It was a tense few minutes before the Jaffa had trooped through the southeast corner. Only when the last of the patrol was completely out of sight did anyone move away from the cave mouth.

"The rock photo is now downloaded as the first page of the schematics of the ship already in the data bank. The energy output of the crystal power source is minimal," Sam softly informed McKay and Charlie, disconnecting the camera from the Ancient device. "So you should have years, perhaps decades, before it’s depleted, especially if you only use it when patrols are near."

"Gives new meaning to the term long life battery." Charlie smiled at the major.

Sam hesitantly smiled back, surprised by the total lack of hostility from the young leader. It seemed that while she was absent he had been convinced they were telling the truth. From the relaxed way Annika took her usual place next to Daniel with her arm looped around his waist, she guessed her friend had played a big part in swaying his mind.

Peter reappeared from the gloom. "Jeff’s being looked after by Harry." He retook his previous position as sentry to finish out his shift.

The others made their way back to the briefing room. Charlie and Hammond reassured those they passed that the crisis had been averted, making a point to mention that SG-1 were primarily responsible for that. When they piled into the small room, it was force of habit that SG-1 headed for their usual seats.

Charlie hesitantly tapped Jack’s shoulder, stopping him from sitting. "Da…Colonel…" He motioned to the head of the table.

Jack’s eyes widened a little at having the traditional place of the Commanding Officer offered to him, then slid sideways into the chair. "Not the most comfortable of seats."

"I know. Why else do you think I don’t want it?"

The double meaning of father and son’s words was not missed by anyone.

The colonel took a breath. "Right. First things first. Are there any other entrances into this place?"

"Not that we’ve found…sir," Charlie spoke the title haltingly. "This has been our base of operations for just over a year now. We explored the cave systems extensively. The tunnels either lead to dead ends or loop back to the main cavern."

"We chose it because this is a region Ba’al hadn’t shown an interest in," Hammond added. "Today was the closest the Jaffa have ever come."

"I take it your ‘gate is the Antarctic Stargate and Ba’al controls the one found in Giza?" Daniel asked.

Again Hammond answered. "We discovered the Stargate three years ago. It took us two and a half years to excavate it. We could only work during the Antarctic summer and we had limited people. We also had to work below Ba’al’s radar. Then we hit a snag. The PCR only worked for five activations."

"You figured out an alternate power source?" Sam asked curiously. "Or is that the device the Russians stole from the Germans?"

Hammond gave a start that Sam had known of the Russians having the dialing device. "The Russians. A colonel of the Russian Federation Army was….stranded…in the US after Ba’al arrived. We helped him get home where he formed his own rebel force."

"This colonel, his name wouldn’t happen to be Valery Chekhov?" Daniel quirked an eyebrow at the general.

Hammond figured he must be getting accustomed to the present situation because it didn’t surprise him that Jackson spouted off the name. "Yes, it was."

Jack butted in, rubbing his hands in glee. "Chekhov’s name is Valery? Oh, I can’t wait until we get back…there are so many jokes in that!" The two colonels, while they did have a mutual respect for each other, had made an art form of antagonizing the other at any opportunity.

"Jack, the name is from the Latin word ‘valeo’ meaning healthy." Daniel rolled his eyes. Jack sometimes had the mentality of a preschooler.

"Not in my language," Jack chuckled, then his smile disappeared and he frowned at Hammond. "Hang on, you said ‘was’."

Jack sighed. There goes a perfectly good set of quips, he thought. It would be just wrong to tease the colonel of his time when this colonel had died helping them. "Damn. He was a good man."

"Yes, he was," Hammond confirmed then continued on. "Our ’gate has only been operational for a month."

"How did you discover it was there in the first place?" Sam was curious. It was only by fluke that she and the colonel had been tossed through Earth’s second gate by an energy surge causing the wormhole to skip to the second ’gate.

McKay raised his hand. "That was me. We’d been monitoring Ba’al’s ’gate activity when I noticed a minute echo bouncing back off the satellites…"

"Wait," Daniel cut him off. "Ba’al didn’t destroy the satellites?"

"No. He apparently finds them quaint." Charlie’s lips twisted in a wry smile. "And he uses them when he wants to make instant worldwide announcements to his ‘worshippers’."

"Anyway as I was saying," McKay frowned at the interruption. "Monitoring Ba’al’s ’gate activity, I noticed a minute echo bouncing off the satellites…"

Hammond gave a not so discreet cough.

"What? I was monitoring the ‘gate. Can I help it if his Godliness only goes traipsing off once a week?" he defended himself. "I was bored. So to keep my excessively brilliant mind from stagnating I was trying to boost the range of my fully automated mobile vehicle…"

"Playing with his remote control car," Charlie whispered in Sam’s ear.

McKay glared at him. "I wasn’t playing, I was experimenting, to see if we could remotely control a device piggybacking the signal off the existing satellites. And if I hadn’t been, then I would never have seen the echo and we wouldn’t have the Stargate."

"We all appreciate that your ‘playing’ resulted in such a useful discovery," Charlie said solemnly.

"Humph." The scientist warily eyed Charlie, not at all convinced of his sincerity. "Yes, well, I triangulated the point of origin of the echo."

"Are these all your men?" Jack changed the subject before the prickly scientist decided Charlie was using the O’Neill family trait of sly sarcasm.

"No, we have a second base in the subways of New York, with another hundred key people, two dozen safe houses with four people per house and eighty spies within Ba’al’s bases and camps. We also have a working relationship with underground movements in England, Europe, Russia, Australia and Africa."

"Do they know you have a ’gate?"

"Aside from the Russians, no. For the moment the less who know about it, the less chance of a security leak."

"You didn’t mention Asia," Daniel remarked. "Surely at least China and Japan have a similar rebel force." The Oriental people had a terrific sense of pride and honor. He couldn’t see them accepting slavery.

The rebels shifted uneasily.

"Asia isn’t in any position to mount a rebel force," Hammond said.

"Why not?" Jack frowned. China had an army that far outweighed the States in numbers and the Japanese had one of the worlds most ruthless and cunning elite forces, and then there were the Koreans and Vietnamese.

"When Ba’al first appeared he made a show of force, obliterating the key military facilities, except for NORAD where he docked his mothership on top of Cheyenne Mountain. As you’d expect, an emergency summit was called of the world leaders. Within an hour the largest phone conference the world had ever seen was in play with China conspicuously absent. While everyone else was discussing options and Ba’al’s demand that we submit to him, China launched a nuclear bomb at the alkesh over Beijing."

"Oy," Jack rubbed his temple, already guessing how this tale would end.

"Ba’al retaliated." Teal’c said it as a statement of fact.

Hammond nodded. "He sent a bomb twenty times more powerful than anything we have, and then a dozen smaller bombs though they still had the yield of a nuclear warhead. Six of them were detonated around the rest of China, the remaining six around the globe."

McKay picked up the story. "What we didn’t know then, but do now, is that when the original bomb hit the alkesh, which survived without a scratch by the way, the shields sent back analysis of the bomb components. Specifically of the plutonium." He directed his next comment to Sam. "As you know plutonium can be traced to the specific mine it came from…"

The blonde nodded. "Let me guess, Ba’al scanned for the compounds and each of those smaller bombs targeted warheads from that mine."

McKay gave a single nod. "It wasn’t just military facilities that were hit. Four of the detonations in China were nuclear power plants, but the results were the same."

"Nuclear fallout," Sam sighed.

"Blessedly Ba’al left the mine itself alone," Hammond said. "Though that didn’t really help the Chinese. They lost half their population that day. Another quarter in the next few weeks from radiation, which also spread out into the surrounding nations. Those that survived are suffering the long term effects."

The room was silent for a few moments as they contemplated the millions of lives lost.

Jack cleared his throat. "What about the other strikes?"

"The Chinese admitted that they were warheads they had set up secretly in the event that they went to war with any nations of Earth. The bunkers they were hidden in were destroyed, but the warheads were deep enough underground that they didn’t detonate. They’ve simply been buried in the rubble."

"The Chinese had nuclear weapons around the world and no one knew about it?" Jack didn’t know why he was surprised. Undoubtedly the US and probably the French had similar precautionary measures in place, though they wouldn’t admit it.

"Not until that day. And there could be more with plutonium from different mines." Hammond’s lips twisted wryly, and then he confirmed Jack‘s thoughts. "As you can imagine, after that no nation was going to launch another at Ba’al."

"The bombs Ba’al sent weren’t radioactive," McKay added.

"Makes sense," Annika mused. "Ruling over a planet with no surviving people is just a big rock. He wanted enslavement, worshippers."

"So really it was the Chinese’s own weapons that wiped them out, not Ba’al’s." Daniel shook his head, at the needless loss of life. If a normal bomb had been launched, Ba’al still would have responded in the same way, however the only lives lost would have been from the blast site; it wouldn’t have spread like an invisible deadly mist into the surrounding population and the nations beyond China’s borders.

Jack brought the discussion back on track. No point in dwelling on the past, especially since the aim of the game was to change it. "Okay, Ba’al has futzed the timeline. We need to figure out what he changed, how he did it, and then fix it. Let’s back track a bit. Three months after the original Abydos mission, Ba’al rocks on up and takes over. See, I have a problem with that."

"We’re not too happy about it either, Colonel," Hammond responded dryly.

"No, I mean why choose that point in time to launch the attack?"

Daniel found that troubling as well. "If simple domination was his purpose, it would have made more sense to strike before we rediscovered the Stargate, or better yet before we advanced enough in the sciences to doubt the validity of God. Even two hundred years ago he could have appeared and the majority of people would have believed his claim to be God and worshipped him instantly. You can’t tell me anyone in this day and age thinks he’s God and not an alien."

"However without that mission to Abydos, Ra would still be the dominant System Lord," Teal’c pointed out.

Something prodded Annika’s mind. That didn’t feel right, or rather it wasn’t complete. "That was only part of the reason…a small part."

Jack cocked his, waiting to see if the psychic had any other tidbits to add. When she gave a shrug that nothing else was forthcoming, he moved on. "So he wanted Ra out of the picture, but moved in before Apophis, who was more of a pain in the ass to us than Ra ever was."

"Then that’s the event that was changed." McKay’s confidence in his statement immediately shrunk at SG-1’s vehement denial. "Why not?" he almost pouted.

"Regardless of when Ba’al actually invaded," Sam steadfastly refused to glance at either Jack or Charlie, "something else was changed before the Abydos mission."

"How can you be so sure?"

By unspoken agreement the team left it up to Jack to respond to Charlie’s question; letting him decide as not only their CO but as a father how much to reveal.

"You will just have to trust us on this one." Jack was amazed by how normal his voice sounded.

The young man gave only a split second of consideration before nodding. "Okay."

Jack felt a terrible wrenching in his gut. The faith that Charlie had in him, not knowing that it was his own life that hung in the balance. The colonel’s mind began working overtime. When they rectified the event that had stopped the day of Charlie’s death from happening, maybe they could make a side trip and ‘tweak’ Charlie dying too. After all, in the grand scheme of things, saving a single boy’s life wouldn’t have galactic consequences, would it?

Daniel saw the calculating look in his best friend’s eyes and guessed what he was thinking. He moved the meeting on. "The event had to have happened before February fifth 1995." He ignored the arched eyebrows at the specific date. "Do you have the internet?"

"Yes," Charlie answered. "Though it’s full of his Godliness’s propaganda."

"We could start with all the major headlines working back from the fifth."

"Do it," Jack gave a nod.

Daniel rose but McKay waved at him to remain seated.

"We’ve got laptops."

The scientist strode to the door then called out to the nearest man. "Perkins!"

"It’s Porter."

"Right, whatever your name is, be a quick fellow and fetch two laptops from the computer room."

Though Porter started to do as bid, he grumbled, "Would a please have killed you?"

"We’ll never know, will we?" McKay responded brightly, then resumed his seat.

While they waited for the computers, Jack moved on to the next item on his agenda. "You’ve been spying on Ba’al for how long?"

"There were small pockets of rebels since the beginning," Hammond replied. "No one group any more effective than the other. It was only four years ago that we banded together and have had any modicum of success."

"I don’t suppose in your surveillance you happened to keep track of the do-hickeys Ba’al has been using?" Jack asked hopefully.

"We can do one better," Charlie spoke up. "I had our spies take photos of every room within Ba’al’s bases. We were searching for weaknesses, blind spots, places to hide our cameras...basic recon."

"Sweet!" Jack grinned, feeling inordinately proud of his son. "Can we take a look?"

Charlie was already on his feet striding out of the room. Within a couple of minutes computers and photos were set up on the conference table, and Jack delegated assignments according to his teams strengths. His blue-eyed scientists retained more information in their brains on a daily basis than Jack ever hoped to gain in a lifetime. Teal’c was the resident expert in Goa’uld technology and Casper had her hocus pocus. "Carter, start looking for anything hinky with the military history. Daniel, major events in general. McKay work with them, see if anything jogs your memory of early ‘95 to help us pinpoint any difference. Teal’c and Annika, you go through the photos with Charlie, see if anything jumps out as a time device." He turned to Hammond. "Sir, I know there are certain files that have not been added to any computer database. Any knowledge of those ops may be useful."

"I’ll do my best, Colonel." Hammond dragged his chair up to the head of the table so the ensuing conversation would be more private. "Though given the circumstances of the world today, those missions are petty and insignificant."

They all settled down to their assigned tasks.

After an hour of intense ‘grilling’ of the general, Jack had determined that the changed event had nothing to do with the covert ops that had been running before Charlie had died. He leant back in his chair, waiting for the rest of his team to either strike gold or strike out.

Hammond noticed that while he tried not to be conspicuous, Jack was intently studying the young man who was pointing out something from one of the hundreds of surveillance pictures to Teal’c and Annika. "You can be proud of him, Colonel."

"It’s not exactly the life I would have wanted for him." Jack kept his voice low. He wasn’t just talking about the shit hole Earth had become because of Ba’al. He could see the burden of command was already leaving its mark on his boy. A tautness across the shoulders indicating that Charlie rarely if ever was relaxed. The dark smudges beneath his eyes told of lack of sleep, and a sadness in his brown depths that spoke of seeing too many lives snuffed out before their time.

"Perhaps not, but he is a fine leader, despite his age." Hammond was also watching Charlie. "He asks for and listens to guidance when he needs it. He may not follow it, but his successes have far outweighed his failures."

"How did he end up CO?" The colonel tilted his head curiously. "I mean you, sir…" he tapered off shifting uncomfortably.

"What’s a general doing following a boy?" Hammond finished the question for him. At Jack’s nod he tried to explain why a battle hardened soldier accepted the leadership of a person not even old enough to buy a beer. "CJ had been running a small group of rebels made up of his friends since he was thirteen. The underground scuttlebutt started reporting a group of kids were effectively stealing supplies and weapons right under Jaffa noses. They earned the call sign ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’. They were pretty small scale until they stole a full shipment of gold that Ba’al was about to transport off-world. They took down two regiments of Jaffa, all clean shots and scarpered off within five minutes."

"Which jumped him up from nuisance to threat in Ba’al’s eyes," Jack murmured.

"Yes, but CJ managed to dodge any attempts to capture him and his crew," Hammond continued on. "His next big…heist…was to free fifty women and girls that Ba’al was planning to either add to his harem or sell off to traders," he shrugged, "we don’t know which."

"Six of one, half a dozen of the other," Jack said. Either fate wasn’t a desirable one.

"CJ rescued every single one of the them, got them into hiding and kept them safe. His ops have always been swift and efficient, well thought out. Of the twenty-five original ‘Mickey Mouse Club’, all but Jeff and three others, are alive and well, compared to the average mortality rate of over half of the other groups running at the time."

The colonel felt another jolt of pride that his son had been so successful, which battled with the regret that Charlie had ever been put in that position at all. Something else hit him about his son "Where does his hatred of Ba’al come from? It’s more than just hate of the situation." He’d seen that sort of passionate hate before, namely behind the glasses of his best friend.

"That’s because of you, Colonel," Hammond dropped his voice so only Jack could hear. "You were taken prisoner, I believe it was during the initial invasion. I don’t know all the details, CJ won’t speak of it. All I know is that two months later six prisoners staged an escape and they emerged carrying your body. You were alive, barely. Ever since you’ve been in a hospital under a fake name in a coma. CJ visits you at least once a week."

"That explains why he was so surprised to see me." That was one thing to mark off his list of ‘what the hell?’ moments of this morning.

"But not your surprise." Hammond raised a curious eyebrow.

Jack racked his mind to come up with an explanation that wasn’t an out and out lie. He could fudge the truth with the best of them, just not with Hammond. He respected the general too much. "Charlie and I haven’t seen each other in a long time."

Jack smiled at the redhead who had introduced them to the quirky ritual of the ‘Howdy-do’. "That’s true."

Hammond sensed there was a lot more to what he’d been told but the opportunity to press for more information was lost as Daniel got to his feet, rolling his head back to stretch his neck. "This is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It could be anything."

"I take it you’ve got nada?" Jack asked, seeing the frustration in the historian’s eyes.

"Everything that I’ve looked up is exactly the same." Daniel accepted the cup of coffee that his wife held out to him giving her a smile of thanks.

"What about you, Carter?" The question was a formality. If she had found even the slightest anomaly she would have said so.

"Nothing, sir." Sam also rose, ready for a break from the computer screen.

It seemed everyone decided that it was time to take a step back from their tasks and take a step forward to the large pot of caffeine to give their brains a boost. At some point, someone had provided a second coffee pot to replace the one Annika had used earlier. They were all careful to give a wide berth of the original pot that was still eerily frothing in the far corner of the back table. A note had been taped to the lid, which Charlie recognized as Corbin’s handwriting. He couldn’t help but smile at the man’s sense of humor.

"Maybe we’re looking too big." Sam wore that little frown that always wrinkled her brow when she was puzzling something out.

"‘Too Big’, Major Carter?" Teal’c questioned.

"Mmmm," she nodded, taking a sip of coffee. "I was thinking of the big events of our time and wondering how the world would be if they hadn’t happened. A couple of years after 9/11, there was an email going around about people who survived because they were delayed by insignificant inconveniences."

"I remember that." Daniel was thoughtful. "One guy stopped off to get band aids because his shoes had given him a blister."

"9/11?" Hammond asked, curious as to what event was only known by a month and day."

"A terrorist attack on the Twin Towers of New York City." Teal’c gave the simple explanation of the tragic and shocking event that had affected the world. Going into more detail would serve no purpose to their current situation.

"So if we follow that theory," Daniel continued on, "there may be no record of the event anywhere."

Annika took a deep breath. "Maybe there is." She gave her fingers a wiggle indicating her abilities. "Touching the right item could pick up on whatever it is."

"Right, now the term ‘needle in a haystack’ takes on a whole new meaning," Jack quipped.

"In a way," Annika conceded. "But some things are more likely to have residue of events than others."

"Such as what?" Charlie asked.

Annika saw the instant wariness in the rebels. Not because they doubted her abilities, rather because they believed in them. It was a familiar look she’d been seeing ever since her abilities had started to manifest. The worry of what private details of their lives would be revealed if she touched something of theirs or touched them. She gave the rebels an out. "I can start with the clothes of our counterparts. They were in direct contact with the ‘us’ of this time, and I have a framework of reference for what life was like for the five of us before Ba’al."

Eyes automatically darted to the frothing coffee pot holding the tortured souls.

"Isn’t there something else you could touch?" Daniel’s protective instinct kicked in. He knew first hand how emotionally entwining Annika’s visions were. And if the angry roiling of the souls were any indication there wouldn’t be a lot of happiness. Annika could experience countless visions of their time under Ba’al’s domination and even then there was no guarantee that she’d see the altered event.

"Out of everything here, they are the most likely objects."

"Are you sure you’re up for that?" Jack asked.

Annika swallowed. "No. But it’s my job. If anyone’s got a better idea I’m all ears."

From the silence, it was clear no one did.

"I’ll get the clothes," Hammond said quietly.

Annika gave him a wry grin. "Hey, we were on our honeymoon. I didn’t think much cleansing would be needed."

"From now on you don’t go anywhere without a full bottle."

Annika thought it the sweetest thing that Daniel was so concerned over the vanilla oil that helped her deal with any negativity she came in contact with.

"I’ll see to it that it’s added to our standard med kit," Jack assured them.

Annika tried not to roll her eyes. They were like two mother hens and Jack especially was taking his role very seriously.

"Charlie, where are your bathroom facilities?"

If the young man found his dad’s question a little bizarre for this particular moment, he didn’t show it. "Across the cavern, second passage, then first left."

"Casper, if you need to…ya’ know, will you make it that far?"

Annika’s eyes widened, for she’d temporarily forgotten her body’s unpleasant reaction to an overload of intense, negative visions, and that the colonel had witnessed her last episode. She gauged the distance across the cavern floor. It was at least fifty feet plus the passageway. "Maybe."

Her response wasn’t good enough for Colonel Mother Hen. "We need a bucket." Then after a slight pause added, "And a bowl of water, wash cloth and a towel. And when Casper does her hocus pocus we would appreciate some privacy."

"Yes, sir." Charlie dashed from the room, not questioning the cryptic conversation between team leader and psychic, nor the request. He dragged a protesting McKay behind him who for scientific purposes wanted to see up close and personal how Annika’s visions worked.

"Thanks, Jack." Annika smiled gratefully at his foresight.

He brushed her thanks aside. "Hey, SG-1 has a rep to protect, and upchucking in front of virtual strangers is so not cool."

"Are you likely to receive psychic visions from Major Carter’s shirt?" Teal’c asked curiously.

"That’s right, the only addition I had was being wet." With all that had happened this morning, Sam had ignored and then forgotten the inconvenience of her current state of dampness. "I must have been taking a shower or swimming when we merged."

While they waited, Jack touched the black cotton of Sam’s t-shirt and khaki trousers, testing how damp they were. "You should change, Carter. Don’t need you catching cold." He kept his voice low so as not to disturb Annika.

"I’m almost dry now, sir," Sam whispered back. "And I’d rather wait until Annika’s finished."

Annika shut out the voices and concentrated on the nervous beat of her heart. With every breath she calmed herself, not letting her mind think of what her gift would possibly show her in a few short minutes, simply wrapped a white light of protection around herself. She could feel Daniel’s emotions tickle beneath her heart. Very gently she extended the blanket of safety around him as well. Because of their bond he would more than likely experience the tumult of whatever she saw, even though she would do her best to block it. His trepidation and concern stubbornly refused to budge although it was swallowed up by the strength of his love for her.

Daniel sensed the warm comfort of the spiritual protection engulf him, then also a thin veil that began to close over their bond. He firmly stopped it before his wife’s emotions were muted to him.

Jack, Sam and Teal’c saw Daniel frown down at the redhead, then the obstinate set to his jaw as he moved to sit behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, his legs stretching out so they rested on the side of her thighs.

"If you think I am going to let you do this alone, you’re crazy," he murmured in her ear.

Annika half roused from her meditation. "There’s no reason for you to go through it as well." She tried to reassert the temporary block. To her surprise Daniel’s control of their bond had progressed more than she had thought. What he lacked in finesse, he made up for with strength.

"Nope, no reason, except that I’m your husband." He wriggled his hold of their bond, slowly but surely pushing the block away.

"That’s not a fair argument," Annika grumbled, attempting one last time to insert the shield.

"I know," he sounded smug. "You may as well give up. You’re not going to win this one."

She gave a mock sigh of annoyance. "You, Daniel Jackson, are a pain in the ass."

"Yep, and damned proud of it."

"If you two mules have finished?" Jack butted in with an amused drawl.

Annika opened her eyes, as prepared as she was going to get. She hadn’t heard Charlie or Hammond return, but they must have for the clothes were now spread across the main table, and a bowl of water, cloth and towel were sitting in front of the coffee percolator, a bucket placed within arm’s reach on the floor.

"So where do we begin?" Daniel stood giving Annika a hand up, and the couple contemplated the clothes.

Despite Annika’s words to the contrary, she was glad that Daniel insisted on sharing whatever her visions showed. While she didn’t have an inkling of what would be revealed, she did know that her earlier almost panicked fear of touching the clothes was warranted. Instinctively she knew the visions would be harsh and ugly and more intense than anything she’d experienced; the death dream of less than a month ago mild by comparison. "The loincloth," she decided, figuring it would be the easiest. It was most unlikely that Teal’c had bore witness to the altered event, since they knew that with Apophis not having invaded Earth, Teal’c hadn’t the opportunity to defect to the Tau’ri. The Jaffa’s life wouldn’t, well she hoped it wouldn’t, be drastically different from when he had been First Prime in the correct timeline. Annika wanted a ‘familiar’ place to start to give her an idea of how the visions from the other clothes would be; flashes or video replays of the past, if they played out in sequence, by importance of event or no order at all.

As her fingers brushed against the edges of the cloth, images of Goa’uld ships and Apophis flashed like a slide show across her vision. They were in no particular order, still photographs of Teal’c’s early life, every few seconds changing to a new event. Annika heaved a sigh of relief. This she could handle. A calm steady stream, each picture clear and defined. She transferred the images to Daniel and they took turns giving a brief synopsis of what they were seeing. Training as a Jaffa; playing with Ry’ac as a toddler; the day Teal’c began to doubt that Apophis was a god; Bra’tac confirming his doubts; countless battles with opposing Goa’uld’s Jaffa; and attacks and executions of slaves as Apophis muscled his way into dominance on numerous planets.

Then Annika altered her grip on the loincloth and the images changed. A video playback of Ba’al flickered before her eyes, speaking with Apophis about the demise of Ra. From that image the calm stream of visions became a floodgate. It was as though the deviated timeline was clamoring to be seen, to show what had become of history with Ba’al’s interference. The visions came faster and faster, blurring into each other until she could barely distinguish one from the next. Unable to recognize most of the images themselves let alone the emotions attached to them, Annika struggled against the onslaught, her skin breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Can you slow it down?" Daniel gasped. His head felt like it was on fire. Images pounded his head, a hundred different emotions swirling through him.

"No," she said through clenched teeth.

Daniel’s hand shakily closed around Annika’s, groping for the loincloth. He yanked the material from her grasp, breaking her connection. Immediately the nails in his head stopped, though a dull ache remained.

The couple sucked in haggard breaths.

"You two okay?" Jack was watching them with concern.

Slowly husband and wife nodded.

"Just a tad…stronger…than expected." Annika gave a weak grin. She focused on the tense face of her husband. "Were you able to catch any of that second half?"

"Some…it was all so fast…" He released a huff of air to try to calm his racing heart. "Apophis retook Abydos three months after Ra died…still took Sha’re and Skaara…"

"Amaunet and Klorel still have them as hosts…Kasuf dead."

"After Abydos, Apophis steadily moved in to take over half of Ra’s other worlds."

She tried to sort out the images she had seen and identify anything that may be of use to their current circumstances. "Daniel, did you see that Apophis is on his way to Earth now? I caught something about a summit."

"No, I saw Apophis planning to double cross Ba’al." Daniel frowned in concentration to recall a scene that had been shown first but had in fact taken place after the double cross scene. "Teal’c working with Bra’tac to use the confusion of Apophis’s attack to stage their own rebellion."

"Were you able to identify when this rebellion will take place?" Teal’c asked.

The couple exchanged questioning glances. Daniel answered for both of them. "Soon."

Jack didn’t bother asking if they could be more specific, knowing that if they could have they would have. He filed the information away. It might come in handy. "I’m guessing that Apophis doesn’t know anything about Ba’al messing with the timeline?"

"Not that we saw," Annika confirmed. "But he’s suspicious of how Ba’al has gained so much knowledge."

"The knowledge that I was working towards freeing my fellow Jaffa was all that I needed," Teal’c replied. "However the atrocities that I performed in the name of Apophis is something that I shall spend the rest of my life attempting to atone for."

"Anything else that might be useful?" Sam asked. Even though the altering event had not been identified, the intel the visions were providing on the current situation would be useful for their game plan.

"Not really." Annika had already turned her attention to the remaining clothing.

"No more practice rounds." Daniel spoke softly but firmly.

Annika gave a nod. The strength of the visions from when Ba’al entered the picture was overwhelming. If she could witness the changed event without having to touch all of the eclectic wardrobe on the table she would be more than happy to do so. The only lead they had was that somewhere along the line history had been changed, and that change while it may have impacted many, had specifically affected the O’Neill family. Hesitantly she reached for the green hospital gown Jack had worn, bracing her mind.

Moments of Jack’s life began filtering through. Sitting on the end of the jetty in the lake at his cabin, showing a four year old Charlie how to bait a hook; the mission to Afghanistan; meeting Sara; Charlie’s birth; his promotion to colonel; being tortured at the hands of the Iraqis; giving his lighter to Skaara on Abydos… Then just as before the trickle became a mish-mashed torrent when Ba’al entered the picture. A stark hospital room that never changed except for the visitors that blinked in and out. Men, some of whom Annika and Daniel recognized, most they did not, standing vigil by Jack’s bedside. And Charlie as a boy through to the man he’d become. A group of ragged men in military gear searching through a pile of bodies, their relief at finding a weak pulse at Jack’s throat and carefully carrying him away in the dead of night; Another jail cell… This one was easily recognizable as the brig in the SGC. Ba’al torturing Jack…sickening scenes of pain sticks and knives and acid, made all the worst because the Goa’uld never once asked a question. It wasn’t an interrogation, he was using Jack as a play thing; something to while away the time until…

"What’s he waiting for?" Daniel hissed. A nauseating revulsion as the vision changed and he had his answer.

Daniel jerked the gown away unable to watch anymore, just as Annika gave a hoarse sob and dove for the bucket.

Sam, Jack and Teal’c anxiously waited for one of them to compose themselves enough to explain.

White as a sheet, Daniel half stumbled to Annika and both of them slid to the floor, not trusting their legs to support them.

"What did you see?" Sam crouched down, holding out the washcloth to Daniel.

He tossed his glasses from his nose and pressed the wet cloth to his eyes as though trying to wipe the vision from his eyeballs. Sucking in a breath he started relaying the vision though it came out in stilted non-complete sentences. "Ba’al hunted Jack down…knew about Kanan from our time…he’d waste the lives of too many slaves to break him…took Jack out of the equation…no, changed his place in the scheme…"

"What did Ba’al do?" Jack asked grimly, ignoring the stiffness of his bad knee to join them on the floor.

For a second all Daniel could see was the months of torture Ba’al gleefully inflicted on his friend before that final scene, then he felt a gentle squeeze around his hand. Having retched up what little was in her stomach, Annika pushed the bucket away and leant against him. A soft caress of their bond told him that she would answer.

"Ba’al used you against Daniel…but he underestimated the bond you two had already forged on Abydos…" She gave Teal’c a grateful smile as the Jaffa sat beside her, handing her the bottle of vanilla oil. Rubbing a few drops into her palms she continued on, her focus on Jack. "Daniel knew you’d rather die than be used as a tool to get Daniel to capitulate to Ba’al…"

"I get the picture." Jack held up his hand to stave off further elaboration.

A small smile twisted Daniel’s lips. "Yeah, so did we, in full Technicolor."

"So I take you didn’t see the altering event?" Sam changed the subject, knowing that none of them wanted to dwell on events that should never have happened.

Annika shook her head. "Hopefully, third time’s the charm."

In the room next door, Charlie, Hammond and McKay were gathered around a computer monitor that showed a bird’s eye view of what was going on in the briefing room. The video camera had been installed to record their own meetings and was hidden in a small crevice in the top corner. Their curiosity of what the psychic would see overrode their morals on spying. Though for Charlie it was more than just mere curiosity. The revelation of Jeff’s torture had cast doubt on everything Charlie had thought he’d known about Annika, Sam, Daniel and even his dad. He needed to know just how wrong he had been, how much of his memory had been clouded by the rage of the boy he had been.

"This is fascinating, isn’t it?" McKay’s words were muffled by the sandwich he was munching on.

Charlie looked at the man in disbelief. "I don’t know how you can eat at a time like this." Getting an up close and personal look at the psychic at work was unsettling to say the least. He couldn’t speak for the truth of the Jaffa’s life, but what she spoke of regarding his dad had been spot on. And it was clear that she and to a lesser degree Jackson, were literally experiencing the torment of those flashbacks. It churned up emotions that Charlie had long ago buried.

"I have to eat regularly." He was unapologetic, finishing the first sandwich and moving onto another. "I’m hypoglycemic."

"Did you know Annika’s visions affect her so much?" Charlie asked.

Hammond gave a single shake of his head. "I had no idea. The Annika we know never reacted that way. She was always calm and composed."

"Defense mechanism?" Charlie suggested. "A mask of indifference to cope?"

Hammond gave an uneasy shrug. "I have the feeling that Annika wasn’t the only one wearing a mask." From what Jackson and Annika had described of the Jaffa’s life, he had been planning a secret rebellion for decades while maintaining the façade of loyal First Prime. He revised some of the events that had consolidated in his mind that Jackson, Carter and Annika had turned into Ba’al’s lapdogs. Because of them good people had died. Now he wondered how many more good people had been saved from those seemingly heartless acts.

"Cute metaphor. Probably true but not applicable in regards to her sixth sense." In typical McKay fashion, his theory was spouted off as fact. "With our version of the psychic wonder, the transference is instantaneous."

"What?" Charlie was accustomed to the scientist’s words flying over his head, and wasn’t afraid to admit it.

The scientist’s rapt attention never left the screen though he managed to lick a stray drop of mayonnaise from the crust of his tuna fish. "The transference of her visions. It obviously takes time for Annika to shuffle them to Jackson. With Ba’al’s collar it’s immediate. No time for her to get emotionally involved." He shoved the last of the sandwich in his mouth. "Oh, great, now I’ve lost my appetite," he grumbled, as he saw Annika scramble for the bucket and throw up.

"About damned time," Charlie muttered under his breath. To forestall McKay’s indignant tirade he said a little louder, "Wish we had that collar now, to see what she sees." The brief descriptions they had heard were spoken in half sentences with references that SG-1 obviously understood but he had no knowledge of.

"Well, once again, it’s me to the rescue." The scientist was smug. "In my spare time I’ve been studying that box of trinkets Reynolds’s liberated from Ba’al."

"There was a collar in that?" Hammond frowned. He didn’t remember seeing the jeweled technology when it was smuggled in.

"Not exactly. I haven’t had a chance to test it yet but I think the basic principles are-"

All three men jumped at the blood-curdling scream. Heads swiveled back to the screen to see what was happening.

"Rod, get whatever it is to them right now!" Charlie ordered, hoping that this time McKay hadn’t been exaggerating about the gizzmo.

For once McKay didn’t argue, he sprinted from the room heading for his quarters.

A  A  A

Three items of clothing left. The probability of one holding the event they were seeking equally split and equally slim. However at this point slim was all they had.

"Eeny meeny miny mo," Daniel murmured from his place on the floor.

Remaining seated seemed like a good idea to her, no chance of her legs giving out if she was already parked on solid ground. She craned her neck at the BDU shirt. "Water dilutes, so the shirt should be less intense, right?" The question was rhetorical. Not expecting an answer she reached up for the sleeve.

Sam agreed with Annika’s logic however the scientist in her identified another possibility. "Water’s also a conduit!" She lunged towards her friend to stop her making contact but it was too late.

The psychic’s fingers closed around the cloth. This time there were no snippets of life before the Stargate program; no viewing history from above as a third party witness. Annika was sucked into the vision as seen from Sam’s eyes. Ba’al looming over her, the pain stick in his hand sparking as it activated...slowly pointing it towards her, drawing out the moment with an arrogant smirk, eyes gleaming in delight at the fear on Sam’s face... "A lesson in the consequences of your defiance."

Annika only had a second of lucidity. "Oh, shit!" She tried to release her hold on the shirt but her fingers refused to obey. The pain stick touched her collarbone and she was trapped inside the vision of her mind.

Her scream of agony pierced the air as the current of the pain stick, enhanced by the water, tore through her body.

SG-1 watched helplessly as Annika convulsed as the Sam of eight years ago had done, her muscles and joints contracting from the continuous electric shock.

"Get the shirt away from her!" Daniel hadn’t been prepared for sudden launch into torture. Like Annika he’d thought there would be a ‘prologue’ of Sam’s life just as there had been with Teal’c and Jack. It was impossible to say if he’d instinctively recoiled from the vision or if Annika had subconsciously pushed him from harms way. Either way he’d fallen back hard against the chair breaking his visual link to the vision.

Jack grabbed the shirt and yanked but Annika’s hand had seized shut. "Casper, let go!"

Annika didn’t hear him. All she heard was Ba’al’s maniacal laugh as he turned up the voltage.

Jack and Teal’c tried to pry her fingers loose, doing their best to ignore the screaming that was assaulting their eardrums piercing straight to their hearts.

"We may have no choice but to break her fingers." Teal’c had to yell to be heard.

In her mind, a second image began to merge with the first, pushing its way to the forefront to be seen.

The scream cut off and the sudden silence stunned everyone in the room. The two men cautiously loosened their hold on the shirt and Annika, hoping that it was over. For a second she remained as still as a mannequin, her face totally blank, then she scrambled to her feet with a snarl.

"You want a piece of me, Jaffa? You’re gonna have to fight for every fucking bit!" In her mind’s eye six Jaffa began to close in on her and she shifted into a defensive position.

In reality her teammates who’d also jumped to their feet, hovered warily keeping at arms length.

"Uh…Daniel, any suggestions?" Jack asked, recognizing that the position Annika was in was the spitting image of Carter ready to go into hand to hand combat, right down to the subtle nuance of dipping her right shoulder and rolling back on her left heel.

"Well, for starter’s, duck!" Daniel barely managed to dodge out of the way of Annika’s fist as it shot out colliding with someone only she could see. His mind raced through everything that he knew of Annika’s visions and he realized that this had happened once before. In Mooloolaba the remnants of two victims of Bes had been strong enough to control Annika’s body. "She needs an anchor."

"A what?" Jack sidestepped a left hook.

"Something to ground her to reality." He wasn’t sure if it would work. The Mooloolaba vision hadn’t been near half as strong as this one. "I just need to hold her…and then she has to share the vision to dispel it."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Jack muttered. "Okay, whoever sees an opening first, jump right on in." He spared a glance at Sam, who seemed to be rooted to the spot, a look of horror on her face as she watched the live action version of what she had been subjected to. Jack wouldn’t let himself think about it just yet. Time enough for that when they snapped Casper out of La-la-hell Land

Teal’c saw the first opening in Annika’s defense. He ducked a jab and as she followed through with the punch he stepped behind her wrapping his massive arms around her, pinning her arms to her side. Daniel immediately moved in close, his hands cupping her face.

Annika bucked against the constraining arms, fighting the warriors in her mind. "Is this the only way you can get a woman?" she spat. "I’ll never submit to his will, no matter how many times he sends you!"

The men managed to wrestle her to the floor, doing their best not to hurt her and remain uninjured themselves.

Daniel could feel a slight lessening in the strength of Annika’s struggles. His touch had calmed her slightly, but it wasn’t enough to bring her out of the nightmare she was experiencing. "It’s not enough." His voice was pained. "I don’t know what else to do."

"Maybe this will help."

Heads swung around to see McKay step into the room holding a small circular disc in his hand.

Seeing the technology snapped Sam out of her stupor. "A memory device." Her first instinct was to toss it away. Her experiences with the Goa’uld technology had enhanced her memories and Annika sure as hell didn’t need more details to her visions. Then she recalled how Hathor had linked the device to a computer to visually project the memories. Could she reconfigure the holo-device they had used earlier to pick up on the neural link signal? And more importantly would a ‘mechanical’ transfer work given the spiritual nature of Annika’s visions? Only one way to find out. "I need the holo-device from before."

"No you don’t." He handed the disc to Sam.

"Yes, I do," Sam contradicted. "Using it as is will only intensify the visions. Believe me I’ve had experience with these things."

"Ah, yeah, in your timeline. In my timeline we’ve had cause to tweak it."

"Tweak it how?" Jack had his attention half on Carter and McKay and half on keeping Annika’s boot from his nether regions.

"A holo-matrix has been added." He winced as another scream, this one of frustration more than pain erupted from Annika’s mouth.

Sam studied the tiny disc and saw there was a half circle a few millimeters high that was jerry rigged on top.

"Have you tested it?" Daniel demanded. He had maneuvered so that he had switched places with Teal’c, holding Annika with her back against his chest, in the vain hope that the more bodily contact he had with her the more success he’d have in anchoring her to reality.

"Not exactly, but the theory’s sound."

"We have little choice but to attempt it." Teal’c struggled to stop the psychic’s arms from lashing out. "Annika Jackson may be injured if she continues thus."

Jack took the decision out of Daniel’s hands. If things went wrong Daniel could blame him rather than himself. "Do it, Carter."

With a nod Sam knelt down. Using her left hand to steady Annika’s thrashing head on Daniel’s chest, her right carefully positioned the disc on the side of the psychic’s temple. There was a familiar metallic twang as it activated clamping tightly to her skin.

Breaths were held as they waited for some change, good or bad, from Annika. A few seconds and it seemed that nothing was happening, then ever so slightly the resistance of the woman they were pinning down lessened. Approximately one foot above her head there was a static flickering, like a TV channel not tuned correctly. Gradually it began to focus and as it did Annika struggled less and less.

Collective sighs were released. For the moment the holographic display was just a blurry image but the figures were clear enough that they could see what Sam had been fighting off.

The major lowered her eyes, not wanting to bear witness to her own rape. She chose to focus on the positive. Annika’s eyes had drifted shut and she was way too pale for her liking, however her face was no longer contorted from the strain of what her third eye was showing her.

Daniel had also turned his attention to his wife for the same reasons as his teammate. He searched their bond for any sign of the turmoil of a few seconds ago. Though the emotions were still there, they were muted and Annika was having no trouble controlling them. Tenderly he brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek. "She’s okay."

Jack and Teal’c averted their gaze from the graphic display. Exchanged relieved smiles at the continuing calm state of their resident psychic. The colonel tugged at the shirt that was now only loosely held in Annika’s hand. It came away easily and he tossed it aside. He winked at his teammates, giving his official approval as team leader for them to revert to their usual irreverent banter.

"McKay, I could kiss you," Sam sighed as Annika opened her eyes, her expression confused but aware of her surroundings.

"Really?" He seemed delighted at the prospect.

"In our time it’s a figure of speech." Jack wrapped his arm possessively around Sam’s shoulders and she gratefully leant into his comforting embrace.

"If it is custom to express gratitude with a kiss, then as the only member of SG-1 not currently in a relationship it is my duty to oblige," Teal’c offered solemnly.

McKay was not entirely sure that the Jaffa was joking. "I’ll pass, but thanks all the same."

"Jeez, what timeline are we in now?" Annika snuggled deeper into Daniel’s arms. "Both Sam and Teal’c wanting to kiss McKay."

McKay didn’t know whether or not to be offended by the quip.

Daniel placed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Well, you’re the one who took a side trip to the past. You missed all the fun."

Annika looked up at the scientist who had been responsible for freeing her from the trap of her mind. He was wearing the same expression that most people had upon seeing SG-1 snap back to their normal selves after a crisis. "Thanks for the brilliant idea, Rodney. When these lugs get off me, I’ll give you a hug."

It was only with Annika’s comment that the team realized that they were still holding her down. They shifted, but not very far, unconsciously wanting to keep some form of contact with each other.

"Uh...sweet offer, but I’ll pass on that too." McKay was already edging for the door. Normally he was all for accepting praise for his efforts but with this lot he couldn’t be sure they weren’t mocking him.

"McKay." Jack stopped the man’s escape, a sudden thought nagging at him. "How did you know we needed the memory do-hickey?"

"Is that really so important?" McKay sidestepped the question. Issues such as spying should be left up to his fearless leader to explain to his dad. "I’m gonna be going now."

After the scientist had left, Annika lifted her hand for the next item of clothing. "Three down, two to go."

Jack caught her by the elbow before she got anywhere close to reaching it. "Casper, you don’t have to keep going."

"This takes the stress off." Annika tapped at the device at her temple. "And even if it’s a paper thin chance of the altered Daniel or me having witnessed the event, then it’s worth it."

There was a determined stubbornness through their bond with a reluctant sense of need. Daniel understood it, for he was feeling it himself. "Tactically we need every scrap of intel we can get…and for us personally," he shrugged "we have to know, Jack."

The colonel nodded, couldn’t really argue with either point. "Okay. Let’s get this over with."

A  A  A

Still in the next room at the monitor, Charlie and Hammond silently observed the truth of what Jackson's life had been. McKay had been ‘trapped’ in the main cavern trying to reassure those that had heard Annika’s scream that there was nothing to worry about. The scientist’s impatient whine echoed in.

"Who knew the woman has a phobia of spiders?"

Charlie winced. While McKay may be a whiz at solving problems under pressure, he wasn’t the best at creating cover stories. "Let’s pray Rod is never captured by Ba’al."

"Amen to that." Hammond noted how the team remained within close proximity of each other. They had basically sprawled out on the floor and settled down as though they were about to watch a movie on TV in the comfort of their home. Maybe they were home, he absently thought as the hologram changed from Jackson as a child riding piggyback on his dad, to an archaeological dig. Home wasn’t a place, it was a state of mind, and these five people had found a home with each other, wherever they happened to be.

Ba’al came into view and the images raced to be seen, to have a voice. Gone were any scenes of joy, to be replaced with death and destruction. Starting on the desert plains of Abydos, where Apophis cruelly inserted himself as God over the nomadic people, viciously subduing any seeds of rebellion, so the few months of freedom after Ra was just a bitter dream. Weeks of hiding and planning on how he could get back to Earth to warn them, only to step through the Stargate right into Ba’al’s hands. It seemed Ba’al had known from the beginning that inflicting violence on the archaeologist himself was futile. Daniel’s brutalization was done through others. Using Daniel’s compassionate nature to help and protect not only those close to him but total strangers, against him. Ba’al executed the helpless, women and children, even wiping out an entire city, if Daniel dared to step a toe out of line.

Charlie was so caught up in the holographic projection that was like a badly edited horror movie dancing above Annika’s head, he nearly missed the vibrate of his satellite phone indicating an incoming call. He fished it from his pants pocket, frowning at the codename that lit up the screen. It was his operative at the Tur’el’ut dig checking in hours before he was due, which was never a good sign. "Turtledove, what’s up?"

"Two things." The voice was slightly static in Charlie’s ear. "First off we were wrong about Jackson. It’s all an act. He saved me from becoming the head goon’s punching bag…"

The young leader interrupted him as by a freaky coincidence he was witnessing the scene Turtledove spoke of. "By claiming you were the only Phoenician expert around."

There was a moment of stunned silence on the other end of the line. "Yeah, how’d you know?"

Charlie rubbed a weary hand over his brow. "Mike, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you."

"Uh, CJ, after what happened next, my mind is pretty fuckin’ open at the moment."

Turtledove sounded more than a little freaked. And as Charlie watched what had happened, courtesy of the psychic in the next room, he couldn’t blame him. "Let me guess. Jackson vanished."

"How did…?" He thought better of the question, just relieved that Charlie didn’t think him crazy as a loon. "Yeah. Right before my eyes like a ghost."

"Does Ba’al know yet?"

"No. He’s just flying in now. There were dozens of people who saw Jackson haul me off. Ba’al will want to grill me."

Charlie heard the question in his voice. Knew what he was asking. It had taken over a month to get Michael into Egypt and close enough to spy on Ba’al’s human crew. Despite the bizarre situation of today, Charlie had no idea what would happen from having Ba’al’s ‘Pets’ on the rebel’s side. Michael was their best placed operative and the information he could gather would still be useful. However, given the monumental change of circumstances and Ba’al’s likely fit of temper when he discovered Jackson missing, he wouldn’t order Michael to remain. "It’s your call, Turtledove. But just a heads up, today is not going to be a good day for Ba’al."

Michael considered the warning. He surmised one of the other operatives had reported trouble in Snake Land. For security purposes he had no knowledge of any of the other spies that had infiltrated Ba’al’s ranks. "Does Ba’al know his day’s gone down the crapper yet?"

"Unknown."

"I’ll stay, CJ."

"Okay." Charlie felt a knot tighten in his stomach at what Michael was letting himself in for and his protective streak for his men kicked in. "Remember don’t lie to Ba’al. He’ll see right through it." He wasn’t sure if that statement was true any longer, since Ba’al’s ‘lie detector’ was in the next room, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Michael’s position was precarious enough as it was. He racked his mind for a carefully worded answer his operative could give under interrogation. "Tell Ba’al that Jackson left without explanation…" His gaze landed on Teal’c who was currently wringing out the washcloth and passed it over to Daniel. "Left with a Jaffa."

"I thought I wasn’t supposed to lie."

"I promise you, Mike, it’s the truth. You just didn’t see it." From what he understood, all the people of SG-1 had vanished and merged with their counterparts at the same time. "If Ba’al presses for a description, tell him the Jaffa was big and black and you’d never seen him before."

"Okay," Michael agreed. He trusted Charlie with his life, if he said it was true then he had no reason to doubt it. "Those tin cups all look the same to me anyway. I’ll report in when I can."

"Good luck, Turtledove, and may the real God bless." Charlie disconnected the call, his full attention back on the monitor.

Annika had picked up the final piece of clothing. With this history lesson the silken material skipped the redhead’s childhood and started with a birthday celebration. She was surrounded by her family and friends, laughing and happy blowing out the candles and receiving a loving hug from her dad.

Charlie automatically picked up on the smaller details of the scene, clues to when this had happened. Twenty-one candles on the cake her mum was slicing, grandfather clock chiming seven o’clock, a calendar on the wall with brightly colored crosses marking off the days indicating it was the night before Ba’al had landed his flagship on Cheyenne Mountain. He remembered that night with crystal clarity. While the rest of the world had slept, oblivious of what terror the new day would bring, Charlie had received a harsh preview.

They had been packing to leave for a two week family vacation at the cabin. Outside in the darkness the yard was suddenly swarming with armored men. At the time Charlie hadn’t known what a Jaffa was, however he’d seen the recognition on his dad’s face as he shoved him in the closet, telling him to stay hidden no matter what. His dad had run to get his mom, but she hadn’t made it to the safety of the tiny room. Petrified, he had cowered beneath the coats Jack had thrown over him. Heard the terrified screams of his mom, his dad’s yells over the strange sounds he now knew were staff weapons discharging. And then there was silence that scared him more than noise of struggle beyond the door. When he finally plucked up the courage to crawl out, he’d found the house torn apart, his mom dead on the stairs, his dad gone, a blood trail evidence that the colonel hadn’t been captured easily.

Charlie shook himself out of the memory of his own past and once again focused on the monitor. The birthday party was still in full swing, then all hell broke loose as a troop of Jaffa stormed the house. Guests were knocked aside or shot depending on the their level of resistance. One thing was clear, their goal was to take Annika prisoner. The vision changed and Charlie saw first hand what the Annika of his time had endured. The beatings, the continual sexual abuse, at Ba’al’s whim being forced to kill so many people the faces became indistinguishable. "Sweet Mary and Joseph." The young leader’s eyes stung with unshed tears at Annika’s desperate bid for freedom through death, only to be revived in the sarcophagus.

"Our lives may have been bad," Hammond’s voice was gruff. "But it’s nothing compared to the hell they have been through."

The comment caused a nagging at the back of Charlie’s mind. Before he could examine it he was distracted by Annika gathering all of the clothing together in her arms. There was an annoyed stubbornness in her actions.

"Dammit, show me something good. Just one little thing, anything."

All eyes were trained to the now blank spot above the psychic’s head, waiting, hoping that her plea would be answered. An image began to form. It was the rippling shimmer of the Stargate event horizon. Five people were tossed through the wormhole, landing in a tangled mess of arms and legs.

Jack waved his hand at the holographic display. "And that, campers, is where we came in. I’d say it’s high time Balls attended a class in temporal ethics, with us as the teachers."

With determined smiles, SG-1 clambered to their feet.