to touch the blue one," Sam gritted her teeth. "I’m after the one behind it."

"Oh, excuse me," he responded sarcastically. "Just making sure you don’t blow our single chance for remaining hidden."

"I swear to God, McKay, if you don’t shut up you’ll end up with this screwdriver where the sun don’t shine," the major shot back, applying pressure to the pinhead sized valve.

"We have a suitable contingency plan," Teal’c informed the hyperactive scientist.

"Not going to need it," Sam announced, giving a final tweak. She sat back as the hologram ballooned out, expanding into a ten foot square, covering the entire expanse of the entrance.

"And now we wait." Jack leant against the wall, though he kept the staff he was holding at the ready.

The hidden people anxiously watched as the Jaffa patrol began to spread out over the southeast corner.

A  A  A

Annika left the defense of the cave to her more than capable team. This kind of thing was part and parcel of their job and she was confident that whatever Sam was planning would work, and if not, then Jack always had a plan B and C up his sleeve. The fact was, SG-1 were fighting two possible battles, only one of which was related to Ba’al’s Jaffa. The other was deep within the hearts of the rebels and was equally important. Whether or not the base remained undetected would be moot if SG-1 couldn’t get Charlie and his people to believe they were on the same side. The key was to convince Charlie, however given the snippet of Jeff’s life she’d just been shown, she had the sinking feeling that his trust would be all but impossible to gain.

Jeff glared at him, though dark with pain from his injuries, his eyes were full of intelligence and defiance, and he spat at the Goa’uld. "Fuck you."

Ba’al’s backhand was immediate and hard, sending the boy reeling into the armor clad body of one of the warriors holding him. He wiped the spittle from his robe with one hand then gestured at the person standing slightly behind him with the other.

Annika saw herself step forward. Though her presence didn’t shock the psychic since she already knew she was Ba’al’s consort in this altered timeline, her wardrobe was another matter. A jeweled collar sat snuggly around her neck, opulent bracelets decorated her wrists and gaudy rings her fingers, golden anklets jingled around her bare feet. A half-cup bra encrusted with rubies and emeralds barely covered her breasts and a strip of silk around her hips was all the clothing she wore.

"Find out what he knows, My Beloved," Ba’al practically purred at her.

"Yes, My Lord."

Annika watched with horror as she saw herself raise her hand to Jeff's forehead, her face void of any expression, and direct the force of her will at the struggling boy. She could feel his agony as she probed his mind, harshly moving through his thoughts and memories for the detail that Ba’al was looking for, felt him fighting her every step of the way.

"He does not know the information you seek, My Lord." Her voice was cold, almost disinterested.

"You are certain?"

"Yes, My Lord."

"Then I have no further use for him. Kill him."

"Why should I waste my energy on killing this nobody?" she sneered. "There’s no one here to witness it."

"How prudent of you to want to conserve your gift." A sly smile twisted Ba’al’s lips and he motioned to the closest warrior. "Jaffa…"

"Wait," the psychic interceded. "Perhaps I could do with the practice." Before the Jaffa could aim his staff, she gave her hand a nonchalant flick, as though the exercise was a great bore. Watched impassively as Jeff began to convulse then a few seconds later went limp. "There, done. Can we go now?"

"Of course." Ba’al held out his arm, which she immediately took. "There is another to interrogate, but first, I have ‘an itch that requires scratching’." He shifted her hand to below his waist and pressed it against the folds of his robe. Seeing her use her ability in such a way had had a definite effect on his libido. "That is the quaint term you Tau’ri use for wanting sex, is it not?"

"Close enough, My Lord."

The two of them walked sedately out to the yard and a second later both were ringed onboard the teltak. Neither looked back at the carnage still going on within the house, nor gave a second thought to the battered boy.

Annika gave her head a shake, bringing her mind back to the present. She had no idea what other atrocities she had done, but she did know it was just the tip of the iceberg. At a loss on what to say to the man before her, looking at her with such accusation and torment, she started with, "You somehow saw everything that happened to Jeff, didn’t you?"

He gave a jerky nod. "Jeff was a whiz at electronic gizmos. We were testing the range of a miniature camera he developed. Our plan was to hide them in key positions of Ba’al’s ship and compounds. I was ten miles away when Ba’al attacked, watched the whole thing on an eight inch screen."

His bitterness and anger made his aura take on a sickly hue and Annika did her best not to cringe away, knew it was directed at her. "Jeff doesn’t remember it was me?"

"No. He doesn’t recall anything of his life before. When he eventually regained consciousness…the doctor said there were no physical signs of brain damage but since that day he’s had the mentality of a five year old."

Guilt threatened to overwhelm Annika. Logically she knew that she hadn’t done what she’d seen, hadn’t mentally crippled Jeff, and yet she had. "I saw…I understand now…I know why you hate me. You have every right to hate me…"

"Stop." Charlie held up his hand, an automatic gesture to emphasize his word.

Annika flinched away, not wanting him to inadvertently touch her, knowing that her mind would be assaulted by more harsh visions of this timeline. She wasn’t ready for that just yet. Wasn’t sure if she ever would be.

The young man jerked his fingers back. "I wasn’t going to hit you."

"I didn’t think you were," she slowly explained. "My visions, they work by touch."

"Oh." He let his hand fall limply to his side.

Annika rushed on. "Look, I’ll stay out of your way as best I can…I won’t bother you. Sam and Daniel will work out a solution to get us out of this time, and you won’t have t-"

"Please," he butted in. "Let me finish what I was going to say."

"Sorry, I tend to babble when I’m nervous, freaked out, out of my depth…" she tapered off at Charlie’s expression, gave him a weak smile. "Shutting up now."

Charlie took a deep breath, pausing to make sure that Annika wasn’t going to interrupt him again. "I hate Ba’al’s whore, and I will until my dying breath…"

Annika nodded sadly, barely cognizant of automatically shifting to the side to make way for Sam and McKay to run by with what looked like a holo-device. She was already accepting that Jack’s son would never be able to separate the Annika of his memory from herself. Not that she blamed him. Gods, she hated herself for what her counterpart had done… Charlie’s next words made her throat close up for the second time in as many minutes.

"…But I don’t see Ba’al’s whore in this cave."

Her head shot up, reading the sincerity in his eyes.

"And the truth is, whatever anger and hatred I feel is just as much directed at myself as at her. Ba’al was looking for me." Guilt made his voice hoarse. "Jeff is the way he is because he wouldn’t give me up."

"Charlie, it’s not your fault."

"Yes, it is. It was my idea to fight back against Ba’al. Jeff was only going along because he was my friend. If I’d just accepted the presence of Ba’al…"

"Then you wouldn’t be your father’s son," Annika interjected. "And slavery is always a just cause to fight against, no matter how painful the sacrifices made."

Out of the corner of their eyes, both of them saw the holo-device light up, but their attention remained on each other.

Charlie was grateful for the justification Annika had offered, but it did little to relieve the guilt he was carrying. "Truce?"

Annika nodded. "Truce. But I hope you’re not offended if I don’t shake on it."

He gave her a tentative smile. "Nope. Perfectly understandable given your…er…hocus pocus."

Annika couldn’t help the low chuckle at the term Jack frequently used to describe her abilities. "You are your father’s son."

Charlie hesitated a moment. "Can I ask you about what happened with Jeff? I mean if you know…why didn’t y…she," he corrected, "tell Ba’al where I was? Jeff knew, I know he did. Was he able to block her probing?"

Annika heard the hope in his voice that despite the damage Jeff had sustained he had been strong enough to win that small victory. Reluctantly she dashed that hope. "No, he didn’t block her. That information was foremost in Jeff’s mind…it’s human nature, if you ask someone a question, they automatically think the answer even if their intent is to lie." She paused, trying to piece together the fragments of the thoughts of her counterpart that she had been shown. "Ba’al somehow knew when she was lying so it was a careful word game. Ba’al asked where you were, right then. Jeff didn’t know precisely, only that you were ten miles away. She told Ba’al the exact truth."

Charlie’s eyes widened in shock. Never had he considered that Annika was anything more than the willing minion she portrayed; that her coldness and ruthlessness was an act. Charlie considered phrasing his next words tactfully, instead chose an honest reflection of what he had believed for three years. He cleared his throat. "Her not killing Jeff wasn’t an error because she was hot to jump Ba’al’s bones, was it?"

Annika shook her head.

He turned pale at the logical progression of his question. "She stopped the Jaffa from shooting him…even though she messed up his brain, she saved him…was the brain damage intentional?"

"I don’t know. I was only shown so much…she had to put on a show for Ba’al. It could have been a mistake, or maybe Jeff’s regression was simply how his mind dealt with what had happened."

He let that concept sink in, his mind running a mile a minute, trying to come to grips with the ‘facts’ he had known five minutes ago were nothing more than very wrong misconceptions and assumptions. "Oh, God." His gaze darted to the others of SG-1, resting on Daniel and then Sam. "If I’ve been wrong about the other you…am I wrong about them too?"

Annika followed his line of sight. "I haven’t seen anything related to the others, but knowing my Daniel and Sam I’d say yes."

Daniel sensed their stares and looked over at her, his blue eyes questioning, made a tentative search of their bond.

She gave him a bright smile and sent a bout of her love back to him, assuring him that everything was okay. Only now comprehending that everyone else was still anxiously watching outside, she raised her eyebrow at him, asking him their status. The calm tickle he sent back to her told her that so far Sam’s hologram was working.

"The Jaffa haven’t detected the entrance," she translated for Charlie’s benefit. "A few more minutes and they’ll be gone."

Charlie had witnessed the nonverbal exchange between husband and wife and gave a rueful shake of his head. "That’s just freaky."

"I know. We drive Jack nuts with it all the time."