Chapter 1
Dr. Christopher Williams, the new civilian medical assistant at Stargate Command, ran into General O’Neill’s office at full speed. He barely had time to stop before running into the desk. General O’Neill looked up from his mountain of paperwork, almost happy for the intrusion. Jack gestured for Dr. Williams to sit down, but he was too excited to sit at the moment.

“Hey there Doctor,” Jack said casually, ignoring William’s jumpiness for the moment. “How’s it going today?”

“My wife and I have volunteered to take in the kids of single parent military personnel families while they are overseas,” Dr. Williams started, dismissing Jack’s question as more sarcasm than genuine curiosity. “Well, we just had a new kid come into our home and when ever we have a new child, I like to do a full medical checkup on them and-”

“Is there a reason you are telling me your life story Doctor?” O’Neill interrupted.

“”Oh, yes sir. I was getting there,” Williams hurried on. “I was looking over her blood work and I found something very interesting.” He pulled out a folder from his black shoulder bag and handed it to O’Neill. “She has ancient DNA.”

“A lot of people have the gene, Williams,” O’Neill said, getting annoyed. “Please tell me you have something more and this wasn’t a waste of the last five minutes.” O’Neill looked down at his watch, then showed it to Dr. Williams, tapping the face.

“There is more!” Williams sat down in the chair opposite O’Neill. “Well, with most, it is just a mutation of the gene, like say the similarities with a very distant relative. But Ryelin’s -that’s the girl- hers is almost completely ancient. As in direct, very very close descendant. But that isn’t the end of it. There is also trace amounts of Naquadah in her blood. It isn’t enough to suspect Goa’uld, but it is enough to be worried about possibly another Trojan Horse, like with Cassandra.”

Jack sat back in his chair and thought about the first time he met Cassandra, or Cassie, as they all called her now. That cute little girl had been the soul survivor of a planet completely wiped out by Nirtti. She had quite literally been a ticking time bomb. But that was almost nine years ago. Now he had a new little girl to worry about. He decided it was best to bring her in and run some more tests.

“Where is she Doctor Williams?” O’Neill asked, putting his hands on the table and leaning forward slightly.

“She’s at school General. I just found all this out
minutes ago, and I came straight here.”

“Well, we are gonna go pick her up. You might want
to go with them, just in case.“ Just in case of what General O’Neill wasn’t sure. He got on the phone and talked with the head of base security, explaining the situation. Dr Williams was assigned three airmen to act as security while picking up Ryelin.


Twenty minutes later, Dr. Williams and the three SF’s pulled up in front of Colorado Springs High School. They parked the big black SUV used by Stargate Command and went into the school’s main office. It was a spacious, bare walled room. There was a lone counter, just about in the middle of the office, with a few desks behind it. Dr. Williams left the SF’s at the door and went to the woman standing at the counter.

“How may I help you?” asked the woman, eyes growing wide as she looked at the three airman.

“Yes, I need you to call in Ryelin Connor, please,” Dr Williams said. “She will be going home early today.”

“Right,” said the woman, looking rather skeptical. She had a feeling the girl wasn’t going home. “Let me see what class she is in right now.” The woman went over the one of the desks and typed some information into the computer. She then got on the phone and talked to the teacher. A few minutes later, a young girl walked into the office, pulling her long light brown hair into a pony-tail as she walked.

“Chris, what are you doing here,” Ryelin said, giving a surprised smile. Once she noticed the Air Force personnel her smile quickly came off her face and her blue eyes grew sad. “Please tell me this isn’t about my father. Please.”

“Oh, no. Nothing like that.” Dr. Williams put an arm around Ryelin. “We’re just going home.”

“Sir,” the woman behind the counter interrupted. “I need your signature to excuse Ryelin from the rest of her classes.” Dr. Williams went to the counter and signed where the woman told him to. He then lead Ryelin out the door and out to the parking lot. One of the SF’s held the door open and gestured for Ryelin to get in the back of the SUV.

“So, where are we really going Chris?” Ryelin said, turning away from the Airman holding the door open.

“I told you. We’re going home.”

“Right…home…sure” Ryelin said under her breath as she climbed into the back seat. She slid into the middle and Dr. Williams climbed. On the other side of her was another one of the Airmen. The other two climbed into the front, and they pulled away from the High School.


Ryelin had never been on a military base before. Quite frankly, she found all the check points and military presence rather intimidating. She also found it rather strange that the base was in a mountain instead of on a mountain. The Airman drove the SUV slowly to the entrance to Stargate Command. They walked down a short hall to an elevator. Ryelin scanned her surroundings. The walls were bare, except for a large SGC emblem just to the left of the elevator doors. Ryelin paused a moment, looking at the emblem on the wall.

“SGC? What does that stand for?” she asked, looking up at Dr. Williams.

“Stargate Command. We study Deep Space Radar Telemetry from here. Satellites.” The elevator doors opened as he spoke. Dr. Williams, Ryelin and one of the SF’s stepped in. The other two stayed behind. The doors shut and the elevator started it’s decent. “I hope you’re not Closter phobic,” Dr. Williams teased. “It’s a long way down.” After three minutes, Ryelin started to get the idea that the elevator would never stop going down. Just as she was about to say something, the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Ryelin and Dr. Williams stepped out.

“What? He’s not coming?” Ryelin questioned, pointing at the Airman still standing in the elevator.

“No, I will be taking over for him,” said a voice from behind them, as the elevator doors were closing. Ryelin turned to see a gray-haired man in a baggy green uniform. “My name is General O’Neill. I am the commander of this base.”

“Don’t Generals usually wear the dress uniforms?” Ryelin said.

“I’m not like others,” O’Neill said slowly. “Welcome to Stargate Command. Follow me.” Jack lead them down the hallway, to another elevator.

“You mean we aren’t there yet?” Ryelin said, eyeing the elevator doors.

“My office is thirty floors below ground. I’ve yet to figure out why they didn’t just make one elevator for it.” O’Neill told her, swiping his access card. The elevator doors opened right away and the three of them stepped in.

“Don’t you miss the sunlight?” Ryelin asked, half joking, half really wanting to know.

“Sunlight, what’s that?” O’Neill said, giving Ryelin a sly smile. He pushed the button marked “30” and down they went.

“You mean to tell me that you study satellites thirty floors down.”

“Oh yeah. And it is so fascinating too.” O’Neill said sarcastically.

“So, why am I here?” Ryelin wanted to know. She had no clue as to why she was being taken thirty floors down. She knew nothing about space or satellites. She was really good in math though.

“We just need to run some tests.” Dr Williams told her, dodging the real issue as much as possible.

“What? You think I might be related to one of your satellites?” Ryelin said sarcastically, annoyed that no one would tell her what was going on. Neither one of them answered. She knew something was up, she just couldn’t tell what yet. The rest of the ride down was silent. When the doors opened, Ryelin followed Dr. Williams and Gen. O’Neill down the hallway into the infirmary. She was told to sit down on one of the beds.

Chapter 2

Dr. Williams went to his desk and pulled out his stethoscope and a pen light, then came back to where Ryelin and O’Neill were sitting.

“So,” O’Neill said casually. “Did you grow up in Colorado Springs?”

“I don’t know,” Ryelin told him, as Dr. Williams put the stethoscope to her chest.

“What?” O’Neill asked, highly confused.

“I don’t remember most of my childhood,” Ryelin stated as if this was normal. Dr. Williams moved his stethoscope to her back and told her to inhale. He wrote a few things down his chart, then got out the pen light. He put the light in Ryelin’s right eye. She flinched a little.

“What is the last thing you remember?”

“Waking up in a hospital. I had no idea where I was or how I got there. No one would tell me anything. The next thing I remember is my dad…um, I mean Major Connor.”

“How long ago was that?” O’Neill asked.

“About a year and a half ago. I was 14.”

“So your what? 16 now.” O’Neill asked.

“Will be in two day!” Ryelin stated proudly.

“General,” Dr Williams interrupted. “Can I speak to you for a minute.” The two men both got up and walked out into the hallway.

“What’s up, doc?” O’Neill asked, not meaning to sound like the Bugs Bunny cartoons.

“She sounds fine and on paper she’s totally normal. Pulse is fine, maybe a little high, but the kid is probably scared. Responses are normal. No arrhythmia, but I still want to get some chest X-rays anyways.”

“Hell, X-ray her whole body! I don’t want to miss anything.”

“Yes, sir,” Dr. Williams said, not really paying attention to what O’Neill had to say. “I also want to get a head CT, just to make sure that there isn’t a Goa’uld hiding in there.”

“Good idea. Listen, I have a mile high stake of paperwork waiting patiently for me, so I’m gonna get back to it. I’ll send Daniel down to talk to her, maybe he can get something more out of her. Come to my office when you get the results.

“Alright General.” Dr Williams said, turning to go back into the infirmary. Jack watched as Dr. Williams went to Ryelin. Together they went into the back rooms that held all the equipment needed for the tests he wanted to put Ryelin through. Jack watched them until well after they were gone. He was starting to like the kid and didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. At the same time, he didn’t want anything bad to happen because of her. Jack left the infirmary and went to Daniel’s office. No one was there, so he went to his own office.

“Daniel,” Jack said entering his office. Daniel Jackson was sitting in a chair, waiting for Jack. “Been here long?”

“Yes,” Daniel said, standing up. “But I don’t mind. I hear Dr. Williams just brought a little girl onto the base.”

“She’s not that little,” Jack said sarcastically, taking a seat in his oversized chair. “She’ll be 16 in two days.”

“Good for her…why is she here?” Daniel sat back down.

“Dr. Williams found the ancient gene and Naquadah in her blood. We’re running tests and scans and the whole nine yards to make sure it isn’t another Cassie on our hands.” O’Neill grabbed on of the files on the left side of his desk and dragged it in front of him- his way of telling Daniel to leave him alone, he had work to do. “I want you to go talk to her. Tell her why she’s here and ask her some questions.”

“What? Why me?”

“You’re good at that kind of thing. Ya know…talking and all.” O’Neill said, opening the file. “She’s in the infirmary.” Another not so subtle way of letting Daniel know it was time for him to leave. Daniel rolled his eyes and walked towards the door. He stopped just outside the office and turned again to Jack.

“Anything I should know about her?”

“Yeah, she don’t remember her childhood. Help her remember, why don’t ya?” O’Neill said without looking up.

“Right…because it is always so easy,” Daniel said under his breath. O’Neill looked up once Daniel had gone. He hoped the façade wasn’t as see through as it felt. He didn’t want people to know he cared.


Ryelin had just come out of the X-ray room when she saw Daniel walk in. He looked so familiar, but she just couldn’t place him. And at the moment she didn’t care. She just wanted to know what was going on. Ryelin and Dr. Williams went into another room. This one contained the CT machine. Ryelin was instructed to lay down on the hard shelf of the machine and stay perfectly still. She did as she was told and within a few minutes it was over. She was told by the technician running the scan that it was okay to get up. Dr. Williams then led Ryelin back out into the infirmary. Daniel was sitting on one of the beds. He stood up when he saw them.

“Hi, I’m Daniel Jackson,” he said, extending his hand.

“Ryelin Connor,” she said, shaking his hand. “Have we met before?”

“I don’t think so. I was told to come explain what is going on here and ask you a few questions. Let’s start with an easy one: have you had lunch yet?”

“No I haven’t, but I’m starving.”

“Okay then, off to the commissary.” Daniel led Ryelin to the commissary. It was basically empty, except for a few Airman. They loaded their trays down with sandwiches, fruit, and Jell-o. It wasn’t hard to find an empty table, so they just sat at the first one they came to.

“I here you don’t remember your childhood,” Daniel said, after they had finished eating.

“Yeah,” Ryelin said, scooping up the last of her Jell-o. “I can only remember the last year or so.”

“Is Major Connor and his wife your real parents?”

“How would I know? They say they aren’t and I believe them. I love them like my own parents. I was just as heartbroken as any when my mother died. And then when my dad went to Iraq…I was basically lost.” There was a silence between them, as what she said sunk in.

“Have you ever tried remembering?” Daniel asked.

“Why would I want to?” Ryelin said, rather annoyed. “There must be a reason that my brain has blocked it out. Can we be done here?”

“Yeah, I’ll show you to your room.” Daniel stood up and carried both of their trays to the disposal area. He knew he had hit on a sensitive subject and decided not to push it. He showed her to her room. He would try again later.

Chapter 3

Dr. Williams came into General O’Neill’s office at a fast-paced walk instead of the all out sprint of that morning. He stood patiently in the doorway as O’Neill finished his phone conversation.

“Hey, Doc,” Jack said as he hung the phone up. “What’s up?”

“Well, we go the results back from all the tests,” Williams said, talking a seat. “She’s absolutely normal.” Jack breathed a silent sigh of relief. “But is still doesn’t explain the Naquadah.”

“Any ideas?”

“Not a clue,” Dr Williams said. “But then again, I’ve never had a clue about Rye. She’s, well, she’s different. I’ve been friends with Major Connor for sometime now and even as her adoptive father I don’t think he understand her. She’s a complicated kid.”

“How long has she been with your family?”

“About two weeks. Ever since her dad went off to Atlantis-”

“Wait,” O’Neill interrupted, leaning forward slightly. “You mean to tell me that we sent a single father to Atlantis?”

“Well, he did volunteer,” Dr Williams stammered. “He really wanted to help them when the Wraith attacked. He’ll be back soon, as soon as the Dadealus gets there with the ZPM.”

This was quickly becoming a mess. Not only did they have a civilian minor on this top secret base, but her sole guardian was billions of light years away in another galaxy. The good news was that Ryelin was no longer considered a danger, the bad news was they had no idea what to do with her. While Jack was thinking all this, Daniel came into the office.

“Jack?” Daniel said, spotting Dr. Williams. “You busy?”

“Kinda, what is it?”

“Um, Ryelin Connor doesn’t exist,” Daniel said. Both men looked up. Jack mouthed the word ‘what?’, but couldn’t manage to actually get the word out. He motioned for Daniel to take a seat in the other chair. Daniel took it. “Yeah, there is no birth record, no adoption record, nothing.”

“That’s understandable,” Dr. Williams told them. “She was found at Area 51. That was the hospital she was talking about. That’s where Connor ‘adopted’ her from. They had no idea who she was, or if she was even from Earth. She just wandered onto the base.”

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud,” O’Neill blurted out. “You don’t just wander onto Area 51!”

“That’s just what I’ve been told,” Dr. Williams said, putting his hands up as though he was surrendering to something. “Personally I never believed it, but I can’t really argue.”

“How did Major Connor end up with her?” Daniel asked.

“He used to work there,” Dr. Williams told him. “Why?” He had a feeling Daniel had thought of something. He knew Daniel was going somewhere with this, he just didn’t know where.

“If he worked there, he might still have records, you know, research notes or something. More information about Ryelin at least.” He looked at O’Neill. “I could ask her if she knows of any files or notebooks or something.”


Five minutes later Daniel was down in the VIP room, talking to Ryelin. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed, playing solitaire. She looked up when Daniel knocked.

“You busy?” He asked, stepping into the room.

“Oh yeah,” she said, looking back down at her card came. “I’m playing a very important game of solitaire here. Matter or life and death.”

“Right,” Daniel said, taking a seat at the round table in the corner of the room. He couldn’t help but think how much she acted like Jack. “I have a quick question. We’re trying to figure out how you got here-”

“Some Air Force guys drove me,” she interrupted him sarcastically. She knew that wasn’t what Daniel meant, she just couldn’t help herself.

“Not what I meant. I meant how you ended up at Area 51.”

“What’s that?” She asked, looking up from her card game. “Isn’t that where they keep the little green men from outer space?”

“No, not aliens, just alien artifacts.”

“What?”

“Remember what I told you about the Stargate?” Ryelin shook her head yes. She remembered what he had told her, wasn’t sure if she actually believed it, but she remembered. “Well, sometimes SG teams bring stuff back from other planets, and it goes there to be analyzed. Anyways, that’s where your dad met you. He used to work there and we want to know if you knew whether or not he has any records left over from it.” Daniel said all this in one breath, afraid if he paused, she might interrupt him with another sarcastic, O’Neill like remark.

“Yeah,” Ryelin answered him slowly. “I think so. He has a file holder thing that I was never allowed to touch. That might be something to look at. It’s in the bottom drawer of his desk at home.”

“Thanks, I need to go tell Jack.” Daniel got up and started for the door.

“Oh, and Daniel,” Ryelin said as he reached for the doorknob. “Word of advice.” He turned to look at her. “Try decaf…you talk WAY to fast.” Daniel laughed and opened the door. He said goodbye to the Airman standing guard and went to Jack’s office. He told Jack what Ryelin had said, and a team was sent to get it.


The box was sent to Lt. Col. Carter’s lab. Daniel had decided to ask her to help him to go through the files, mainly because he hadn’t gotten to just hang out with Sam in about two weeks. Honestly, he just wanted company for the mundane task of reading through who knows how many files. He and Sam sat staring at the large black box. Both knew the records of Major James Connor were in that box, but neither had any idea how to open it. It was an electric lock that could only be opened by a combination of numbers on a keypad. They didn’t know how many numbers it needed, so they were stuck before they had begun. They asked on of the SF’s near by to go get Ryelin, maybe she knew how to get into it.

“You wanted to see me?” Ryelin said stepping into Sam’s lab. She was instantly awestruck by the amount of computer equipment that has been put into suck a small room.

“Ryelin,” Daniel said, standing up. “This is my good friend Col. Samantha Carter.”

“Nice to meet you ma’am,” Ryelin said to Carter as they shake hands. They asked her about the box. All she knew was that it needed six numbers, but she didn’t know what they were. They all thought for a while, entering birth dates, important events, that sort of thing, but nothing worked.

“Try 1-1-0-3-0-3,” Ryelin said after a while.

“Why?” Sam asked, wondering where those numbers had come from.

“November 3rd, 2003. That’s the day my dad took me home for the first time.” Sam and Daniel thought it was as good a guess as any, so they tried it. The case popped open.

“Good thinking, Ryelin,” Sam said, pulling out one of the files. Daniel pulled out another and started thumbing through it.

“Should I be here?” Ryelin asked, starting to get up. Daniel stopped her.

“I don’t see why not,” he said, picking up another file. “They seem to be about you.”

“Holy Hannah,” Sam said suddenly. “Daniel, look at this.” She passed the folder she was looking at to Daniel. He read from the page Sam had pointed at. He looked up at Sam, then both of them looked at Ryelin.

“What?” She asked. Daniel handed her the folder. She read the page, then set the folder down, stunned. “I’m an experiment?”

Chapter 4

Daniel, Sam and Ryelin sat in the briefing room waiting for Jack. He had called the three of them up there, but now he was nowhere to be found. For the past four hours they had been pouring over the files brought from Major Connor’s home. None of them could believe what they had read.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Jack said as he came up the stairs from the control room. “Had a little crisis with an off world team. The joys of being ‘the man’.” He sat down at the head of the table, and turned to Sam off to his left. “What have we found?”

“Well, sir,” Carter started slowly, turning to face her commanding officer. “We have only been through about half the files, but we still have learned a lot about Ryelin.”

“She’s from a planet the inhabitants call Palladian. We have designated it P3X-253. SG7 went there about a year ago.” Daniel said.

“We’ve been there?” O’Neill said. He knew that as the base commander he should already know that, but remembering all that was just too much for him. He honestly didn’t know how General Hammond had done it. It was times like this when Jack saw the scope of the giant shoes he filled after Hammond left.

“Yes sir, the village near the gate was completely destroyed. That was the only sign of life on the planet. We sent out a UAV.” Daniel looked at the small figure sitting next to him. She hadn’t moved or made a sound since they came into the briefing room. He was worried about how she might be handling this.

“Oh,” Jack said, looking at Ryelin as well. “I’m sorry Ryelin.”

“Doesn’t matter…I don’t remember it,” Ryelin said, never looking up. She continued staring at her hand lying in her lap for some time. All of this was hard for her to take in. She didn’t want anyone to see that she was on the verge of tears. Plus, it was easier to stare at her hands then have to look them in the eye. She had just found out that she was the sole survivor of her people. Her home had been destroyed. She didn’t want to see the pity in their eyes.

“Sir,” Carter said, breaking the silence. “Major Connor was a big part of this project. It was run by the same rouge group of the NID that you helped to bring down 5 years ago, with the help of the Asgard and the Tollan.” She looked at Jack for some type of sign of recognition. He nodded his head to say he remembered. “Well, it turns out the facility the Asgard raided was the same that Ryelin was being held at.”

“Was she there when I was?” Jack asked, looking again at Ryelin. She was still hunched over, acting like her hands were the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.

“It’s doubtful,” Daniel said. “The Asgard didn’t find her, and she ended up on Earth. I have a feeling they brought her here when the NID had the second gate.

“Does any of this explain the Naquadah in her blood?”

“Yes sir,” Sam said, reaching for one of the folders she had brought with her. She handed it to Jack, who opened it. He didn’t read any of it. Just looked at the graph, which he didn’t understand. He had never read reports until his promotion. He still didn’t enjoy it. They just didn’t make for a good read in his opinion. Jack set the folder on the table, nodding for Carter to go on. “As you know, the rouge group, and now the Trust, are all about securing alien technology that would help in the fight against the Goa’uld. Most of the time, their ways were pretty unethical. This time was no different. They took Ryelin from her home when she was only 9 or 10 and began experimenting on ways to allow the everyday person the use of Goa’uld technology sensitive to Naquadah-”

“They injected me with raw Naquadah,” Ryelin interrupted, getting directly to the point. She looked up at Jack. He was smiling. Jack like the fact that she had gotten right down to the facts. He wished Carter would do that more often. He didn’t like the techno-babble, but that was mainly because he didn’t understand it half the time. “Daniel and Sam think they just melted it down and stuck it in a needle, then into me. It don’t say in any of the files though.”

“Thank you,” Jack said. “That is how you answer a question!” He looked at Sam and Daniel. They both just rolled their eyes. “Now…anything else?” Sam shock her head no, nothing else. “Good. It is well past 10 o’clock and you all need sleep. Go home, go to bed, and don’t make me order you to do it. Ryelin, I guess we’ll set you up in the VIP room again.” Sam and Daniel agreed to go home reluctantly. They didn’t want to leave. They wanted to look through the files, finish the job. See what happened in the end. What change, why they stopped. Ryelin just wanted to go to sleep. To crawl into a bed and think about nothing for a while. Sam and Daniel hugged her goodbye and wished her sweet dreams. They went down the stairs to the control room. Jack started heading towards his office.

“General O’Neill?” Ryelin said, stopping him before he got to the door. He turned towards her. “I don’t remember how to get to the VIP room.”

“I’ll take you,” he said. “And please, call me Jack.” They two walked out of the briefing room and down the hallway. Ryelin was silent as they came to the door. Jack opened it for her. She went over the bed and sat on the side. She placed her elbows on her legs and put her head in her hands. Jack couldn’t leave. He felt a sudden instinct to protect her, to comfort her. Like he had never done with his own children.

“How are you doing kiddo?” He said, taking a seat next to her.

“Me? Oh, I’m great. Perfectly normal day… just tired.”

“I bet. You’ve had a busy day.” Jack started getting up. “I’ll let you get some sleep.” He started walking towards the open door. He stopped when he felt a hand on his forearm. He looked down at Ryelin’s hand, then at her face. She was fighting back tears.

“What is going to happen to me now? I mean, my dad is basically a criminal now. Daniel told me about the NID. Is he going to jail? Not that I would ever want to go back to him, but…” she trailed off. She had so many questions, but didn’t know how to ask them. It didn’t matter, most of the questions didn’t have answers anyways. Jack sat back down as Ryelin wiped a single tear away. “I’m sorry. I’m not usually suck a baby.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Jack said, putting his arm around her shoulders. “I know I’d be upset if I were in your position.”

“I know. it’s just that I’m always the tough one.” She looked up at him. “That’s one thing I remember about my childhood. I was always tougher than the boys.” She let herself smile a little at the memory. Her smile soon faded. “It’s just that I have so many questions. I’m so confused and I don’t know what to do with myself.”

“We are all here to help you,” Jack said. This was so unlike him. He usually didn’t care this much. It was because of his training. He had been trained not to care. Not to get attached. “Carter and Daniel would have stayed here all night looking at those files if I hadn’t told them to go home. They need sleep, and so do you. I just feel so sorry for you.” He stopped. He could tell by her face that that hadn’t come out right. He meant he was sorry all this had happened to her.

“I don’t need your pity,” she said, with an icy edge to her voice. She didn’t know why she was being so mean. He was just trying to help. She just didn’t want people to start saying ‘oh that poor little girl’ like they had after her mother died.

“You remind me so much of my daughter.” Jack said. She looked at him. “Honestly, I don’t know her that well, but you to are so alike.”

“How so?” Ryelin asked. She couldn’t imagine Jack having kids. She just didn’t equate children to Generals.

“Both of you are so independent and stubborn. You’d cut off your nose to spite your own face.” She looked down. She knew he was talking about how she had shot him down when he was just trying to help. “I can tell you’re tired. I’ll let you get some sleep.” He got up. As he was walking to the door, the alarm went off.

“Unscheduled off world activation” came a voice over the intercom. “Stay here” Jack said to Ryelin, then took off at a run to the control room. He got there to find Carter and Daniel standing behind Walter Harriman, the Gate Room Technician.

“It’s the Atlantis base sir,” Carter said, not looking up at him.

“Open the iris,” he said, giving Daniel the eye. “I thought I told you two to go home.”

“Yeah,” Daniel said, giving the eye back to Jack. “You did and we will. Soon as we hear all the news from Atlantis.” Carter opened the iris and instantly the control room was filled with the simmering blue light from the event horizon. Four men stepped through the Gate.

“It’s Major Connor’s team, sir.” Carter said. “What do you want to do with him.”

“I can think of a lot of things I’d like to do to him,” O’Neill said, starting towards the Gate Room. “All of which would end in court-martial.”

Chapter 5

Jack stood there as everyone looked at him. He didn’t care. He had meant what he said. The thing he wanted to do most to Major Connor would definitely get him in trouble.

“I’m not gonna punch him,” Jack said, still looking into the Gate Room as Connor’s team gathered the gear coming through the Stargate. “For now I guess I’ll just arrest him.”

“Sir,” Carter said, grabbing his arm before he could go anywhere. “Technically we aren’t allowed to do anything.”

“What? Why?” Jack looked down at Sam’s hand on his arm. It wasn’t that he didn’t want it there, he just didn’t find it appropriate, in the since that she was bossing around her commanding officer. She removed her hand.

“She isn’t from Earth sir, and he was acting under the authority of the NID.” Jack looked at her wondering what she was talking about. He knew all this but what did it matter? “After the incident with Osiris’s ship last year, the NID took over all aspects of the Rouge group. You’d have to call them before you do anything. They have jurisdiction.”

“Well, I still have to debrief them on the situation in Atlantis,” Jack said, stepping out of the Control Room. “Anybody want to join me?” Jack called from the hallway. Daniel jumped at the chance to hear anything about Atlantis. He ran after Jack. A couple of seconds later Sam, still in the Control Room, saw the two men walk into the Gate Room. They shook everyone’s hand, greeting them one by one. Jack came to Major Connor last. He shook is hand, saying something to him. Sam couldn’t hear what was said, but she could tell by the look on Connor’s face, it was about Ryelin.

“What did you say to him,” Carter asked as Jack walked through the Control Room and up the stair towards his office. She followed him.

“Just told him that we have his records and are going to the NID,” Jack said, crossing the briefing room to his office. He sat down at his desk. He looked up at Sam. “Go, home. Get some sleep. That’s an order,” he added when he saw that she might argue. Sam nodded and went to the door. “Have a good night Carter.”

“Yes sir,” she said, looking over her shoulder at Jack. She left his office and went straight out to her car. She sat behind the wheel, thinking about the events of that day. And about Jack’s last words. “Have a good night Carter.” Five simple little words that for some reason meant so much to her.

Their relationship had been strained lately. She didn’t know how to talk to him anymore. Nor did she want to really. Sam started the car and pulled out of Cheyenne Mountain. Once home, she crawled into bed and went straight to bed.

Jack, meanwhile, was sitting alone in his office trying to decide what to do next. He wasn’t sure calling the NID was even worth his time. They weren’t always very proactive in their prosecution of their own. Jack shut down his laptop computer and put his head down on his desk. He was so tired. He looked up when he heard a knock at the door.

“Sorry to disturb you sir,” it was Major Connor. “My team is ready for debrief, sir.” The Major looked at Jack. He had wished every night that no one would know about what he had done. He just wanted to put in behind him, to start over. But now the secret was out, and there was no taking it back.

Major Connor turned and left the office. Jack sighed. He didn’t have the energy for this. He pulled himself out of his chair and trudged to the table. It was a full house. Connor and his seven men took up both sides of the table, while Daniel sat at the far end, wide eyed and eager. Jack plopped himself down in his place and braced himself for a long session of techno-babble.

And that is precisely what he got. Almost three hours of mostly Daniel asking questions about what Atlantis was like. The men on Connor’s team were soldiers, not scholars, so most of the questions went unanswered. If it had been up to Jack, the debriefing would have consisted of two questions: 1) did we kick Wraith [censored] and 2) should we consider them a threat? That was all a military commander needed to know. That was definitely all he wanted to know.

“One last question,” Daniel said. Jack perked up at the word ‘last’ but tuned out again as Daniel began talking. He could go home soon, get some sleep.

“Yes, good,” Jack started after Daniel was finished. “I think that is enough for now. Anything further, you can just put it in your report.” He dismissed everyone, ordering Daniel to go home. Everyone left, except Major Connor.

“Sir,” he said. “I heard that you have Ryelin here. I was wondering if you would tell me where she is sir.”

“no,” Jack said flatly, standing up. Major Connor looked at him quizzically. “She most likely doesn’t want to see you. And after what you did to her, I don’t blame her. Plus, she sleeping.” Jack walked to his office and closed the door. Another one of his not so subtle ways of saying leave me alone.

He looked at the digital clock on his desk. 2:35 am. He was too tired to actually go home. Plus he would have to come back in less than 5 hours anyway. Not really worth it in the long run. He opened the door and looked out to make sure Connor wasn’t their anymore. No one was in sight. He went down the stair into the Control Room.

“You’re still here, sir?” Sgt. Harriman said from his seat at the dialing computer.

“Yeah, I’m just going to go crash in one of the guest rooms,” he said walking through. “I’ll be there if you need me.”

“Yes, sir,” Walter said as O’Neill passed into the hallway.


Ryelin had had no problem at all falling asleep, it was staying asleep that was the problem. She kept having strange dreams with people she thought she didn’t know in places she was sure she had never been. After the fifth time waking up in the past two hours she was getting rather annoyed.

She got up and felt around the dark room until she found her backpack. She carried it over to the bed and sat down. She rummaged in the bag until she found what she was looking for; her silver and blue portable CD player. Music had always calmed her down in the past. She put on the headphones and pushed play. She lay back down and let the music take her where it would. A few seconds later she was asleep.

Ryelin dreamed again, but this time she didn‘t wake. This dream wasn’t like the others. It gave her a sense of home, family and safety. She was outside in a large, empty field of high grass. She reached down and let the grass tickle her hands as she walked. Suddenly, she heard a voice from behind her calling her name. She turned to see a village of about twenty simple, but large homes. She felt herself running towards them, towards the voice. She went to the first house in the row. In the doorway stood a beautiful woman with long brown hair and big blue eyes. She ran into the woman’s open arms; into the arms of her mother.

Ryelin awoke with a smile. She had remembered something from her past. At least she thought she had. There was only one way to find out. She put on her shoes and asked the SF guarding her to take her to Sam’s office.

“Good morning kiddo,” Sam said when Ryelin walked in. She waved off the SF. “What are you doing up this early?”

“I’m up early,” Ryelin laughed. “I have no idea what time it is. My sense of time is so messed up right now. I had a question about all the files.”

“Can Daniel answer it for you?” Carter asked, motioning to her computer as a way of saying she was swamped with work.

“Sure, where is he?” Sam pointed to the corner behind Ryelin. Ryelin turned to see Daniel sitting at the table. He gave her a little wave. “Ha, I didn’t even see you.” She went over to the table and sat down. “So, are there any photos in any of these folders? I mean of the people in my village?”

“Yeah,” Daniel said, handing her one of the folders. “This has all the photos. You trying to see if that will help you remember something.”

“I think I already have,” she said with a sly smile. She opened the file and started going through all the photos until she came to the one she was looking for. A photo of the woman with long brown hair and big blue eyes. “I knew it!” She exclaimed. Daniel looked up from what he was reading. She showed him the photo. “I dreamt about her last night. I remembered her. I remembered my mother!”


Jack woke up with an enormous headache. He rolled over and dreaded getting up. He didn’t technically have to start work for another twenty minutes. That gave him enough time to get some breakfast and find an Advil or two. He got out of bed and trudged to the commissary for some waffles and coffee. Lot of coffee. He had just sat down and started eating when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Hey Jack,” Daniel greeted him, sitting at the table.

“What do you want Daniel,” Jack said, taking a long sip of coffee.

“Good morning to you too,” Daniel teased. “Why so grumpy?” Daniel took the pot of coffee and poured himself a cup, not really expecting an answer. Jack continued eating his waffles. “Fine, never mind. I need to talk to you.” He stopped, hoping for some sign of interest from Jack. He got nothing. “Sam and I want to take Ryelin back to her home. She’s up for it, too.”

“Why?”

“Studies have shown that going back to a supposed familiar place can help recover suppressed memories.” Daniel said quickly. Jack stared at him for a second before saying anything.

“That was way too many big words for this early in the morning. But you have a go. I want you to take SG-4 just in case. In case of what, I don’t know.” Jack ate the last of his two waffles and too another long sip of coffee.

“Actually, we wanted to take Major Connor’s team.” Daniel said cautiously as Jack poured himself another cup of coffee.

“No,” Jack said, not removing his eyes from the cup.

“Jack, hear me out-”

“No,” Jack cut him off. He set down the pot and grabbed a packet of sugar. “why do you want him anyway?”

“Because,” Daniel started slowly, trying to think of why he really did want him to go. “Because Major Connor spent two months on that planet. He’s going to more about it than any of us. He knows where and how Ryelin used to live. He could be an asset.”

Daniel tried reading Jack’s face for an answer, but it was almost expressionless. That was mostly because Jack couldn’t decide. Daniel’s reasoning sounded okay, but it just didn’t feel right. Finally, he came up with a way of not really having to make the decision.

“Talk to Ryelin,” Jack said. “If she’s okay with him going, so am I. But you and Sam have to watch him like a hawk. He doesn’t get out of your sight. If she doesn’t agree, you get SG-4. No arguments.”

Daniel nodded in agreement. Daniel got up to go find Ryelin. Jack looked up at the clock and saw that it was his normal time of started work. He got up and started heading to his office.

Chapter 6

Daniel was the first to arrive in the Gate Room. He had talked to Ryelin earlier that morning, and she had agreed it was a good idea to take along Major Connor. At that very moment, Sam was helping Ryelin to get outfitted with the standard SGC off world uniform.

Daniel stood looking at the Stargate. He had no idea whether taking Ryelin to her home was a good idea or not. But as she had put it, it’s worth a shot. He worried about how seeing her home utterly destroyed would affect her, but he felt she would handle it fine. She was a tough kid.

Out of the corner of his eye, he say two figures walk into the room. Sam and Ryelin walked in side by side. Daniel couldn’t help but think she looked much to young to be in that uniform. If it was possible, the green uniform made her look younger. But in reality, she had grown up so much from the sweet little fifteen year old he had met 24 hours ago.

“Hey Daniel,” Sam greeted him. “Major Connor is on his way. You ready for this?” Sam asked, turning to Ryelin. Ryelin nodded her head yes. She looked up at the towering ring in front of her. Until now, she had a hard time believing what Daniel had told her was true. But there it was. A devise that would instantaneously transport her to a planet billions of miles away. Not only that; it would be taking her home.

Major Connor and his team came in a few minutes later. Jack watched them enter the Gate Room from the Control Room. He noticed that Ryelin moved to the other side of Daniel, to get as far away from Connor as possible. She couldn’t look at him.

“Dial it up, Walter,” Jack said to the Sgt. He nodded and typed the address into the dialing computer. The Stargate started moving.

“Chevron one encoded,” Walter said into the microphone. Ryelin looked up into the Control Room. “Chevron two encoded.” She gave a little wave to Jack. “Chevron three encoded.” Jack waved back, letting himself smile a little. “Chevron four encoded.” Ryelin turned back to the Gate. “Chevron five encoded.” Ryelin looked up at Daniel. His eyes were transfixed on the Gate. “Chevron six encoded.” She started feeling nervous, thinking about the unknown on the other side of that Gate. “Chevron seven, locked.” The gate stopped spinning and a blueish light was seen emanating from it. KAWHOOSH. Ryelin jumped back a little when the blue came thundering out. The room was instantly filled with a water like reflection.

“Good luck, and have fun, kids,” Jack said from the control Room. Major Connor and his men walked up the ramp and through the Gate. Ryelin watched them disappear into the Event Horizon.

“You sure you want to do this?” Daniel asked, placing a comforting hand on her back. “We can call them back if you aren’t sure.”

“No, I can do this. I want to do this.” She said this trying to convince herself more than Daniel. He gave her a little push and they walked up the ramp together. She closed her eyes as she stepped into the Gate. Sam looked up at Jack in the Control Room, then followed them through the Gate.


Ryelin opened her eyes on the other side to find the same field as in her dream. The grass was higher in this reality due to years of neglect. Ahead of her lay the ruins that used to be her home. Now her village was nothing but mud and fallen rocks. All could tell no one had lived here in quite a while. Only one knew for how long exactly, and Major Connor wasn’t about to say anything.

“Major Connor, have your men stay at the gate,” Col. Carter directed. “You come with us.” Connor put his men into defensive positions, then ran to catch up with Sam, Daniel and Ryelin.

As Ryelin walked, she put out her hands and let the tips of the grass tickle her hands. She remembered this feeling, and not just from her dream. She remembered coming out in this field when she was upset, just for this feeling.

“You always loved doing that,” Major Connor said, coming up behind her. She stopped, but couldn‘t bring herself to look at him, though she very much wanted to. “You could come out in this field for hours, just walking around, feeling the grass and picking flowers.” She finally got up the nerve to look at him, her eyes filled half with hate, half with wonder. Here was the man who had kidnapped her and experimented on her. Yet, he was the only one who could help her remember who she had once been. At the same time, she knew he was the one who had changed her into what she was now.

“Tell me something useful, or get away from me,” she said icily. He watched her as she ran to Daniel. He was going through the rubble of one of the homes. He looked up as she came near. “This was my home you know.”

“I know,” Daniel said. “You lived here, in this village.” He stood up from his crouched position.

“No, I mean this was the exact home I lived in,” she said in a dream-like state. “This was where I grew up.” She looked up at him. He didn’t know what to say. He looked at the rubble that used to be a house. When he looked away from the rubble she was gone. He looked around and saw her walking down what used to be a road.

“Daniel!” Sam called from a few yards away. “You have to come see this.” Daniel turned from watching Ryelin and went to Sam. She was standing over what looked from far away to be a large rock. As he came closer, he noticed the writing.

“It’s in Ancient,” Daniel said, coming up beside Sam. He looked at the rock. That was really all it was. A few words written into a giant boulder.

“That’s not all,” Sam said. She reached down and touched a small portion that was raised from the rest of the surface. Instantly, the top of the boulder slid back to revel a compartment. Daniel reached inside and pulled out a large, very old book.

“Wow,” was all Daniel could manage to say. He carefully opened the book and read the first few lines to himself. “It seems to be a history of this village. They were part of the original Ancients from Atlantis, when it was still on Earth.” Daniel closed the book and looked at Sam. “That means we have finally met a living Ancient.”

“I know,” Sam said, with a sly smile. “I told you that you’d want to see this. There are more rocks like this through out the ruins. I think they used them to hide important artifacts when who ever attack them attacked.”


As Daniel and Sam poured over their newest find, Ryelin wandered aimlessly throughout the ruins. She came to the edge of the village, also the edge of a cliff. She took a seat a few feet back from the edge. She stared out at the seemingly endless ocean that lay beyond. Being here wasn’t helping any. She wasn’t remembering anything. She felt someone sit down next to her. She turned to see Major Connor.

“What do you want?” She asked, turning back to the ocean vista.

“I want to help you remember,” He said, also looking out at the ocean. “That is why we’re all here, is it not? That is why they brought me along. Take a walk with me.” He said all this with such casualty, like the two of them were best friends. Like things were before she found out what he had done.

“Where are you planning on taking me?” She asked, not looking away from the ocean. He stood up. She felt his shadow fall across her face.

“Just want to show you some of your favorite places. Mostly I just want to talk. Trust me, kiddo.“ She wanted so badly to feel she trusted him. But things were so different now. She knew she couldn’t, shouldn’t trust him. Still, she found herself taking his extended hand. He puller her up and guided her back into the ruins.

They talked about the people she used to know, and the things she used to do. She was so eager to hear about her past, she didn’t realize that Connor was guiding her as far away from Sam and Daniel as possible. They passed out into the field, and she soon found herself at the Gate.

“Why did you bring me back here?” she asked when he had stopped talking. He didn’t say anything, just kept walking. She tried to turn, to run back to the safety of the ruins, but he grabbed her by her jacket, making her fall back. “What are you doing?” She yelled, with fear in her voice.

“Finishing my job,” he said, dragging Ryelin behind him. Her yelling had caught the attention of the men guarding the Gate.

“Sir, what are you doing,” one of his men asked. Connor didn’t say anything. He just dropped Ryelin and raised his pistol. He fired one shot and the young man fell dead as he walked. He fired two more quick shots and the rest of his team was dead.

Ryelin sat stunned on the ground where she had fallen. Connor came to her and pulled her up by the collar of her jacket. He pulled her towards the Gate. As they neared the Gate, Ryelin got her bearings back. When he let her go to dial the Gate she tried to run. He pulled out a Zat gun, shooting her once without ever looking away from the DHD. She fell to the ground, unconscious. He picked her up and carried her through the Gate.

Sam and Daniel had heard the first gun shot and were off and running before the second shot was fired. They reached the Gate just in time to see Major Connor disappear into the Event Horizon with Ryelin in his arms.

“Damn it!” Sam yelled in frustration. Daniel hurriedly wrote down the symbols on the DHD before they disappeared. “We should have been watching her better.”


An hour later, Sam and Daniel sat in the briefing room, waiting as Jack made a call to NID headquarters in Washington. He had been on the phone for quite a while. He ended the conversation and slammed the phone into the recover. Daniel looked at Sam, knowing that was not a good sign.

“They have suddenly decided they want to the be hero,” Jack yelled as he came storming out of the office. “They don’t want us to go in at all. Not even to get Ryelin. And they have the president on their side with this one.” Jack sat down with a dramatic sigh. He put his elbows on the table and propped his head in his hands. This was frustrating for all of them. “To top it all off, they won’t go in for two days.”

“Sir,” Carter started slowly. “We could risk it.” Jack looked at her with a quizzical look.

“What are you talking about?” Daniel asked, truly having no idea what they were talking about.

“Are you sure?” Jack said.

“Sure about what?” Daniel demanded. “What are you talking about?”

“I think Carter is suggesting SG-1 goes in alone, no back up.” Jack said, never taking his eyes off Sam.

“Sam, that’s…that is absolutely nuts,” Daniel stammered. “It would just be us two. Teal‘c is still on Chulack.”

“Three of us,” Jack corrected him. They looked at him. “What? I’m not gonna let you two have all the fun.”


Ryelin woke up in a hospital room. She was laying on a cot set up against a far wall. In the middle of the room was what looked like an operating table. It had bright overhead lights, and all sorts of monitors. All the equipment was from Earth, as far as she could tell, but they were definitely not on Earth. Major Connor wouldn’t have taken her back there. For the moment she was alone.

Suddenly she wasn’t alone. Like ghosts, the people appeared from no where. They were all crowded around a small figure on the operating table. Ryelin got up and walked over to the table. She looked down and saw herself at 13. It was then she realized she was having a very vivid and real memory come back to her.

She watched as they took a needle filled with a silver liquid and plunged it directly into her heart. Ryelin, both the real one and the flashback version, jumped when it went in. Instant pain filled the figure on the table. She pitched back and forth, much like she was having a seizure. Then the movement stopped. She lay still.

A bright light filled the room. The doctors couldn’t see it. From the light came a familiar face. She had thought it since she first met Daniel. She knew him somehow, and this was how. He walked over to the still body and placed a hand on her small shoulder. Within seconds the monitors started going off. Her heart had stopped. The doctors crowded around the table, beginning CPR. Daniel leaned over her, whispering something in her ear. Release your burden. That is what he told her.

A few minutes later the doctors stopped their efforts, they let her go. A bright light began emitting from her body. Soon both she and Daniel were lost in a flood of light, then they were gone. Soon, the other people faded from Ryelin’s eyes.

“Ah, your up,” came a voice from behind her. She whipped around, surprised. There stood Dr. Williams.

“Chris, you were part of this?” She asked, upset and feeling betrayed. “Why did you do this? How could you do this? You killed me, yet you acting like my friend for almost over a year. I just don’t get it.”

“We were all just doing our job,” Dr. Williams attempted to defend herself. There was a silence between them. He wanted to say sorry, but he knew it would make no difference. He say the hate in her eyes. “Just do what they say, and make it easy on all of us.” He turned his back on her and began readying the area for the lasted experiment.

“How did you get here anyways?” Ryelin asked, standing at the edge of the operating table.

“The Trust has ships now.” He continued to pull out instruments and setting up the monitors. “Sit on the table, please.” She looked at him defiantly. “Please, don’t make me hurt you, Ryelin.”

She was amazed at the casualness of his threat. He acted like it was something he had said to her on a daily basis. This new side of her friend scared her. She didn’t think for a second that he would hesitate in hurting her. She did as she was told and got up on the table. He came over and attached the heart monitor to her chest.

“Lay down.” He ordered. “The rest will be here in a moment.” He left the room then. He couldn’t watch them put her through that tourcher again. It wasn’t right. Ryelin lay down after her left. She was afraid to move. She fixed her eyes on a spot on the ceiling and promised herself she would not look away.

Just as he said, the doctors came in a few minutes later. They did not speak to her, and she did not speak to them. It was easier that way for all. Most had been there the first time they tried this. They were there when Ryelin died. They all saw the light, and knew what it meant. She had ascended. They all hope the results of this test would work better. The way they prepared the Naquadah was different this time.

Everything had been prepared by Dr. Williams. All they had to do was strap Ryelin down and do the injection. They put her arms and legs in the leather straps. They cut into her legs, but she was too afraid to care. On of the doctors pick up the syringe with the Naquadah mixture. Without thinking twice, he plunged it into Ryelin’s chest.

Ryelin could feel the metal pulsing through her veins. It burned. She writhed in pain. It felt like the Naquadah was tearing holes inside her. She soon passed out from the pain. She lay perfectly still on the table, almost as if she was sleeping.

“She’s not breathing!” said one of the nurses, calmly. They started rescue breathing. After only two breaths, her heart stopped. The machines began peeping and buzzing. They did CPR, tried shocking her heart, but nothing worked.

“She’s gone,” the doctor said. He walked over to an intercom system on the wall by the door. He pushed the button that would put him in contact with Major Connor. The Major answered right way, asking how the test went. “The test was a failure sir. She’s dead…again.”

Chapter 7

Major Connor came into the room with Dr. Williams following close behind. Dr. Williams was in shock. He couldn’t believe he had helped to kill that poor girl. Quite frankly, he couldn’t believe that she had come back to them after dying three years ago. That was a feat he believed to be quite impossible. But in his five years with the Trust, he had seen a lot he believe impossible.

Major Connor ordered everyone out of the room, including Dr. Williams, but the man refused to move. After a minute of arguing, he gave up. Everyone would learn his secrets soon enough, why not start with letting his best friend in. He walked over to Ryelin. He just looked at her for a minute. He had truly grown to love her like his own daughter. But feelings like that aren’t allowed or welcomed in his line of work. He picked her up and moved towards the door.

“I’m not going to let you hurt her anymore,” Dr. Williams said, blocking the Major’s path. Dr. Williams couldn’t take his eyes off Ryelin. She looked so small and helpless lying there, limp in Connor’s arm. Nothing like the tough little girl he had gotten to know so well. Major Connor said nothing, he just pushed the doctor out of his way with his elbow.

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Major Connor said, walking toward the end of the hallway. “I’m trying to help her. But my hands are a bit full. Would you mind opening the door. The key is in my left pocket.” Major Connor waited as Dr. Williams made his way down the hallway. He noticed that Connor was standing in front of the door that always remained locked. Major Connor’s secrets lay beyond this door.

Dr. Williams reached his hand into Connor’s pocket. He pulled out a single silver key. He slowly put it into the lock and turned the key. The door easily swung open. Dr. Williams gasped when he saw the contents of this small room. There must have been two thousand artifacts or more. There was no real order to them, not that the doctor would have noticed anyways. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the large object in the center of the room. He had never seen one before, but he knew right away that it was a sarcophagus, and he had never been so happy to see a piece of Goa’uld technology in his life.

------

Sam and Daniel met Jack in his office at exactly 6pm, as planned. Gen. O’Neill had scheduled the three of them for a diplomatic mission to P4Y-279. They had just discovered this planet and were currently in talks to share technology. It was the perfect cover.

Together they headed down into the Gate Room. As soon as Walter saw them, he entered the address into the dialing computer. A few seconds later, the team was heading up the ramp and into the event horizon.

Once on the other side, the instantly dialed the address Daniel had gotten from the DHD when Ryelin had been taken. They all said silent prayers that he had written down the correct symbols. They watched in anticipation as Daniel punched in the address. When the Gate activated, they heaved a sigh of half relief. They still hadn’t gotten through, after all.

They stepped through the Gate before any one on P4Y-279 saw them. Another part of the plan that had worked out well. The plant they had just Gated to was populated almost entirely by large Pine trees. As far as the eye could see, trees. Daniel quickly found a small foot path and lead the way into the heart of this forest.

Within ten minutes, they found a building. It was a rather small, two story building. They could tell by architecture alone that Daniel had gotten the right address. This was obviously a U.S. Military building.

“Sam,” Jack said, looking around. “You stay out here and watch for anyone coming or going. Daniel, we’ll go inside and have a look around. Is that cool with everyone?” Daniel and Sam nodded in agreement. Sam crouched down behind a bush near the building. She watched as the two men walked stealthily towards the building. Jack pulled lightly on the door handle. It opened with no problem. They disappeared inside. Sam settled back on her heals and looked at her surroundings.

------

Ryelin woke up on a hard cot. She was cold. She didn’t know where she was. She had a monstrous headache. Mostly, she was scared. Ryelin rolled over, and curled up into the fetal position, both for safety and for warmth.

“Welcome back to the world of the living!” Exclaimed a voice from above her. She looked up and saw a familiar face. It was Dr. Williams. She let herself smile for a minute, until she realized where she was and what had just happen to her.

“Wasn’t I dead?” She asked. Slowly she sat up. In sitting up, she realized not only her head hurt. Pretty much everything hurt. She was so sore, like at night, after a long day of physical labor. She wrapped her arms around her chest, trying not to allow any of her muscles to move. She looked at Dr. Williams. He was sitting so calmly in the chair beside her cot.

“Yes, you were.” He answered finally. “We have a sarcophagus.” She gave him a puzzled look. She had no idea what a sarcophagus was. “I need to call Major Connor. He’ll want to see you.” Dr. Williams moved towards the phone.

“No!” She said, reaching out to grab him as he walked by. She winced, forgetting for a second that it hurt to move. “Please, just leave him out of it. I don’t want to see him now.” She put her arm down, seeing that he wasn’t going anywhere. She looked up at him, giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. He bought into it and sat back down, admitting that it could wait a few more minutes.

------

Jack and Daniel were in the hall. They had heard voices in a room somewhere in the middle of the hallway. They silently went to the door. Jack leaned against it, trying to hear better who it might be. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he could tell it was a young girl. He nodded to Daniel in a gesturer that said ‘we found her’.

Jack threw open the door. His plan was to distract whoever was inside, in case they had guns. He wanted to make sure he had the upper-hand. Of course, he didn’t need it, as all he found in the room was one doctor with a frightened look on his face and one very pissed off teenager.

Ryelin jumped up as soon as she saw who it was that had just busted down the door. A huge smile spread across her face. Dr. Williams looked a Jack. Jack’s first thought was that they were going to have problems with Dr. Williams. His second thought was “how in the world did he get here?”

“Thank God,” Dr. Williams said. “Please, take her and get as far away as you possibly can!” Ryelin looked back at him. He smiled at her. “I never wanted to hurt you. I came here to protect you. Connor is crazy. There is so much I wanted to tell you. But that will have to wait.” He put a hand on Ryelin’s check. She flinched away from his touch.

“Ryelin, lets go,” Jack said, extending his hand towards her. She went towards him. As she drew closer, he reached out and put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a kind of half hug. They started walking out, but Jack stopped. He looked over his shoulder, asking Dr. Williams, “How did you get here Doctor. No one has gone through the Gate in over 48 hours.”

“The trust has ships,” he answered nonchalantly. Jack nodded, saving that bit of information in his mind for later. His only thought now was getting Ryelin back to Earth before the NID stormed this planet.

------

Sam had her back to the building, watching the trail ahead of her. She had thought she saw movement about two hundred yards ahead, but she couldn’t be sure. She was so focused on trying to find where the movement had come from, she didn’t hear Jack, Daniel and Ryelin run out from the building. She turned just as they were coming into the patch of bushes she had set herself up in.

“Hey Sam!” Ryelin said happily. She was so glad to be with these three people. All of them made her feel so safe. Sam gave her a big hug, then filled Jack in on what she thought she had seen.

“Well, then,” Jack said, standing up. “I guess we had better get out of here then.” Ryelin saw a blue trail of lights hit Jack in the back, then he fell. She moved over to him, leaning over him, almost like she was trying to protect him. Another blue streak of light and Daniel fell, then another and Sam was down. She was alone again.

Ryelin looked up to see Major Connor come into the bushes. She grabbed onto Jack’s hand, hoping that he would wake up soon. But he didn’t wake. Major Connor reached down and grabbed Ryelin’s arm. She winced as he squeezed.

“You didn’t honestly think you could get away that easily, did you?”

------

Ryelin sat on her cot with her back against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest. She was hungry, but she didn’t dare ask for anything. That would involve talking to Major Connor. Her greatest goal in life at the moment was never speaking to that man again. So far she was succeeding. He sat in the chair that Dr. Williams had previously occupied watching Ryelin.

A knock was heard at the door. Major Connor got up to answer it. He opened the door and in seeing who it was, walked back to the chair. He sat down as Dr. Williams entered.

“Here’s the box you asked for,” Dr. Williams said, handing a brown cardboard box to Connor. He took it and set it on his lap. Slowly he looked up at Dr. Williams. There was hatred burning in his eyes.

“How could you let her go?” Connor asked icily.

“They zatted me,” Dr. Williams lied. “I didn’t have a choice in the matter.” He gave Ryelin a quick little look, begging her to let the lie go. Asking her to help cover his ass. Both knew that Connor wouldn’t hesitate in killing him.

“Here,” Connor said, picking up the box. “I want you to do it.” He stood up and shoved the box into Dr. Williams’s hands. The doctor looked at him. “Go on…open it.”

Dr. Williams opened the box. Lying inside was a Goa’uld ribbon device. Dr. Williams picked it up, handing the empty box to Connor. Slowly, the doctor walked to the cot. He sat down on the side.

“Ryelin,” Dr. Williams said his voice barely above a whisper. She looked up at him. “We need you to put this on.” She looked at him defiantly. She shook her head no, refusing to put it on. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew she didn’t want any part of it. He asked again and again for her hand, but she wouldn’t move.

Connor pushed Dr. Williams away, grabbing the ribbon device. Dr. Williams fell to the floor. Connor forcefully took Ryelin’s hand, shoving the device on her arm a little harder than was necessary. Ryelin didn’t move or make a sound, although it had hurt.

“You’re nuts,” Dr. Williams said, picking himself up off the ground. “You have completely lost your mind.”

“No,” Connor shot back. “I am finishing the job. Something no one else could do.” He looked with distaste upon Dr. Williams. He turned back to Ryelin. “Activate it” he ordered.

“I don’t know how,” She said defiantly.

“It’s all in your mind. If you want it to work, it will.” Connor said, sitting down on the cot. “Now, activate it!”

Ryelin knew she had no choice. She thought hard about activated it. It was difficult as she had no idea what it even was; let alone how to get it to work.

“Good,” Connor said, as the center part started glowing red. “Very good. Now I want you to practice using it. On him.” Connor pointed at Dr. Williams, who had positioned himself in the chair.

“What?” They asked at the same time.

“You really have lost it,” Dr. Williams said, standing up. He slowly inched his way along the wall, trying to get as far away from him as possible. “You have no conscious. Why don’t you tell her what really happened to all her people. Tell her how you killed them all one by one with your little experiment. Tell her how you have stolen away her entire life. Tell her how you murdered her, and didn’t even blink.”

“Yes,” Connor said, standing up. “And you tell her how you sat back and watched. Tell her how you did nothing. Tell her how you came up with the formula that helped kill all her people. Tell her how it was your idea to destroy the village to make it look the Goa’uld. How’s that for a conscious?”

The two men were now basically standing nose to nose. Ryelin took the opportunity to try and get away. Connor saw her out of the corner of his eye. He pulled out his pistol so fast no one had any time to react. He aimed it directly at her head.

“Don’t take another step,” Connor said coldly. She stopped moving. “You will do as I say, or I will shoot him.” He moved the gun to Dr. Williams temple.

“You think I care about him?” Ryelin asked, taking another step towards the door. Connor moved the gun away from the doctor’s head and aimed at his knee. He pulled the trigger. Dr. Williams screamed and fell to the ground. The barrel of the pistol went back to the doctor’s head.

“I think you do.” Ryelin stopped moving. Her hands hung limp at her sides. “Come over here,” he ordered. Like a robot, she did as he said. She stood at his side. She couldn’t bear to look at Dr. Williams. She could smell the blood and it made her sick. She felt light headed.

Connor took his free hand and grabbed Ryelin’s arm, much gentler this time. He guided her hand so it was just above Dr. Williams forehead. Without really thinking, Ryelin activated the device. A beam of energy and light shot from her hand to Dr. Williams mind. His head lurched back in pain.

Ryelin tried to move her hand, but his grip wouldn’t let her.

“Ask him anything, Rye,” Connor whispered in her ear, sweeping back the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. “He can’t refuse you now.”

Ryelin looked at Connor. He gestured for her to go on. She looked back at Dr. Williams. “What else has Major Connor done to me?” Ryelin asked, anger welling up inside her. Dr. Williams didn’t say anything, just jerked his head back in pain again. “What else!” She yelled, the anger taking control of her. The beam become more intense. Dr. Williams couldn’t fight it anymore.

“Nothing else to you, but lots to others!” He cried out in pain.

“Who has he hurt?” She asked, forcing down some of her anger. The beam soften out a little.

“His wife. Oh, God, he killed his wife! She found out what he had done, what he planned still to do. Oh God, please stop!” Dr. Williams screamed. It was more that Ryelin could handle. She moved her hand away from him. He collapsed in a heap.

Ryelin looked directly into Connor’s eyes. He saw pure hatred, and it scared him. She held up her hand, next to her face, little him see that she now had power over the device. It glowed faintly red.

“You killed my mother,” she said. The anger she felt made the center red glow darker. “Both of the women I called mom, you killed in cold blood. Why?”

“I don’t have an answer for you,” he said, backing away from her. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t care,” she said, letting the anger overtake her. The device pulsed in a wave of energy and Connor went flying across the room. He hit the wall and slid to the ground, unconscious.

Ryelin went over to Dr. Williams. She took the device off her hand. She looked at his face, then down at the wound. It was still bleeding. Even if he survived the bleeding, he would never walk the same. She didn’t know why, but she put her hands on his chest. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind. The space between her hands began to glow white. A light from within him was healing him.

Dr. Williams breathed in deeply. Ryelin lifted her hands and looked at him.

“What did you just do?” He asked, sitting up.

“I healed you. All Ancients can do that.” She said. She had no idea where this information had come from. She didn’t care. “Where did he put Jack, Daniel and Sam?”

“They are on the second floor,” he said, examining his knee. The wound was gone. There was only a seemingly random hole in his pants. “The forth room on the right.” Without thinking, he reached into his pocket, handing Ryelin the keys.

She jumped up and ran out the door. She ran down the hall until she came to the stairwell. She took the steps two at a time. Once at the top, she turned left and walked slowly down the hall, counting the doors. At the fourth door, she unlocked the door, opening it slowly.

“Ryelin!” Daniel yelled jumping up as Ryelin walked in.

“How did you get out?” Sam asked, taking Ryelin into a hug.

“Long story, where’s Jack?” She asked, looking around the room. Indeed, Jack was nowhere to be found.

“He was being disruptive,” Daniel laughed. “They moved him across the hall.”

Ryelin went back out the door and across the hallway. She unlocked this door, not bothering to open it slowly. The room was dark; it took her a second to adjust to the dim light. Jack was sitting the corner. His head was resting on his knees, so she couldn’t see his face.

She went to his side, putting a hand on each shoulder. At her touch he looked up. His face was a mess, cuts and bruises everywhere. It was obvious he had been beaten. He smiled when he realized it was Ryelin. He wrapped his arms around her waist. With that embrace, the emotional barrier she had kept up so well was broken. She started sobbing over all that had happened in the past three days.

“Hey,” Jack said, pulling her in tighter. “I thought you said you were the strong one?” She looked at him, unable to say anything. He reached a hand up and brushed a tear off her cheek. “Do you just need a minute?” He asked. She nodded her head, putting it back on her shoulder.

“Jack,” Daniel said, peeking his head into the room. “I’m sorry, but we gotta go, now. Someone is coming up the stairs.” Jack stood up, pulling Ryelin up with him. He kept an arm around her shoulder. They walked out of the room, holding each other up.

Sam had found their weapons. She stood poised at the head of the stairs waiting for whoever it was coming up the stairs. A few moments later, Major Connor appeared. Without a word he raised his pistol to Ryelin’s head.

“No,” she yelled. “You will not hurt me anymore!” She reached down and grabbed the Zat gun right out of Daniel’s hand. Before he could do anything, she shot Connor. He fell to the ground. She shot him again, and again. Then he was gone. She stood there in shock. It was over.

Jack went to her, and took the Zat gun away. He handed it back to Daniel. Without a word, the four of them walked down the stairs and out of the building. Jack kept his arm around Ryelin as the walked down the footpath. It was barely wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side. Neither cared. They were just happy to have someone to lean on.

The Stargate loomed up ahead. Daniel went to the DHD and dial home. Sam was first to go through, followed by Daniel, then Jack and Ryelin, still walking side by side.

Ryelin stopped on the other side. She was so happy to be back in the Gate Room. She looked at all the soldiers hurrying around, guns aimed at the Gate. She looked up into the Control Room. Finally, he eyes rested on Jack. He was looking right back at her.

“Now what?” she asked him.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” he told her, as the medical team came up the ramp to look at them both.