A fan fiction story revolving around the worlds of "Stargate SG-1" and "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman". No infringement of ownership is meant. It is just for fun.

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General Jack O'Neill looked over Stargate command through the balcony window. "So has anyone managed to figure out who keeps dialing us?"

Lieutenant Colonial Samantha Carter shook her head. "They do seem to be a bit persistent. I'd say it was Goa'uld, but they know we have our codes and the partition."

Dr. Daniel Jackson just shrugged. This wasn't his area of expertise.

Teal'c spoke up, "The worrisome part is that they dial almost exactly sixty seconds after the last use of our Gate."

"Why's that a problem?" Jack asked.

"That means they are in sensor range to detect our Gate being used. Yet we can not detect them" Teal'c explained gravely.

"The Goa'uld may have an al'kesh in orbit." Sam pursed her lips.

"That seems a bit clumsy to give away information about a cloaked ship in orbit from inference," Daniel noted.

"Not all Goa'uld are that subtle, even if they are trying to be," Sam responded with a wry grin.

Daniel just shrugged at that. It was true, to a point.

"Well, that doesn't change the fact that we need you to head out through the gate on a diplomatic mission. As you know, we learned from the Tok'ra about a settlement of humans that has been doing small, brisk trade 'behind the Gate' of Naquadah. It's not weapon grade, but they manage to trade for the food supplies they need." Jack stood up. "So we're looking to start up some trade with them. We could use our own supplies, and we can easily provide the foodstuffs they want in any reasonable amounts."

"With that, we can more easily get into production some of our own projects. Perhaps even be able to build our own Star Gate if needed." Sam seemed quite pleased about that.

"Without having to be dependent on the Asgard, right. Good luck, Lt. Colonel. That's all," Jack said as he stood up to head off to deal with his duties as base commander.

The Stargate flashed into existence on a barren, desert. The sky was dim above, the sun large and red in the sky.

Teal'c nodded as if in understanding. "I thought as much. This biosphere is limited."

"So they must import almost all of their supplies." Daniel nodded to himself. "So why are they staying here then?"

"We'll have to ask them. Speaking of them, here they are." Sam kept her hand on her gun, ready in a moment's notice. "Come on."

They started walking down the hill, not hearing the chevrons locking into place behind them. If they had, they would have noted the final, tenth chevron slamming home.

The Star Gate exploded with its watery-looking field and collapsed as normal, but it was an odd greenish color. A stubby, strange missile shot out attached to a tether of some sort. It sat there, panels opening and cameras being visible as they focused around the site. The portal closed in less than thirty seconds, cutting the cable.

Nothing happened for about twenty minutes. Then the Star Gate activated again. Just seconds afterwards, out stepped four figures.

"It finally worked!" another Sam stated happily. She seemed slightly younger than the one that had just left.

A much younger looking Jack just nodded as he stared into the sky. "Seems like it. We're definitely not on Earth." Behind them, the wormhole collapsed.

"A true, instantaneous transport system using wormhole technology! Too bad it requires so much energy and some really exotic applications on the artificial Kryptonite matrix that you were working on, Lucy," Sam said to the third woman. "But my theory of stable wormhole travel is finally vindicated."

"Well, as long as you have alien technology on the receiving end," the last man said as squinted at the Star Gate looming over them. This Daniel Jackson seemed almost identical to the one that had just passed the gate moments ago, excepting he didn't seem to need glasses. "Strange, these are similar to Egyptian Hieroglyphs."

"And if there was a receiver here, where is the one on Earth? You said your sensors detected the same sort of active gate around Cheyenne Mountain," Lucy said analytically.

"Now that is a good question. Maybe these gates are built on natural gravity fissures normally, and they were just 'passing through'. And no one had just ever bothered to install one there." Sam looked a bit pensive as she started to think about it.

"Well, someone sure came out here." The younger Jack knelt down. "Three people. Weird thing is, two of them are Sam and Daniel. I smell another human, really strange tang to his smell. Metallic. I can smell gunpowder on them too, so they were armed and they are wearing combat boots."

Lucy Newtrich sighed. "I think we went a lot further than just a couple of hundred light years." The gate pulsed open again with the green field. She tapped on a keyboard, her fingers blurring. "Your call, Colonel? Do we just proceed and meet the us of here?"

Jack frowned. "We're not in any immediate danger. And heck, I always wanted to meet myself. Send that back through." After she had, the field collapsed. "So we're here for twenty-four hours, then they will reactivate the portal to get us home. Time to go watch the natives."

"What did I do wrong with my calculations?" Sam asked herself as the walked down the hill.

Lt. Colonel Sam Carter looked at the flat, low buildings. The village gave the appearance of age and wear. "So how long have you been here?"

"Only a few decades. Ever since the System Lord Baphomet left us here to die. Luckily, we were able to randomly dial a world and make friendly contact with another abandoned world." The older man nodded as they sat in the center of the open area. "It was a primitive place that had been abandoned for centuries by the Gods. The humans there were willing to trade or just give us food. We had thought about just migrating there, until the Tok'ra contacted that world."

"So why didn't you contact the Tok'ra directly then, Merhan?" Sam asked.

"To be truthful, we were not sure we could trust them. While the Naquadah mine here is of poor quality, it is still Naquadah. Very valuable. We used our allies for most meetings. We finally set up a meeting point with the Tok'ra on a world using two different gate paths. That way we could not be traced immediately. But they did have a need for what we had. They would trade us items that we could then trade with our friends." Merhan shrugged. "It is not an easy life, but this is our home."

"Elder! There are more Tauri!" a younger man shouted from the edge of the village.

"We told you to bring only SG-1! Is this a trick?" the old man yelled, suddenly angry.

"Something may have come up that required that they send someone through with a message. If you don't mind, I'll try to contact them on our radios." Sam pulled out her walkie-talkie. "This is Carter, SG-1. Who's out there?" Hissing static was her only response for over a minute of trying. "Teal'c! Daniel! We may have a problem."

"I knew this was going far too smoothly," Daniel groused. He checked his MP firearm.

"Indeed, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said as he nodded.

SG-1 took up a defensive position at the edge of village.

Sam's blood ran cold, then hot. She immediately started shooting at 'herself'. "It's humanoid Replicators! Open fire!" On her command, they fired everything they had at the newcomers. They blinked in awe as they saw all four of the figures suddenly leap into action, diving behind cover with blurring speed. "I did hit her at least. Even though that's futile with a Replicator. Dammit."

Suddenly, from over the horizon of the planet, a huge, pyramidal form suddenly hove into view above the fight. It seemed to be descending to land in between them and the Star Gate.

"Crap. A Goa'uld Mother Ship?" Daniel yelled. "Why didn't we get any warning from the Tok'ra?"

"Because this was all a trap for them and you, Daniel Jackson," Mahren said from behind him, just before shooting him in the back with a 'zat. Sam and Teal'c were dealt with the same way by other 'villagers'. "Lord Baphomet, SG-1 is defeated, but there may be Replicators here. It is not safe to land."

"Silence, slave. There are no Replicators. Do nothing until my troops secure the area."

"Yes, my Lord!"

 "Okay. I'm a bit peeved at being shot!" Sam said in a normal voice. Everyone's enhanced hearing would allow them to hear her.

 "I think they thought you were a clone or something of the Sam from this reality. The you, that just got shot in the back and captured by the people down there, I mean," Jack called out from behind the boulder he was using for cover. He seemed to be staring right through it. "Daniel, you and Lucille hang back slightly. I think we should try to rescue them and take off into the wilderness and revive them for information."

 "Are they alive?" Daniel asked. He hated having the basic military enhancement in comparison to the Special Forces Enhancements that Jack and Sam had rated.

 "Yeah. Just stunned or something. It's like Star Trek or something."

 "Or something," Sam replied, rolling her eyes.

 "Right!" Jack responded obliviously. "Go!'

 With that, the four of them suddenly popped out of cover from up the hill and started to hop down in prodigious leaps, up to fifty feet at a time. In six leaps, they were at the edge of the village as the Jaffa started firing with their 'zats, the only weapons they had. The Jaffa were shocked to discover that not only were these Tauri almost impossible to hit, but seemingly unaffected when they were struck. Though they only managed to hit the 'new' Sam and Jack once.

 Mahren saw that these Tauri weren't even bothering to fire at them with their submachine guns. They were just clubbing his Jaffa down. He grabbed the comatose leader of SG-1 at his feet by her hair. "STOP! Or Samantha Carter dies!"

 The four strange Tauri stopped. "How do we know you aren't bluffing?" the new Sam shouted. She had her M-6A out. It was an outgrowth of the older M-4, but built-up to use .50 caliber bullets with a long banana clip. Behind her, the other members of the exploratory expedition had their weapons ready, too.

"You know that a second blast kills! Drop your weapons now!" the Jaffa shouted.

 "Do it!" Jack shouted. They were nowhere near helpless even now, but they couldn't allow someone to die because of them.

 Suddenly out of the side buildings, dozens and dozens of Jaffa filed out. A light flashed in each building every fifteen seconds.

 "Okay, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to surrender," Jack said to the other members of his team. He whispered very quietly, "Play possum."

 Staff weapons were suddenly lowered and then fired.

 "So these are the strange Tauri, Jarium?" the System Lord Baphomet asked from his throne. The Goa'uld walked over to lift up Sam's head. "And they survived being shot by Staff Weapons? Remarkable!"

 "There are two Samantha Carters and two Daniel Jacksons. Though they are not quite identical. The Tauri that survived the Staff Weapons are... younger, for lack of a better term. And this one resembles Jack O'Neill, but maybe twenty years younger or more. The other woman is unknown," Bahomet's champion declared. His features were hidden behind his dragon mask.

 "It must be the Asgard. They have given the Tauri cloning technology and the ability to transfer minds. And this is what they do with it," the Goa'uld mused aloud. "Apophis would trade much for this information. Take them to the holding cells."

 All seven humans were dragged to cells deep inside the spaceship. On a whim, Jarium set the 'duplicated' humans together. He set a very strong guard outside their doors and another force outside of the cell block.

 Jack immediately sat up. "Man, those things hurt," he complained. "Hey, buddy? You all right?" He started to shake the larger Negro.

 With a groan, Teal'c awoke. "General O'Neil? You were captured to? Wait! You are not General O'Neill!"

 "Well, not yet!" he quipped in reply. "Colonel Jack O'Neill, at your service." He reached out and shook the Jaffa's hand.

 "Teal'c. You do not know me?" he asked.

 "I think I'd remember a guy with that sort of symbol on his forehead," he said pointedly. "Not exactly a fashion statement-"

 "-back on Earth, yes."

 One of the Sams sat up. "Those things pack a punch," she said, shaking her head. "Why, hello there, Sam! It's wake up time!" She started to shake her other self awake. She was startled when the woman backed up to a corner as soon as she recognized the person in front. "Hey! We're safe for the moment!"

 "No, we aren't, Replicator!" the older looking Sam said with a snarl. "I won't let you destroy all of the civilizations in this galaxy, too!"

 "Time out! While I might be you, I'm not a copy. I'm just you from somewhere else!" Sam held her hand out to shake the other woman's hand. "Major Samantha Carter, US Air Force."

 "Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, Star Gate Command. So you used a quantum mirror on your Star Gate?" she asked, genuinely curious for the first time.

 "The Star Gate is that thing we came out of, right? No, never saw one before today. I was part of a top secret project to develop our own FTL capability. I noted a strange quantum energy pattern during my research and it matched some information for wormhole technology. So I thought that we could build our own, um, gate and maybe get to the stars that way."

 "Hey, Lucy, get up!" Jack called out. "You don't need to sham anymore."

 "Jack, she's only got a civilian enhancement. She's going to be out for a while-?" Sam blinked in astonishment as Lucille Newtrich just sat up in her cell where she was being kept alone.

 "General Winston is going to upset that you blew my cover, Colonel!" Lucy said hotly.

 "My call to make. You were the one wearing the outfit under you lab coat during a security alert. Think we can get out of here?" Jack said.

 "There's a lot of people in this space ship. Hmm. It looks like they are flipping the Star Gate onto its face onto a platform and bringing it inside." Lucy was looking intently at a wall, as if she could stare through it with sheer will power.

 Jack looked in the same direction. "Yeah, looks like it," he said. "Would that keep the portal from opening?" he asked.

 "Yes, it would. What are they planning?" the older looking Sam muttered.

 Daniel Jackson rubbed his eyes and put his glasses back on, looking in surprise at his double. "They probably want to make it really hard for General O'Neill to send a rescue mission. SG Command probably doesn't even realize we've been caught yet. Hey, this guy who looks like me doesn't look like he's in very good shape. He's breathing, but those wound doesn't look so good. What was he shot with?"

 "He was shot by one of those staves," Lucy said.

 "And he's alive? What are you guys made of, steel?" Daniel asked.

 Lucy said softly, so that only enhanced ears could catch the words, "Sounds like they don't have the Ultra Soldier program where they come from. They may not even have Superman in their world."

"Top secret enhancement process. I really can't talk about it here," Jack said loudly for their new friends benefits, nodding at the Jaffa outside.

 "They must be really paranoid, they've got a full troop here and outside," Lucy said.

 "Outside too? We really are stuck!" Lt. Colonel Carter groused.

 "Actually, were in a much better position than earlier. No hostages being threatened to be killed here, after all. Subdue these guys, GI Jane!" Jack ordered as he stood up. The Jaffa shuffled a bit, lowering their lances at the prisoners.

 Lucy glared at Jack, even as the Sam from her world goggled in surprise. "Fine. Let's do this the right way then. In a blink of even enhanced eyes, Lucy was replaced by the costumed form of America's preeminent Ultra Soldier, GI Jane. Her red and blue skin-tight top was in great contrast to her camouflage pants and combat boots. Her cape was a bright red, while her mask was a deep blue.

 GI Jane then casually walked up to the door and ripped it off its hinges. With two quick batting motions, she knocked the entire group of Jaffa in the center of the room out. "We've got a minute or so before the guys outside decide to try and come in." SG-1 just stared in shock, it was like nothing they had thought a human could do.

 Her Sam and Jack quickly pried open their cell doors, while GI Jane popped the Daniels' doors open. "He should be fine, he just needs medical attention," she said reassuringly to the conscious one.

 "Here they come!" Jack warned as he looked at the closed door. "They are bringing up some sort of heavy cannon."

 "Well, I can see why," Lt. Colonel Carter muttered under her voice, not realizing that they could all easily hear her.

 Lucy eyes erupted with crimson laser vision, burning small holes through the door. "That cannon is disabled. Stay behind me," she warned as she kicked the door into the group of Jaffa on the other side. They were knocked out or incapacitated with broken limbs, if they were lucky. "Our equipment is two levels down."

 Jack nodded. "Sam. Er, my Sam! Carry the wounded and bring up the rear. Everyone, follow GI Jane."

 Soon they were in the storage room that all of their guns and equipment had been taken to. Lt. Colonel Carter picked up their P-6A submachine guns. "Wow, this is heavy. What do they fire?" She noted that there was no selector for a 'three' burst. Just single and full auto.

 ".50 caliber depleted uranium high velocity ammo," Jack said as he took the gun. "Unenhanced soldiers can only fire single shots if they want some really bad bruises. I can't wait until these things go into standard use soon. Only have a couple of clips though."

 "What's our plan? I'm sure that these guys are going to try and recapture or kill us soon," GI Jane said as she scanned around.

 "We could try to escape into the wilderness," Teal'c suggested.

 "Not really a great idea. This is not a good place to be without supplies," Jack noted. And getting out from under that red sun was a priority, in his mind. But he wasn't going to mention that.

 "So we have to get to that Star Gate," Daniel said as he fiddled with his rifle.

 "That's about six hundred feet below us. They even brought that funky control panel," the woman in the super-heroine outfit stated.

 "Let's do that. We can dial to Earth and then we can figure a way to get you back to your home from there. We may have to ask the Asgard for some help, but it shouldn't be a big problem," Sam said, thinking hard.

 "I'll clear a path, you guys catch up," GI Jane said, disappearing in a blur of super-speed.

 The rest of them followed as fast as they could. Soon they were in a hold where the Star Gate had been moved. GI Jane lifted the gate up as easily as you would a tipped over bicycle.

 Sam checked the controls and dialed Earth. With the splash of bluish energy, the gate opened. "I'll go first." With that she stepped through. "General, it was a trap. Seal this area, but don't close the gate quite yet!" she yelled up at the upper windows.

 General O'Neill Squinted then nodded to the operator. Huge metal doors closed. "What's going on, Sam?" he called out over the intercom.

 "We were captured by a System Lord. The whole thing had been a ruse. Luckily we ran into some familiar people that helped us out," she called back, just as Daniel and Teal'c stepped through the gate.

 Teal'c raised an eyebrow at the closing doors, until he was tackled from behind.

 The younger-looking Jack spoke up, "Get down! Those guys showed up again!"

 "You can shoot through a Star Gate," Lt. Colonel Carter explained as she unlimbered her MP. "And they can follow through."

 She almost pulled her trigger at the next figure, but it was just 'herself' carrying the wounded Daniel. Sam groused to herself, "That really stings." She set her Daniel down carefully. "Give 'em hell, GI Jane!"

 "Hey! This is Cheyenne Command," Jack suddenly said. "This the where you built your wormhole thingy, Sam."

 Both Sams sighed. "It's a trans-dimensional wormhole gate, Jack."

 The older Sam looked worriedly at the Star Gate. "What's holding up GI Jane?"

 "Oh, that'd be me. I told her to disable that ship if she could after dealing with those guys and their staves," Jack said.

 General O'Neill just stared in shock at the other him, de-aged somehow. "You aren't worried about this GI Jane being captured?"

 "Nah, not unless they start using much bigger guns," Jack said casually. "Oh, look! Here she comes!"

 GI Jane stepped through the portal. The only thing that looked out of place with her is her cape, which was holed with burnt spots. "Reporting as ordered, Colonel," she said with a snappy salute.

 "At ease, Seargent. I'd close that portal and get a medical gurney down here." Jack and Sam both put their guns on their backs.

 "Sam? Would you mind explaining how I'm down there and up here?" General O'Neill asked pointedly.

 "Quantum mirror universe analogues," she replied.

 "I've been doing this for way too long. I actually understood that," he groused. "Close the gate and the Iris."

"So you're as old as I am?" General O'Neill asked in a conference room. He, Teal'c, Daniel and this other Jack were here. The two Sams and GI Jane were working on a way to get them home. Their Daniel was in sick bay. Recovering from being shot by a Jaffa Staff Weapon.

"Right. The new procedure that we undergo as part of our military training makes us stronger, faster, tougher. And we just discovered that it's going to make us live longer lives. Kind of a side benefit, actually." Jack shrugged theatrically.

"Where do I sign up?" the older Jack asked. "I'm just kidding, Teal'c. While I wouldn't mind it, I'd rather have tougher soldiers to fight the Goa'uld."

"Indeed. Is that all for today?" Teal'c asked.

"Sure. Jack? You can come over to my place. I've got a spare bed. Or the couch," General O'Neill said.

"Works. I can show you a few tricks in cooking steaks I've figured out."

Daniel just shook his head as he picked up his paperwork to follow Teal'c out. Two Jack O'Neills. Look out, world. With that, he turned his mind toward some more archaeological artifacts he had planned to go over.

The two Jack O'Neills continued their conversation about sports, grilling and fishing.

"Nice place," Colonel O'Neill said as he stepped out of the land rover. "Looks just like my place!"

"What can I say, we have good taste!" Jack replied with a grin. If only he could have that much energy still.

"It looks like you don't have much fish out back," the visiting Jack noted.

"I have fish in there?"

"Not many. You might want to stock it up. Hey, did you realize you've got this old guy sitting on your couch?" the younger looking Jack asked.

"Noooo, there isn't supposed to be someone there," the general replied.

"Is Kinsey as much a jackass here as he is in my world?"

"Yup. Let's go see what he wants," the owner of the house said. With that he walked in and confronted his old political foe that was so inexplicably in his home.

"Let me get this right," the very young looking Jack started to say before getting interrupted.

 "Who is this guy?" Kinsey asked.

 "This is, uh, Jay. It's short for Jonathon," General Jack O'Neill replied lamely.

 "Yeah, just call me 'Jay'." 'Jay' said almost instantly. "Like I was asking, you're in trouble with this NID or the Trust as they call themselves now and you're afraid they are going to kill you. That about sum it up?"

 "Yes, damn it!" Kinsey replied.

 "Not my problem!" Jack replied. He pulled out his cell phone and started to dial the number for the local Sheriff.

 "Would you listen to me? The Trust is want me to set up something with the Russians."

 Jay just twisted his lips in a snarl. "Always the Russkies."

 Jack raised an eyebrow at that. He hung up his cell phone. "Now you have my attention."

 "You have to protect me!"

 "I don't have to do anything. But I might be convinced to help you, if you help us."

'Jay' sat in the back of a van, giving Teal'c and Sam a running update on Kinsey's 'interview' with the Trust. His x-ray vision was proving to be very useful "And they are bringing up a box now. Looks like some sort of high-tech incubator, actually."

"We're losing the signal," the technician called out. Kinsey's voice over the radio-bug they had on him was fading.

"That's one really ugly snake they are pulling out of that box... It just jumped into him." The ultra soldier's eyes scanned around. "These guys all have that snake thing inside of them!"

"Go! Go!" Sam shouted into her radio. "Recover Kinsey at all costs!"

Sam slid the door open just in time for a blur to rocket past her, ruffling her hair. She stared in awe as the strange version of Jack O'Neill ran the half-mile in seconds and kicked in the door, just in time to see them all fade out. "Houston, we have a problem."

"If the NID's al’kesh is in orbit, they must have fixed the cloak, because SSN hasn’t picked them up," Sam said as she looked up from her paperwork at the large conference room. 'Samantha' was reading the paperwork as she sat next to her.

"What about the locater beacons?" Daniel asked.

"We’re running a search through the NSA satellite system, but all they’d have to do to avoid detection is change the frequency. Odds are we’re not gonna find anything," Sam said. Her doppleganger just shrugged in agreement.

"What she said," Major 'Samantha' Carter added with a shrug.

"Well, the Pentagon’s been apprised of the situation. They’re launching Prometheus in about four hours. Teal'c, I want you on board. There’s a C-17 waiting for you at Peterson."

"Understood." The Jaffa leader stood up and exited, with only a nod to the others present.

"Sir, I’ve been going over the sensor logs from the last encounter between Prometheus and the al’kesh. There were a few small anomalies emanating from the ship’s position before it decloaked. They didn’t register because we didn’t know to look for them, but I could create a program that would key the sensors to those particular readings," Sam said as she pushed the papers over to Samantha.

Samantha started to read the papers at super-speed, reminding them again that she has 'super-human' abilities.

"I was just going to suggest that!" Jack said.

Jack 'Jay' O'Neill shot him a glance from the window, where he was watching the Stargate morosely. Did he always sound that sarcastic?

"So we’d be able to detect this cloaked ship?" 'Dan' asked his counterpart, Daniel. He looked much improved even in just the short time they had been back. The staff weapon burns were already scabbing over a bit.

Sam responded, "Well, it’s not that simple. These anomalies are very difficult to detect. It might have just been a fluke that we picked them up the first time. The effect is also mimicked by certain types of cosmic radiation, but I still think it might improve our odds.

"So instead of a million to one..." Jack drawled out.

"...maybe ten thousand to one?" Sam replied.

"I might have a few ideas," Samantha said as she started scribbling on a notepad.

"Improved, then," Daniel said.

"Yeah," Jack said.

"I’ll need a few hours to create the program," Sam said.

"I'll help. I should be able to cut the time down a lot," Samantha interjected. She grinned at her alternate's raised eyebrow. "Trust me!"

"Fine. Sam, you said you were going to verify if there was that quantum-thingy problem. Any news on that?"

"What quantum-thingy problem?" Jay asked.

Sam and Samantha were just getting up to leave. They glanced at each other. With a sigh, Sam finally said, "The tests came back positive. Within just a few days, quantum degeneration will reach critical levels and our guests will die."

Jay and Dan stared in shock. "So you are saying that we're going die if we stay in this reality?" Jay asked in shock. Their mute nods did not help his state of mind.

Jack pursed his lips. "Samantha? I want you to finish that program and then immediately go help Lucille with the devices to modify the Stargate to access alternate realities."

"Understood, sir," she replied.

Jack starts to write in the file in front of him. Daniel and Dan looked around the room, at a loss for something to do.

"I have to pick up my dry cleaning. Do you want to come along?" Daniel asked his counterpart Dan.

"You’re on a flight to Moscow in half an hour," Jack said without looking up.

"I am?" Daniel asked as he sat back down.

"Both of us?" Dan queried also.

"Just you, Daniel. Colonel Chekov’s people will meet you there. Will you please try to find out what the hell’s goin’ on? And if you get a chance, hook up with this General Kiselev."

"Jack, they know we’re on to them - they may just abort the mission." Daniel pursed his lips thoughtfully.

"I don't think Daniel is the best option," Dan interjected.

"Oh?" Jack drawled out.

"He's not bullet-proof. I am."

"That is a good point. But you don't know the players," the general pointed out. "And you're still on the hurt list."

"You're just going to give me a briefing. I don't want to agree, but Dan's physical abilities could be a decisive point in this problem," Daniel noted.

"You have a good reason." He shook his head. "Back to your other objection. No, the way Kinsey was talking, it sounds like they’re lookin’ for a big score here. They've got to play it out."

"So what am I supposed to do, Jack?" Daniel asked.

Jack seemed lost in thought. "Daniel, I need you to head to the Alpha site and start setting up a worst case scenario fall back plan with Colonel Lemars there."

Daniel blinked. Worst case? He didn't mean the outright destruction of the United States, did he? He frowned in thought.

 Colonel Pendergast sat in the captain's chair on the Prometheus. Teal’c is wandering around the bridge behind him.

 "Sir, download is complete. Colonel Carter’s new sensor program is online and operational," the communications officer said as he turned from his console.

 "Alright, begin search pattern alpha," Pendergast said. "Are the other sensor platforms in position?"

 "Yes, sir."

 "Get us underway. Let's troll the waters a bit and see if we can get someone to follow us." The colonel wondered whose brilliant idea this had been? Though a moving cosmic radiation anomaly probably would be easier to spot, from the two satellites they had tapped for this job and the ship itself.

 Dan walks through the halls of the Kremlin and reaches an office. He mused to himself that he would never have thought to find himself here, behind the Steel Curtain, visiting a supposed ally. A woman is inside with her back to him. Daniel taps on the door.

"Hi, I’m here to see Captain Voronokova."

"I am Captain Daria Voronokova. You must be Daniel Jackson," the woman in the office said as she turned around.

"Your English is excellent!" Dan said with a smile.

 "Thank you. And how is your Russian?" Daria asked curiously.

 The academic replied in flawless Russian with an accent that placed him from Moscow, "Although I don’t get the opportunity to practice much, I’m conversational. I suppose I can get by." He smiles tightly. A handy ability with the second cold war going on.

 "Ah, okay, we stick to English, then." It was obvious that he had disconcerted her. "I will be your guide. Whatever you wish to do while you are in Moscow, you will ask me first and I will take care of it. If you desire to meet with anyone, I will arrange it for you. If you go out on your own, I cannot protect you. Lie to me, or attempt to mislead me, and I will not protect you." She gave him a steely look that brooked no nonsense.

 "Okay then," he replied.

 "Have you eaten a proper lunch?"

 "I had something on the plane. Which is definitely not proper food!"

"As I expected. I know a restaurant around the corner that serves the best salo in Moscow."

 "I’m not a big fan of salo."

 "Don’t worry, you will acquire taste." And with that Daria led him from the room.

 Dan is escorted into a house and led to a dining room. Colonel Chernovshev comes in, accompanied by a doctor wearing a white coat.

 "Doctor Jackson, sorry to keep you waiting," the colonel said.

 "No problem. I'm always gracious to people with guns. You wanna tell me what’s going on?" Dan asked.

 "All in good time. Please, roll up your sleeve. We need a sample of your blood."

 Dan looked at the doctor quizzically. "You’re kidding?"

 "Either you co-operate or we will take it by force!" the Russian officer said. His demeanor was quite cold and hostile.

 "I'd really like to cooperate, but I have a medical condition that makes it a little... tough to pierce my skin. Something from one of my last trips through the gate." He tried to smile pleasantly. "Is this a normal part of your interrogation procedure?"

 "Medical condition? What sort of nonsense is that? In this case, it will answer a very specific question. Doctor!"

 "What question?" Dan asked. The doctor approached him and jabbed his arm with a needle.

 "Um, ow?" he said glibly.

 In Russian, the doctor said, "Colonel, there is a problem. His skin..." The doctor jabbed his arm again. And then a couple more times. "The needle won't penetrate."

 "Medical condition?" the colonel asked.

 "Ah, yeah. It makes shaving a little challenging. I go through propane like you wouldn't believe." Dan smiled as innocently as possibly.

 "Propane?" was his startled response.

 Dan suddenly asked, "But you just need some blood, right?"

 "Da!" the doctor said while nodding his head.

 With a wince of pain, Dan gouged his skin on his finger-tip. It immediately started to bleed lightly. "Ouch."

 Colonel Chernovshev turned to the doctor and in a discomfited tone told him, "Have it analyzed immediately."

 The doctor nodded and let the room with alacrity.

 "What’s going on?" Dan asked as he put pressure on his finger.

 "Why do you wish to see General Kiselev?" the colonel asked.

 "It’s a bit complicated."

 "Surely you can explain it to me," the Russian officer said.

 "I think I’d rather explain it to General Kiselev," Dan said.

 "That’s not going to happen. You see, earlier today we managed to uncover a plot against the general’s life. Luckily we captured the assassin before he could make his move." The colonel picked up a remote control and switches on a TV. "I believe you know him."

 On the screen is a frozen image of Kinsey. He is dressed in a beige jumpsuit and is chained at the wrists.

 "Kinsey!" the American exclaimed.

 "Robert Kinsey, former Vice President of the United States of America," Colonel Chernovshev said smugly.

 "That’s insane! Why would Kinsey want to kill General Kiselev?" Dan said, thinking very hard.

 "I’m afraid Mr. Kinsey isn’t exactly himself these days," Chernovshev said. He activates the video.

 "By stopping me you will only delay the inevitable," Kinsey intones in a Goa’uld voice. His eyes flash ominously. "Your world is doomed."

 Chernovshev turns to Daniel. "Now you begin to appreciate the gravity of the situation."

 "We've already informed your government that Kinsey was taken by Goa'uld," Dan said, remembering that from his briefing. "No, it's insane to use such a recognizable figure as an assassin so blatantly."

 "What are you getting at, Doctor Jackson?"

 "That this is more complicated than we think," Dan said shrewdly.

 Dan and Daria enter her office. "Thank you for getting me out of there," Dan said with a warm smile.

 "It wasn’t easy. Even after your blood test came back negative, they still wanted to hold you."

 Daria shrugged.

 "Yeah, not a lot of trust and goodwill to spare right now, I guess. Listen, I need to talk to the Goa’uld," the interdimensional archeologist asked intently.

 "Nyet!"

 "You have to get me in to see Kinsey!"

 "Impossible," she replied strongly.

 "If we’re gonna figure out what’s going on here, we have to question him. Someone is trying to turn our governments against each other," Dan said intently.

 "He is being questioned, by Russian military intelligence."

 "Yes, and he’s feeding them a pack of lies. He’s telling them the American administration has been infiltrated ‘cause he wants to force a confrontation."

 "To what end?" she asked

 "I don’t know. That’s why I’ll need to talk to him."

 Daria rolls her eyes theatrically. "Dosta!

 Dan looks slightly shocked by her outburst. "Language!" He looked at her imploringly. "Daria, please!"

 Daria sighs. "I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, stay here."

 Walter comes in and walks over to Jack in the main room of NORAD. "Sir. Just received another report. As of 0912, the Chinese military joined the Russians in an elevated state of alert."

 "Naturally!" the newly promoted general said in his drawling, sarcastic manner.

 Walter walks away as Chekov comes over to Jack. "General. I’ve been talking to my contacts in the Kremlin. They tell me President Mikhailov is not happy with the situation but is under considerable pressure from his military advisers."

 "In other words, Kiselev is running the show," Jack said shrewdly. Jay nodded to himself in the background.

 "Da," Checkov replied unhappily.

 "Any idea how we can keep this from going to total forces?" the general asked.

 "Yes, I have many friends in the general’s staff. If I can convince enough of them to take a united stand against escalation, it could give our President sufficient leverage to consider other options," the Russian said.

 "And if Kiselev finds out you’re goin’ around him, it could make things... worse,"

 "At this point, I don’t believe we have much choice."

 "Right," Jack said. He watched as the Russian left the room.

 "Tight spot you have here, Jack," Jay said. "Almost as tight as back home."

 "Almost?" this dimension's version asked in disbelief.

 "Well, yeah. You didn't start in this crisis in the middle of a new Cold War too!"

 In his detention cell, Kinsey is sitting on a chair in the middle of his cell. The door opens and Daria and Daniel come in. Daria speaks to the guards in a low tone in Russian. "Thank you. We’ll call you when we need you." She watched them closely as the guards close the door behind them. Daria stands by the door as Daniel walks forward to face Kinsey.

 "So, what should I call you?" Dan asked quizzically. This would be the first Goa'uld he would actually be talking to.

 "You are unworthy to speak my name!" the alien said in his deep, over-voice.

"Maybe. So I’m guessing you work for the System Lords, am I right? I know you’re not working for Ba’al, he’s too busy conquering the galaxy to bother with an unimportant planet like Earth. Gotta hand it to you, though, your territories are falling one by one, your troops are in full retreat, and yet you still find the time to come and try and destroy little old us. The question is, why?" Dan waited for Kinsey to reply. "Captain Voronokova thinks it’s, uh, a petty need for revenge for all the trouble we’ve caused you over the years, sort of a last-ditch attempt to take us with you before Ba’al finishes you off. I told her, the System Lords aren’t that pathetic. Are they?" Dan had a deeper suspicion.

 "You are the one who is pathetic. You will die never knowing our true purpose," the alien said smugly.

 "So there is a hidden agenda? Nice to know!"

 Kinsey looks away, annoyed at himself for revealing too much.

 "Making progress now, aren’t we?" the American said smugly.

 Only a little while later and still in Kinsey's room in Russia Dan was starting to show his frustration. "Y’know, I’m sure if we put our heads together we could come up with a dozen reasons why you’d want to wipe us out; the most important being the Ancient weapon that you know we possess. I’m sure the System Lords think that if they can get us to wipe ourselves out, they can just step right in and take it. They’re probably right but what I don’t understand is you. Why are you so willing to sacrifice yourself?" Dan asked as he sat across from Kinsey.

 "I assure you, I have no intention of dying on this miserable planet," the Goa'uld said smugly.

"You’re in Russian Defense headquarters, a primary nuclear target. If you do succeed in starting a nuclear war, you’re gonna die right along with the rest of us," the interdimensional traveler said his thought aloud. Dan looked quite upset as Kinsey just started smiling quite smugly. "Unless there’s something I’m missing."

 "You should return to your homes and say farewell to your loved ones. Your gods have deemed you to be unworthy, and the hour of reckoning is at hand," the Goa'uld said in his pompous manner.

 Daria’s pager goes off. She looks at it, then looks at Dan worriedly. "We have to get out of here. Now!"

 "Why, what is it?" Dan asked.

 "They’re coming for us," she said.

 "Who?"

 Outside the cell you suddenly hear a voice addressing the guards just outside. "Step aside! We are under orders from General Kiselev!"

 Soldiers then stormed into the room. Kinsey stands up with a smirk on his face. "You are too late!"

 Dan sidles over to Kinsey, a look of concentration on his face as he listened to the conversation between the guards and Daria. He takes out a device and pushes a button. His hands suddenly blur, snatching Kinsey and moving him directly to the side of Daria as his other hand grabbed her.

 With a flash of light, Dan, Kinsey and Daria disappeared, even as the guards pointed weapons at where they were just a moment ago.

Dan, Kinsey and Daria appear on the bridge of the Prometheus. Teal’c activates a zat gun and aims it at Kinsey.

 "What is the meaning of this?" Kinsey cried out. He was very careful not to move at all with the Jaffa holding the weapon on him.

 "Yes, what is meaning of this?" Daria snapped out. The American's got all the good toys from the Stargate.

 "Doctor Jackson, welcome aboard the Prometheus," Pendergast said as captain of the ship.

"Any luck finding the al’kesh? The Trust was taken by the System Lords and they have an al'kesh," Dan explained quickly to Daria.

 "Some American's let their people be taken over by Goa'uld?" she snapped out her question angrily.

 "Yeah, because we have so much control over black-op secret agencies. We've been trolling around and deployed satellites have narrowed the al'kesh-" the captain was explaining.

 "Target is closing on our six," the navigator called out.

 "Initiate Operation Helen immediately!" Pendergast commanded quickly.

Daria blinked at that.

 On the al'kesh's screen, the Prometheus can be seen looming large. The NID agent Jennings is flying the al’kesh towards the cruiser on the main control screen. "We are in position," Jennings said haughtily, his voice overlayed by his Goa'uld parasite.

 Mr. Parker spoke up over the intercom, "Have they detected our presence?"

 Jennings shook his head, "No."

 "Very well. Destroy the ship."

 "They have superior shields. If we do not succeed with the first salvo, we will be at a disadvantage!" the pilot warned.

 Suddenly, the shipped lurched as if something struck it. Jennings looked up to see the Prometheus turning toward them. In a panic, he realized that the cloaking device was off even as his sensors told him that the enemy ship just powered up their own shields.

 "We are under attack! Our cloaking device has been damaged!" Jennings called.

 Suddenly, a transmission appears on the screen. It is Pendergast, on the bridge of his ship. "You are outclassed and out-gunned. Surrender immediately or be destroyed!"

 "What hit us?" Parker yelled out.

 "She did!" the pilot called out. He blinked his eyes in shock at the red, white and blue clothed woman floating unprotected in space on the view screen now.

"Please tell you have something, Sam!" Jack said as Chekov and Jay followed him into the briefing room.

"We have a few things. The Prometheus just captured the al'kesh and they have Kinsey under arrest. We've informed them that Kinsey is in Captain Voronokova's presence and is under her authority. We've been going over all intelligence documents we have on General Kiselev," Sam said. She turned to Samantha. "Samantha noted a discrepancy."

"According to your intelligence, Kiselev and The Trust already have an agreement from some deal to buy a Goa'uld larva a couple of years ago." Samantha Carter looked at the older O'Neill with a cold, flinty look. "They didn't need Kinsey for a contact, they already had him in their pocket. The Trust probably turned him."

"And that's where I noticed that Kiselev isn't using his glasses," this dimension's Sam noted.

"So I hacked the Kremlin's medical records," the other Samantha said.

"You hacked them? Isn't their security tight?" General Jack O'Neill asked.

"By your standards, yes. But without AI backing, quite hackable once I got a few systems set up. Kiselev has serious eye issues and hasn't been to see his doctors about any change in prescriptions for weeks."

Chekov blinked at the AI comment, but nodded. "Yes, he has very bad gloucoma. There is no way that he could read anything without his glasses."

"So now we just have to convince President Mikhailov," Jack said.

 Just minutes later, an officer in NORAD's central command pipes up, "Sir, MPIC is reporting the visuals from Russian missile site 537. Silo doors are open! Evidence of a firefight on the ground."

 "My God! Kiselev is trying to launch without authorization!" the Russian liason officer cried out in shock!

"Mr. President, you are about to lose control of your own forces. You have to do something right now!" Jack almost shouts into the phone. Suddenly, the line is cut.

 "We lost it, sir! It was cut from the other side." Harriman looked stressed. He blinked as he read another screen. "Sir! Something is happening at missile silo 537! MPIC reported a light in the sky and sonic booms. And the doors are closing. RADAR is now tracking an object departing from the site at MACH 5. And accelerating straight up."

 Jack stared at the screen and then turned to Jay. "That was GI Jane, wasn't it?"

 "Yeah! I keep forgetting that she's that fast. I heard she's zipped over to Mars once." Jay seemed to consider that. "Hard to keep on RADAR that far out."

 "General O'Neill... Who or what is... GI Jane." Checkov looked shocked. When had the United States developed this ultimate weapon?

 "GI Jane is a superhero. A bona fide flying invulnerable superwoman!" Jay explained.

"And she just stopped Kiselev from launching a nuclear attack? By herself?" the Russian exclaimed in shock.

 "She stopped one silo when she thought it must be getting to close to launch." Jay threw a sideways glance at Jack, then grinned. "She ain't nuke proof though. Thank god."

 "How'd she get her mojo?" the American general asked.

 "Kryptonian super-powers, of course. Though she isn't quite as powerful-" Jay was saying before Jack interrupted.

 "-as Superman? Holy shit! You guys have Superman?" Jack almost yelled.

 "Superman? The comic book character?" Chekov asked in bewilderment.

 "Hey, I thought you guys didn't have super heroes in this dimension?" Jay asked, a hurt look on his face.

 "We don't. But we do have comic books!"

 "General O'Neill! I thought the Quantum Mirror was destroyed?" the Russian asked, starting to get angry.

 "They didn't use a mirror to get here. They cobbled their own gate up and hooked it up accidentally to ours in our universe. Luckily they didn't try to go back through it, otherwise they would spread their component atoms across four or five dimensions," Jack said with a snide smile.

 "How were we to know the portals were one way? I mean the radio worked two-ways!"

 The next day, Sam and Samantha were in the lab, doing some test in between working on the new Quantum Gate. "These readings aren't making sense," Sam groused to herself very quietly.

Samantha looked up. "What do you mean? Those tests are still showing the quantum degeneration, aren't they?"

"That would be a qualified yes. But the degeneration isn't increasing at all. And that doesn't make sense. It's like your quantum signature has hit some sort of stable resonance," the military scientist from this universe explained.

"But I thought you said that was the one failing point of traversing dimensions is that you would always degenerate and eventually die."

Sam nodded as she sat down. She looked at the computer simulation. "It's a lot more random than what we've seen before."

The enhanced soldier nodded. "It looks quite natural. Very much like normal cosmic phenomena, actually."

"So if this is 'natural' perhaps what we were seeing before wasn't." She snapped her fingers. "Of course! Who ever invented the Quantum Mirror built in the degeneration on purpose."

"But why?" her other-universe analogue asked.

"Because they didn't want people mucking with dimensional warfare! Imagine if you could recruit several alternate armies of your own people with only minute differences! The Ancients and their wars multiplied ten fold!"

"Sorry, Sam. You lost me with that. The Ancients?"

"Oh. Yeah!" Sam smiled. "The Ancients were a race of humans that reshaped and seeded galaxies. They created the Stargate as convenient personal transportation between planets."

"Scary. They built intergalactic gateways for convenience?" Suddenly, her Earth felt like a backwater. "These guys aren't around any more, are they?"

"Not that we can tell. They basically evolved beyond our level of existence." Sam shrugged.

"Oh, that's reassuring."

"It is a lot to wrap your mind around! But this," she said as she pointed to her computer screen, "means we have a bit more time to work on the Quantum Gate. Which is good, because I think we are going to need some help making it."

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but who are you going to be asking for help?"

"A friendly alien named Thor," she replied with an impish grin.

"How's that synthetic kryptonite coming along, Samantha?" Lucille asked from where she was floating above the new gate they were building. She was using her heat-vision to wield a micro-circuit in place.

 "The Area 51 circuit chip fabrication plant says they can have the first batch of synthetic kryptonite lensing material to us in another week. At least we don't have to wait six months for IBM to switch over one of their CPU fabs to build what we need. Some of that alien technology is just incredible!" Samantha called out from a workbench as she set down a pile of boxes.

 Suddenly light flashed across both of them. When their eyes cleared, they realized they were in a much higher tech room. With them where Dan and Jay.

 "She wasn't kidding," Samantha exclaimed. "You wouldn't happen to be Thor, would you?"

 "Indeed, Samantha Carter. You and your companions must be returned to your universe. I have constructed a device to attach to a Stargate. It will open a one way portal." The gray alien's eyes narrowed. "I do not suggest attempting to travel this way again. It is only by happenstance that you ended up in a universe that was able to sustain yourself."

"Yeah. Well, it was a bust in trying to make an interplanetary gateway," she said. She looked over at her commanding officer with a raised eyebrow. Somehow she didn't get a friendly feeling off of this Thor that she had expected.

Colonel O'Neill just shrugged. "Well, I'm game for heading home. We are going to have quite a bit of explaining to do, after all."

"You could have given us a bit of a warning. We didn't even get to say goodbye," Lucille said grouchily.

"I have a limited time that I can devote to this before I must get back to the war with the replicators," Thor said. "We have arrived at our destination." He manipulated some controls and all of them appeared before a Stargate on the surface of an alien world. The Stargate activated as they watched.

"Whoa. Your ship is fast!" Jack exclaimed.

"Indeed, O'Neill." Thor turned towards the Stargate as a large cylindrical device appeared through the gate. It split up into four fifteen meter long wedges behind the gate. Crackling energy and blinding light exited the wedges and struck the gate as it dialed an new address using all of the chevrons. The new portal glowed with rainbow brilliance. "It is now safe. Please enter it quickly, as the generators will be unable to provide enough energy for very long."

"Thank you!" Samantha Carter called out as she was dragged through the gate.

As they appeared back in Cheyenne Mountain, headquarters of NORAD, Lucille finally asked, "Was it me, or did he really want us out of that reality?"

"Yeah, it wasn't just you. I think we upset him somehow," Daniel said. "But I did get to learn a lot of languages while I was there. I even picked up Ancient. The other Daniel was quite upset that he didn't have a perfect memory."

Back in the other dimension, Samantha Carter sat down at her work station. She frowned as she saw quite a few files that she'd been working on were gone. She had been afraid of that. Then she read the email that Thor had left her explained that delving into other dimensions was very dangerous. She mock glared at the email. He could be a bit infuriating in how he could hack any computer system less than the replicators themselves. She picked up a phone and dialed her superior officer. "Jack? It looks like Thor removed all of the information on the quantum gate from our computers." She paused as she listened to him complain. "I think he feels that this is a little dangerous for us to be messing with. I know what you are about to say, but I think he might have some reasons. Could you imagine two Anubis'es? Anyways, I'm headed home." She hung up her phone and then opened a drawer.

With a snicker, she pulled out six notebooks full of handwritten notes. It probably hadn't even occurred to Thor to check for a hardcopy that wasn't printed out. She flipped open the first page to a neat diagram of a lensing device attached to a powerful laser.

The synthetic kryptonite empowering ray could be a powerful tool in the defense of Earth.