I sit at my console checking the readings. Though to be totally truthful, I only understand part of them…most of them. Oh don't get me wrong; I know what they're supposed to say…just not necessarily what they mean. Of course it doesn't help that I'm still having a tough time reconciling the fact that the equipment I'm working on is the same stuff that sends people to other planets. Cool.

This job seems more like a fantasy movie than a real assignment. I'm sending people to other planets. And they're coming here. All the refugees are gone now but for a little while this place was literally over run by aliens. And they all looked so human. That was the freaky part. Put them in jeans and a t-shirt and no one would have known they were born under alien suns.

There's just one left now. The jaffa Teal'c. I know Colonel O'Neill really likes the guy but…there's just something about him. I don't know. It's hard to read that inscrutable face of his.

I hear footsteps and turn to see Captain Carter climbing the short flight of steps up to the control room. With all the steps in this place the ADA would have a field day in here.
The captain is still a bit of an enigma to me. A tech head that likes to blow up stuff with the boys. And I wonder about her. I've caught General Hammond giving her some definitely fond looks. Maybe they've served together before or something. She seems ok but I'm still trying to figure out all the players here in our little top-secret playground.
Every base I've ever been on has had one thing in common. Technically we're all on the same side but there are more factions and cliques than in any high school in the world.
Half the skill in surviving in the military is knowing whom to trust.

Major Samuels was like that. I'm glad he's gone. Something about him set me on edge. No matter how I tried I never could get over the feeling that I just couldn't trust him.
His absence means one less snake in the grass for me to worry about but who really knows how many more there are. I hate it when I feel like people I can't necessarily trust surround me. The worst part is, you don't usually suspect them, until it's too late that is.

From experience I know the best thing for me to do is concentrate on doing my job and let the rest sort itself out. Though it would be nice if there were some convenient color-coding. Trustworthy people can wear blue…we'll flag the snakes with a big red tag around their necks or something.

"Sergeant," she says as she stops beside me.

"Captain," I acknowledge. "Can I help you ma'am?"

"I have a couple of addresses to try," she says eagerly.

"Aah ma'am…" She can't mean to send anyone through…can she?

"Not to go there or anything. Not yet anyway," she hurries to reassure. "The dialing program just came up with these two addresses and I want to make sure they work before I get the probes on the ramp." Oh. That makes sense. The general warned me this would happen. I take the slip of paper from her and punch in the symbols. She leans in and looks. "Hey, that's a good idea."

"What is ma'am?"

"Putting the symbols directly on the keys. Sure beats the heck out of trying to memorize whole addresses."

I shrug. It's how they were when I got here. We sit there in silence and watch the gate spin. I see her gnawing on her lip. So she's nervous. Guess I would be too if it was my program that is going to be the basis for all we're going to do.

I see her let out twin sighs of relief as first one then the other address work.

"Thank you Sergeant," she says getting to her feet and giving me a genuine smile. "I'll speak to the general about sending probes through," she says eagerly, obviously in a hurry to go report her success.

I understand her enthusiasm. Chances are SG-1 will go to one of these planets. That's some hefty incentive for doing the job.

As she leaves the control room I feel a twinge of envy. For the first time in years I wish my path had been more suited to combat than administration. To think a gateway to alien planets is just on the other side of that glass…and the chances of me ever going through it are slim to none. I've started to catch myself daydreaming about what it's like. How it would feel to stand on another planet. It's a fantasy come true. Unfortunately it's likely to remain a fantasy. It's taken a week for the captain's program to come up with two possibilities. And we don't even know yet if the planets will be suitable to exploration. Even with nine teams, the way things are going they'll be lucky go off world every couple of months or so. And I sincerely doubt they'll need a tech to trail along.

Still, to quote my neighbor's kid…I wanna go.

<><><><><>

"Why don't we get you to the infirmary?" a quiet voice asks. I look away from the morbid scene below to see Captain Carter standing beside me, concern and something else on her face.

"Ma'am?"

"I'm no doctor but I know a broken arm when I see one," she says nodding towards the arm I'm holding cradled in my lap. Oh it's definitely broken. I heard the bone snap. Actually it was weird. I heard it before I felt it.

"Ma'am…" I start hesitantly. As much as my arm hurts I can't just abandon my post. What if the goa'uld come knocking again? Someone has to be here to close the iris and set the auto-destruct…or more importantly dis-arm it.

"It's ok Sergeant," she says, nodding towards the techs drawn to the control room by all the fuss. As if reading her mind one of them steps over, willing to take my place.
And I'm willing to let them. Now that the adrenaline has faded my arm is starting to hurt…bad. Every beat of my heart feels like razor blades through my arm.

I nod and carefully get to my feet hoping I don't look as shaky as I feel. There is an infirmary just an elevator's ride away and I'm sure there are some nice drugs there with my name on them.

I slowly make my way down the stairs careful not to jar my arm. The captain follows me. I guess she's decided I need an escort. Either that or she just wants to get away from the scene in the control room.

I can't say that I blame her. The tragic image of Major Kawalsky lying there is one that's going to haunt me for a bit. I've never been this close to death before.

Just as we reach the elevator it opens and the medics scurry out pushing a gurney. I bite my tongue to keep from telling them they can slow down. Their patient isn't going anywhere.

We ride up to level 21 in silence. I can see Captain Carter rubbing the back of her neck. Now I remember. She's nursing a concussion.

"How did it happen?" I ask quietly, preparing myself for the 'it's none of your business' rebuke.

"Huh?" She looks at me, a small frown on her face.

"Major Kawalsky. When do you thing he was…" I press ahead, and then stop. What is the correct term for having an alien take over your body?

"We think it was on Chulak," she explains. "It's the only Goa'uld world we've been on."
The door opens and we walk down the short hall to the infirmary. She calls a nurse over and points out my injury.

Her self-appointed mission done she turns, presumably to head back to where the action is.

"Captain?" I call out.

She turns. "Sergeant?"

"What was in Major Kawalsky…do you think you'll run into more of them?"

She gives me a rueful grin. "Probably," she says then turns and leaves the room.
A nurse urges me to lie down, bribing me with a nice shot of morphine before they look into setting my arm. As I stare at the cement ceiling I remember the cold look on Major Kawalsky's face. How could one tiny being turn such a nice guy into a cold-blooded murderer?

And he managed to hide from us for days before he was discovered. His cruel interior was totally masked by a jovial façade. I've been trying to figure out who's who around here and another variable has just been tossed into the mix. Anyone who goes through that gate could return an enemy. They could be possessed by aliens, forced to turn upon their friends. Sentenced to death or what could be seen as a fate worse than death. And there will be no sign, no convenient label to help us tell good from bad. Talk about not knowing whom to trust.

All of a sudden staying on this side of the gate doesn't seem so boring after all.

~Fin~

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