DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and all related characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, SciFi Originals, Double Secret Productions, Gekko Film Corp and MGM/UA Studios. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended and no money has changed hands. All original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used or archived without express permission.

PREVIOUSLY IN ADMIRAL'S STARGATE SG-1 FANFIC:

"Jack…where's Sam?"

"We are doing everything we can right now to solve this problem and until it is solved, we have to be patient."

"And while we sit here playing with the thing Carter could be dying on that world!"

"She could be dead already, which means destroying our equipment and risking our lives won't do any good anyway!"

"Is this your home?"

"You should see the technology they have hooked up to their 'Gate…There are no terminals, no visible hardware, just massive floating displays."

"…they're willing to negotiate an alliance with us against the Gould, provided that Sam handles the negotiations for Earth."

WOMAN'S WORLD

By Darrin A. Colbourne

Detective Pete Shanahan was finally starting to get used to these lunchtime "window shopping" excursions in Colorado Springs. Granted, the selection of stores could be better. There were way too many fashion boutiques for his taste, and one flower shop was pretty much the same as any other. Still, he wouldn't mind revisiting the antique shop they'd found yesterday, and the pet store wasn't a total bore. Ultimately, the one thing that made the trip worthwhile was that knowledge that, no matter how he felt about the shops, he was with great company.

At least, she was usually great company. Today, all through lunch and the walk, she seemed distracted, preoccupied. It was as if her mind were a million miles away - and given her occupation, that might very well be the case.

Well, she was supposed to on Earth with him just then, so if he had to share her with some otherworldly crisis, he thought he should at least have an idea of what the crisis was. With that in mind he turned to his companion and asked: "Okay, where are you right now?"

Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter was jarred out of her reverie by the question. "I'm sorry…what?" She responded feebly.

"You keep zoning out like that and I'm going to steer you right into a cigar shop." Pete said. "I know one right down this street with El Cojibas to die for."

Sam made a face at the thought of cigar smoke. "In that case I'll be sure to be more alert." She said.

"Okay," Pete said. "In the meantime, do you want to tell me what's on your mind?"

"I guess I haven't been very good company." She said.

"Well, parts of you have." He said as he raised their clasped hands. "Your left hand's been good company for my right hand, and your perfume's been great for my nose. And that dress and sweater? Great company for my eyes. But - and I never thought I'd admit this - my brain's starving for attention and, frankly, yours isn't getting with the program."

Sam was chuckling lightly by the end of Pete's speech. The smile on her face was a good start, but he know knew there'd be a cloud over their date until she got whatever was bothering her off her chest.

"So what's up?" He prompted, more seriously this time.

Sam's smile faded as she took a quick glance around. After that she got a little closer to Pete - which he didn't mind at all - and spoke in a low voice. "Remember when I told you about the attack?"

Pete lowered his voice to match. "You mean when the big motherships pulled into orbit and started raining laser beams and fighters down on you?"

"The very same. We managed to beat them because we had access to alien technology that was more powerful, but for various reasons we no longer have that access--"

"So if the big motherships come back, there's nothing standing in their way except stuff that wouldn't have worked if we'd never had the alien technology in the first place?"

Sam grinned. "Well…now that you put it that way it sounds much more hopeless than I thought."

"Always glad to help put things in perspective." Pete said. "Didn't you tell me once that we had allies, like the little gray guys?"

"The Asgard. Yes, they are allies, but they have really big problems of their own right now."

"Anybody else?"

"Let's just say it's been a very bad couple of years for interstellar relations."

"Ah." Pete said with a nod. They continued their walk in silence for a few minutes, then a store across the street caught Pete's eye. It was a comic book shop. Its façade was designed not to clash with the storefronts of its neighbors, but the promotional posters displayed in the windows were more than garish enough to compensate for the architecture.

"See, that's what we need!" He said, indicating the comic shop to Sam. "Someone with 'powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men' to kick alien butt whenever necessary."

"I had powers like that once." Sam said.

"You're kidding!" Pete said, then remembered what they'd just been talking about. "Or maybe you're not."

"Nope." Sam said, grinning. "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive - all that."

"What happened?"

"Powers wore off, ended up trapped behind a force-field on a ship about to explode…Same Ol', Same Ol'."

Pete chuckled at the thought, then the chuckles graduated to full blown belly laughs as another image popped into his head.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked.

When he could control himself, Pete said, "I just got an image of you in a Wonder Woman costume."

"And you thought it was funny?"

"Oh, No! I'm sure you'd look very becoming." His face managed to stay straight for two seconds after he said it. Then he laughed harder.

Sam swatted him lightly with her free hand, but found herself laughing right along with him…until she stopped short, paralyzed by a sudden insight. Pete stopped laughing when he caught her staring into space.

"Of course." She muttered. "I should have thought of that sooner."

"Thought of what?" Pete said, appropriately confused.

Sam gave him a peck on the cheek in response. "You're a genius!" She said.

Of course he didn't know what she was talking about, but he chose not to argue the point. With her mood suddenly brightened, the rest of the walk would be more enjoyable…just the way he planned it, naturally.

"The Puzzle-Loving Super Amazons???" O'Neill said. Though he hadn't actually raised his voice, the look on his face conveyed quite clearly how little he thought of the idea.

"Yes, Sir, those would be the Themyscirans I was talking about." Samantha Carter said.

Brigadier General Jack O'Neill took a moment to rub the sleep - and frustration - from his eyes. It was the day after Pete Shanahan had given Carter the idea, a little after Eight AM, and she'd come straight to O'Neill's office to pitch it to him. She'd caught him just as he was sitting down to tackle the piles of requisitions, transfer orders and expense reports currently threatening to overrun his desk the way the Chinese overran the Marines at Chosin.

"Carter," he said when he raised his head, "we've been down that street already…"

"General, the Themyscirans are at just the level of technological sophistication necessary to help us out of the bind we're in." Carter said.

"And the last time we tried to negotiate for some of that 'technological sophistication' we came away shockingly empty-handed." O'Neill shot back.

Carter bristled inwardly at that. She had handled those negotiations, after all. "That's true, Sir, but we may be in a better bargaining position now, and I don't think we have any choice but to try."

"There's always a choice." O'Neill said.

"Sir, even if we used every naquadah reactor currently in our possession there wouldn't be enough power to operate the technology at Antarctica base - and that's assuming anyone else on Earth could operate it as efficiently as you did when you were possessed by the Knowledge of the Ancients. Our most advanced allies are busy trying to save their own galaxy from the replicators and our next most advanced allies, the Tok'Ra, aren't even speaking to us. The Prometheus is still being repaired, we haven't even begun to replace the F-302s that we lost and Ba'al might be on his way here right now."

"Thank you, Colonel, but I am aware of the tactical situation."

"Then you should also understand, Sir, that any opportunity we might have to mount a serious defense that would improve the tactical situation should be exploited, even if it's a long shot."

O'Neill thought about it a moment, then said, "Point taken, but even if I wanted to send you, I couldn't. You're too valuable to us here to risk sending you offworld without proper back-up, and with Teal'c already offworld trying to bring Bra'tac back into the fold, you'd be going to Themyscira undermanned."

"Daniel and I can handle it by ourselves." Carter said.

"Maybe, but I'd still feel better if you were taking a full team with you."

"There's no regulation that says an SG team has to have four people." She said hopefully.

It wouldn't work this time. "No, but common sense and over seven years of experience say it should be more than two." Carter tried to say something else but O'Neill stopped her with a raised hand. "AH! Remember that 'tactical situation' you laid out mere moments ago? The part you neglected to mention was that before Ba'al gets here, he'll be running roughshod over all his Gould buddies, which means they're just as eager to get their hands on new technology as we are. Now, maybe they don't know about our Amazon friends, but maybe they do, and as long as that's a possibility I'm not sending anything smaller than a four-man team anywhere near them. Clear?"

"As crystal, Sir." Carter said. She was deflated a little by the speech, but she had to admit he was right. Still, she was sure they needed to go back to Themyscira. After a moment, she said, "Okay…what if I could make up a full team?"

"Make it up out of what? Or should I say 'whom'?" O'Neill said. He'd set up the duty roster - it was on the desk somewhere - and knew there was no one to spare.

"I have a couple of ideas."

"You told him what??" Pete Shanahan's voice screeched over the phone.

"Pete," Carter said, "This is not a conversation for the general public."

"Hold on." He said. Carter assumed he was going someplace where he could talk more freely. A minute or two later he came back on. "Okay…now can I ask what the hell you were thinking?"

"I was thinking that you could really help me out on this mission. The General was willing to go for it--"

"But I don't want to go into space!" Pete hissed into the phone.

"It'll only be for a few days," Carter said, "and it won't be 'into space'. Your feet will be on solid ground the whole time."

"On another planet, Sam," Pete said, "which means, I assume, I'll end up in space at some point along the way. Let's not split hairs."

"It's a friendly planet…"

"I'm nowhere near trained for that sort of thing."

"Actually, as a police officer you're already better trained than most of our SG Team candidates when we first recruit them. The methods you were taught for dealing with the risks you face on your job aren't radically different from the tactics we use when exploring other worlds."

"I would think the 'exploring other worlds' part would qualify as a radical difference!"

"Look, Pete, I know I'm asking a lot, but this mission really depends on you coming along. General O'Neill is only willing to give the go-ahead if I can fill out my team with people who can approximate a trained SGC officer's capabilities or offer viable support. You can do both. It will only be a few days and it's a nice planet. I promise." When he didn't answer right away she played her trump card. "It's full of Amazons…"

"Amazons, huh?" He said, doubt plain in his voice.

"Yep. You and Daniel will be the only men on a whole planet full of beautiful women."

Pete chuckled a little. "You call that a selling point? I've seen all the old movies. I know how that one works out. Two days after we arrive he and I will be the queen's love slaves and you'll have to go Rambo on their Amazon asses to save us from being used to repopulate their civilization."

Carter laughed harder. "Believe me, Pete, with these women that will be the least of your worries. Besides, even if it does come to that I can handle it. Been there, done that."

"When was this?"

"Remind me some time to tell you about Hathor."

"I'll be sure to. Okay, suppose I say 'yes'. That'll make it you, me and Daniel, right? Don't you need a fourth?"

Carter suddenly became serious. "Um…yeah. That's something I think I should prepare you for…"

Sarah Gardner was in the kitchen fixing lunch when she heard the phone ring. She reached to pick it up, but it stopped before she could get her hand around the receiver. She assumed Daniel had picked up the extension.

Sarah had been staying with Daniel ever since she'd been released from the SGC Infirmary. She'd ostensibly be there only until she got her life back together, but that seemed a less likely proposition every time she tried to undo one of the consequences of her "disappearance".

A glance at her reflection in the nearby toaster reminded her of one consequence she might never overcome. When she'd been possessed by Osiris, every time she looked in a mirror she'd felt like she was looking at a complete stranger, so detached was her consciousness from her body. When Osiris was gone she'd found that she had to get used to the idea that the pretty face and long, curly hair she saw in the reflection belonged to her, not to some ancient god or evil alien.

Sarah shook off those thoughts as she finished setting the sandwiches and iced teas on a tray. As she carried it into the living room she heard Daniel's half of the phone conversation.

"…sure that's a good idea? Yes, I understand how important this could be…well, that's what I'm not sure about. I mean, what is 'too soon'?" Right…well, maybe Jack has a point. Look, let me ask, but it's up to her, okay? Right, I'll call you back." With that he hung up the phone and turned to face Sarah.

Sarah carefully set the tray on the coffee table. She had the feeling she probably shouldn't be holding anything breakable when Daniel answered her question. "What's 'up to her'?" She said.

Daniel looked uncomfortable as he spoke. "When you were…" He began. She watched his face as he struggled to find an elegant way to describe her "experience" and then, finally, sidestepped it. "Do you remember ever hearing about a world called 'Themyscira'?"

While she was recovering she'd been debriefed about her time with the Goa'uld by intelligence personnel. At the time she'd told them she didn't remember everything about the experience, but then and since she'd often been surprised about how much she did remember. "Only in passing. It's considered a lost world, like Earth was supposed to be. I don't really know anything about it."

After a short pause, Daniel said, "How would you like to go there?"