If you do host it again, I want it to be a decision, on your terms, not an accident.
It was an empty offer. The General could understand the woman's compassion, even for an enemy, but in this case the Goa'uld was probably correct. They were going to kill it.
Mayborne's knowledge of the Earth's defensive capabilities was too extensive to take any risk that the Goa'uld might leak that information to the Systemlords. Once the Goa'uld was driven from the Colonel, it could not be allowed to roam free. George could not imagine that any human would be willing to take on a Tok'Ra, much less this Goa'uld, if it meant remaining imprisoned until Mayborne's military intelligence became obsolete. Without a new host, the creature would die, along with whatever memories it retained of the secrets known by the Colonel.
The Systemlords must not get that information, he thought. There was one secret in particular, known to Mayborne, with which Hammond would not trust even the Tok'Ra.
So precarious....
George wondered if things would have been any different, had the first aliens encountered beyond the gate been the benevolent Asgards, instead of the rapacious Goa'uld. But perhaps in fear, would they have bombed an Asgard ship instead of Ra's? Would they have had an even larger problem, then?
Probably in one of Daniel's alternate universes. . . he mused, though he suspected the Asgards preferred diplomacy to war.
The Stargate opened in the room below. He watched as the members of SG-1 hoisted their packs.
Teal'c and Daniel stepped through the gate; Jack lingered to exchange a few words with Margaret. By report she was doing some pretty good work with the meagre aquatic data the teams had gathered on various planets. In time he thought he might send her on a follow-up mission, somewhere innocuous, at first. Argos, perhaps--a quiet planet with friendly people and lots of water.
Then again, for all the SGC knew, Argos could be teeming with sea-monsters.
Margaret approached the gate with Jack, stopping about three feet from its rippling surface. Sam and Jack stepped through.
"Colonel, wait!"
Sergeant Harriman's amplified voice jolted George with adrenaline. Harriman's warning had missed Jack by a fraction of a second.
Oh hell!
Margaret turned abruptly to look at the Control booth. Hammond could see the alarm on her face.
And then the claxon sounded--"escaped hostile".
The Goa'uld...
The General bolted for the stairs.
"Sergeant, report!" he said, stepping onto the floor of the control room. The blast doors to the gate room were already closing, and the General heard the snap of the Stargate's deactivation.
Harriman's face looked shell-shocked.
"Sergeant?"
"Sir. After Daniel and Teal'c went through, I repositioned the MALP's camera. They weren't there--on the other side, I mean, sir. I was too late to warn Major Carter and the Colonel."
"Where is Dr. Coleman?"
"She went through."
"Through the Stargate? After your warning?"
"Yes sir." The Sergeant gulped. "Right after the claxon started. I couldn't shut it down fast enough."
DAMN IT! he thought. His stomach churned as he remembered his conversation with the woman, just minutes ago.
"Sergeant. Was she...?" George gestured vaguely toward his own face.
Harriman's eyes widened as he understood what the General was asking. "I don't know. I couldn't tell, sir," he replied gravely.
"Continue lockdown protocols until we find out just exactly what happened here," the General barked. "And get another MALP ready ASAP to go find out what happened over there."
"Yes sir," Harriman crisped. There would be a report, and an inquiry, and all the other administrative nastyness that occurred after the military committed some infernal screw-up. But Hammond knew the only thing on the Sergeant's mind at the moment, was the well-being of SG-1.
He wished he had that luxury. But his first responsibility was to the Earth as a whole. Whatever was going on with this alert was top priority. The fate of SG-1 would have to wait.
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