Author's Note: Hi you guys, I'm sorry it took so long to get this new chapter up. But I'm at home now and I finally have the internet hooked up onto my computer, so hopefully I'll be able to get the rest of the chapters written and put up in a reasonable amont of time. A big thanks goes out to my beta-reader, Noble, for editing this chapter for me, and offering the suggestion for the title of this chapter - it's a little different than the one offered, but the meaning is still the same.This is mostly just another filler chapter fortherest of the plot, but it was really very fun to write.So, all of you, please - relax, read, and enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately.
Warnings: Off screen sexual violence (no details). Some cussing, but it's an understandable amount.
Chapter Sixteen: Hellova Day
It wasn't even lunch time and General Hank Landry was ready to start pulling out his hair. It had all started with the power going out, leaving the alarm clock blinking dumbly at him. He'd gotten up later than he usually did and when he'd gone to make coffee he'd discovered that he was out of cream. His truck had broken down on his way to work – he was still trying to figure out what the odds were for a flat tire and an over heated engine. When he had finally made it to the mountain – after having his truck towed – he had planned to let the efficient rhythm of work sooth his foul mood. It hadn't worked. He'd made it down the elevator only to be stopped by Walter with an arm load of files for him to read through and sign.
But the last was normal, every day paper work, and he could deal with that. It was when he made it to his office and found an even larger stack of papers waiting for him that he realized today was not going to be a good day. One of the off-world teams had come back twelve hours early under fire and wounded. Someone had broken one the scientist's experiments on base about twenty minutes after that. There had been a fire in the mess, burning breakfast and a handful of base cooks an hour later. Exactly thirty-three minutes later the heating and cooling system had apparently become possessed and begun spewing out frigid air that smelt vaguely like melting rubber. Siler was working on fixing the heating and cooling system with a small army of personnel.
The Drakin's still in the mountain had inexplicably caused another computer to blow up and had half the security personnel running around looking for papers, pens, and more candles. The aliens were driving the medical staff up the walls with their questions and requests for more information regarding anything and everything under the sun about human physiology. And ten minutes ago he'd had a very wet, very cold Major standing in his office explaining to him that not only had the hot water stopped working in the women's change room but that they would need to have take disciplinary action against a Lieutenant for attacking one of the female personnel in the women's change room.
Someone had thrown a wrench into his efficient, well oiled world. And unless something absolutely wonderful happened by the time lunch was served in the mess heads were going to roll.
When the alarms sounded and Walter's voice came over the PA system for unscheduled off-world activation, Landry had a feeling that his day was now sitting at a fork in the road. Everything was going to start working again, his efficient world under the mountain would start running like the well oiled machine that it was supposed to be, or the day was going to go to hell in a gift wrapped hand basket. Striding into the control room he didn't even have to ask who was dialling in, Walter announced, "It's the Drakin's IDC, sir."
"Open the iris," Landry said and went down into the Gateroom to find out what kind of turn his day was going to take.
The Matriarch came through with a small group of her people, two guards and another Sister. They stood on the metal walkway leading up to the Gate blinking into the light, trying to adjust to the change. The room was cooler than it usually was thanks to the possessed heating system, but the aliens didn't seem to notice this change.
"Welcome back to the SGC," Landry said with forced cheer. The woman had better have some good news for him, he thought, because any more bad news was going to turn this day into an absolute nightmare.
The Matriarch turned her gaze on him, a slight smile pulling at her thin lips under her face veil. "Thank you General Landry," she responded in her sandy voice. "I trust that Kessu and Bendi have not been much trouble since I had left?"
The forced smile turned into a real one at the tone the alien woman used. It was just like a parent coming to pick up their children, knowing the runts had been hyped up on sugar before she had left. "Oh, not terrible trouble," Landry responded with the same level of amusement. "If you'll follow the guards to the infirmary? I'm sure you will be eager to see your people again."
Nodding, the Matriarch and her people stepped off the walk way and followed the guards out of the Gateroom. Landry would have liked to have followed them down to the infirmary to find out what choice the Drakin people had made regarding helping them deal with the problem with the Ori and their Priors. Unfortunately the perfectly working machine that was the mountain was still spitting fumes and sparks at him and he couldn't be taken away from those disasters.
An hour later and the heating and cooling system had stopped spewing forth nauseous smells and had started to pump out some heat. Siler was still working on the problem, however, because every once in a while the smell of melting rubber would come back with a blast of cold air. The Lieutenant that had attacked the woman in the change room was being held in the brig until Landry had the time to deal with him. The woman was doing just fine, only a few bumps and bruises and a broken hand from when she'd tried to break the man's jaw.
He had gotten through a considerable amount of the paper work, cutting the towering pile almost in half. The wounded SG team was recovering nicely in the infirmary without life threatening injuries. The mess fire had been cleaned up and was serving lunch right on time – the cooks who had gotten burned had been treated and released with nothing more serious than second degree burns to hands and arms and one face. General Hank Landry's efficient world at the SGC was slowly returning to normal.
With a cup of coffee in hand, Landry was preparing to finish reading and signing off on one more report before he went down to pick up lunch in the mess. Flipping open the file, he shook his head and smirked. It would figure that when there wasn't a dire emergency threatening the welfare of the planet that the mountain would create its own brand of chaos. "General, sir, the Matriarch would like to speak with you," Walter's voice announced from the little speaker on his desk.
Glancing down at the report, Landry sighed, getting the same feeling of the day sitting at a fork in the road. Punching a button the speaker, Landry said, "Send her in then."
"Yes, Sir," Walter's disembodied voice responded.
A moment later and the Matriarch, Bendi, and their escorts entered the small confines of his office. There wasn't enough room for them all in the tiny space that had been sectioned off for the commanding officer's office in the SGC. He'd been tempted a few times to move his office to a different place, but soon realized that his broom closet-sized office was in the perfect location for any kind of emergency.
With the armed escorts tucked into the corners of the room, the Matriarch sitting in the chair across from the desk with Bendi standing just behind her, and Landry sitting behind his desk, there was just enough room for them all. But it was close. "So what can I do for you today, Mother?" Landry asked in the most pleasant voice he could muster. Diplomacy and politics were unfortunately necessary attributes to being the General commanding the SGC.
He watched as she glanced at the others in the room before turning her attention back to him. Her thin shoulders squared and she seemed to sit up straighter. Landry had a vague thought that his own mother would have been proud of a posture like that. "I would prefer to have this conversation with you in private," answered the sandy voice.
With nothing more than the blink of an eye, Landry had considered the possibilities. It was always better to cooperate with visiting dignitaries, but not to the point of sacrificing safety. However, he had already been locked up in his office with this woman before when having a private conversation that had degraded into little more than a shouting match. The rumour mill was still whispering about that one. She was not a very large threat to his personal safety, more a threat to his pride than anything. Bendi did not look very happy with the situation, and this let Landry know that the other Drakin was not invited to this little private chat.
"Of course, Mother," Landry answered, plastering on a smile for her. The two escorts moved towards the door and the Matriarch made a dismissive gesture to Bendi when he bent to speak to her.
When the others had filed out of the room, Landry sat back and waited for the woman to speak. But she seemed to be lost in thought, transfixed by something over and behind his left shoulder. With a casual tone, Landry said, "I hope everything went well for you when you returned home."
This jarred the woman out of her thoughts. She glanced at the door to make sure that it was indeed closed and they were alone. Landry watched as she removed her face veil to reveal the intricate webbing of exposed blood vessels and naked nerve endings tracing over her face and down her neck to disappear under her shirt. The material hung loosely from one side of her head dress, spilling over her shoulder. Landry wouldn't have called her ugly so much as he would have called her face unfinished. There was a kind of eerie beauty to her that he could appreciate even if he couldn't completely understand it.
"I am sure you will understand me when I say that not everything went well for me when I returned to my home, but that many things have worked out for the best," the Matriarch finally answered.
Landry nodded, understanding what she meant. She'd gotten caught in the shit that had hit the fan, but things had turned out the way she had wanted them to regardless of the amount of shit that had hit said fan. But he stayed silent, waiting for her to go on, and he wasn't disappointed. "I called an Assemblage, a gathering of all the Sisters and Brethren, to discuss the request you have made of us. I must say that while we all sympathise with the plight you find yourselves in, we were not all in agreement on what we should do in response."
The woman sighed softly, shaking her head when she paused. "You placed me in a very difficult position with your request. My people had made a promise that we would never engage in any kind of violent action. We would never endanger another life, we would lever bloodshed for any reason."
Landry watched as his day began to veer over to a nightmare as the Matriarch spoke. He jumped in at this point, pointing out, "We have tried to explain to you that the Prior that came through your Stargate will not be the only one that they send. And if they don't send more, they might send in an army to destroy you for killing the first one."
"Yes, I am aware of this fact, General," the Matriarch responded. "I had a very difficult time explaining this fact to my people however. I have spent the last few days attempting to convince them of what might be the proper course of action to take and we have come to a choice.
"We will help you perfect your cure for the plague that these Priors have sent among the people who refuse them. We are healers if we are nothing else and will not allow those lives that we can save to be lost due to our own fear," the woman stated with only a hint of pride in her voice. "But we cannot help you fashion a weapon against the Priors. This would go against everything that we have held dear for many generations and I could not go against the wishes of my people without risking my own safety and the safety of those who matter a great deal to me." She held up her hand when Landry opened his mouth to protest, pushing forward relentlessly. "We will, however, help you perfect the tool you have begun – the one that limits the Prior's mental abilities. This we can help you with."
Landry frowned at her. Leaning back in his seat, trying for a casual interest in what he was about to ask. "And how would you know about the tool that we have been working on? As far as I understand, no one was given clearance to tell you about that."
The Matriarch shook her head again, a slight smile tugging at her thin lips. "You forget, General, that I am able to pick up the surface thoughts of your species. This tool was very prominent in the thoughts of the men in the infirmary. Those thoughts were mixed with memories of what they had encountered on their return through the Stargate, and so I know very little of the device aside from its existence."
Landry considered this new piece of information, one he hadn't really thought about before. The Joint Chiefs would be thrilled with this level of cooperation, even if they wouldn't help them make a weapon. Just helping them increase their odds against the Priors would be enough to make their day. And suddenly his own day wasn't heading for the toilet, but might actually work out alright. "And why won't you help us create a weapon?" Landry asked, mostly to have the answer clearly stated instead of implied.
"Because we will not bend the promise we have made that far, General," the Matriarch stated. "It was difficult enough to gain the cooperation of my people to help you make a tool. It would have been impossible to sway them to that end. They would have sealed the Stargate, abandoning Kessu and damning Bendi and I to a terrible sort of half-life."
Landry felt as though he were being spoken to as though he were little more than an ignorant child. He shoved those thoughts aside, concentrating on the matter at hand. "Alright," he answered and leaned forward. "And just how do you plan to help us 'perfect' the tool we are currently using?"
"The devise uses vibrations and harmonic sounds to interfere with the Prior's mental abilities?" she asked him in her flat sandy voice.
"Yes," Landry answered carefully.
"Some of my people exist in the universe on such a level, General. It is how they see the world around them, how they interact with it," the Matriarch explained. "I am offering you the services of some of my people with this natural ability. We will help you perfect it and then, when it is ready, one of us will allow you to test your devise on us so that you might record the information for further use in whatever project you so choose."
Landry was silent for a moment, going through all she had said. The Matriarch struck him as a woman who as fair and generous, and just like her title might suggest to others, willing to do whatever it took to protect her children. Of course, every parent was hemmed in by their child's own wishes, and the Matriarch was cut short by the wishes of her people. "That's all very generous of you," Landry told her finally.
"Indeed it is, General," she responded in kind. Leaning back in her chair she tilted her head to one side and asked, "Do you accept the terms that I have just given you? Do you accept what we will and will not aid you with?"
This would tickle the Joint Chiefs and the International Committee pink. It might not be exactly what they were looking for, but the possibilities that were being presented would be enough to keep them all happy. The problem was that it wasn't the Joint Chiefs or the International Committee that would have to deal with the aliens. Bendi and Kessu were already driving the medical staff up the walls. But this was the best they were going to get from these people, Landry thought. It was something he would have to take advantage of. Besides, the Prometheus was due to arrive in the Drakin's new home system within the next day or so.
"So far I'm willing to accept what you've said," Landry said. He opened his mouth to continue but didn't get the chance.
"Then we may begin the negotiating the complete terms of this alliance," the Matriarch responded. She smiled brightly, flashing small white teeth. She seemed to be honestly pleased with the outcome of their conversation so far.
Landry didn't get to have his lunch break as planned. He spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening listening to the very detailed terms that were being lined up before him by the Matriarch while her guard paced about the debriefing room with agitation. With Walter acting as a gofer for meals and personnel it only took a little more than nine hours to get a full agreement fleshed out, typed up, witnessed, and signed. There had been plenty of arguments about certain details, from the number of Drakin's permitted on base at any given time, expedition teams returning to the cavernous moon for research, the sharing of information and what would be considered important information to share, so on and so forth.
Landry was leaning back in his chair in his office, his eyes closed against the thundering headache that had developed when the negotiations began and had only gotten worse as they continued. But there was a sense of accomplishment filling him. With the help of the Drakin there was a very good possibility that they would be able to make the cure for the Prior's plague work for everyone, not just for a handful. Even more important, they might be able to perfect the tool that Lt. Colonel Carter had spent the last several months working on. If they could get that device to work the way it was meant to work then they shouldn't have near as many problems dealing with the Priors has they had come across thus far.
They would be able to create more of them when it was perfected, maybe even make smaller versions of them so that personnel could wear them when they were off world. In case they didn't meet a Prior at the Gate but had the misfortune to meet one regardless. They could plant the devices around the Stargate of affected worlds and even the worlds that had yet to encounter a Prior, keep them safe. He was sure that there would be a number of serious repercussions for doing this, for even trying this. But it might be worth it if they could get a real fighting chance.
It was nice to be able to hope, for even just a moment, that they might survive this. Then reality began to settle in. When the Priors discovered that they had perfected the cure for their plague they would do something else to the populations of the planets to gain their submission. When the Ori found out about the device they were going to use against the Priors they might start sending their ships, or worse, they might come themselves. Dr. Jackson didn't know if they could count on the help of the Ancients if the Ori did come. They already knew that they weren't going to do a damn thing to stop the Priors now that they were here.
Everything they did might only hold off destruction for a short time, but it would eventually come. And if it didn't come from the Ori than the universe seemed to have an unlimited source of bad guys – the Goa'uld, the Priors, the Ori, the Replicators, even the Wraith in the Pegasus Galaxy were a threat here in the Milky Way if they found a way to travel here. And with the way their luck had been running lately, it seemed more and more plausible by the day.
They didn't have enough intelligence to make even an educated guess about the possibility of the Priors coming with ships. There had been almost constant scouting missions to locate black holes and monitor them. Vala had thwarted their initial attempt to build a beachhead in this galaxy. It didn't mean that they hadn't tried again, didn't mean that they weren't currently trying again. But there was little he could do with the limited information he had. The galaxy was a big place. It wouldn't be difficult to hide a Supergate.
Shoving aside the pessimistic thoughts, Landry decided to focus on the few bright things from today. The heating and cooling system had been exorcised of whatever demon had possessed it and was now happily pumping out unscented, comfortably warm air. The hot water had been restored to the women's change room – ending the time share on the men's shower and change room. The mess had been put back in order and was currently dishing out their same tasteless, nameless food. The SG team that had come in wounded was recovering nicely in the infirmary, as was the woman who had been attacked in the women's change room. The scientists had stopped whining about their broken toy, and his paperwork had magically shrunk while he was locked away negotiating with the Matriarch.
Many of the people working here in the mountain were content with their day, no one was dead, and the Joint Chiefs were nearly dancing a jig with the International Committee when he had delivered the good news. All in all, while the day had started out badly, things had taken a sharp turn for the better. Aside from the Lieutenant currently sitting in the brig, the day might be coined as a very positively successful on.
Landry reached for the phone and dialled one of the numbers he had come to memorize since he had taken command of the SGC. If there was one thing that any commander here needed to know by heart it was the telephone numbers of every SG team member who could be called into work on short notice. SG-1 was one of the four teams that had little to no life outside of the SGC and no family to disturb at odd hours, or ask questions about strange injuries or behaviours.
Cameron Mitchell was tempted to ignore the telephone when it rang. Nothing good would come from a phone call at nearly ten-thirty at night. But training and experience dictated that if he didn't answer his home phone, whoever was calling would try his cell phone next and when he didn't answer that, they'd send out a search party for him. Life at the SGC was predictably unpredictable with its odd routines and procedures. If there was an emergency at the SGC it would at least give him something to do instead of staring blankly at the white wall of his living room.
Picking up the phone on the third ring, just before the answering machine could take the call for him, Cameron couldn't help but hope that there would be a female voice answering him when he said, "Hello?" He was both relieved and disappointed when General Landry answered him instead.
"Colonel Mitchell, sorry for the late call, but I'm going to need you and your team to come in. Our visiting dignitaries came back with a favourable answer to our request," Landry told him.
"That's great news, Sir. But may I ask why my team and I need to come in?" Mitchell was curious, and Landry was usually forthcoming with information. The man did not like hidden agendas and didn't see the point in keeping information from his people when they would get it eventually.
"I won't go into details at the moment, but we came to an agreement, took nine bloody hours, but part of that agreement was that you and your team work with them," Landry began. "They are willing to work with the other scientists and with the medical staff, but they want SG-1 to be their liaison between the head of the science departments and Dr. Lam and her medical staff. I'll give you all further details when you get here. Briefing in about an hour, Colonel, call the rest of your team and get them here on time."
With that, Landry hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Cameron hadn't been expecting the small courtesy mostly because he'd heard just how tired the General was. He didn't doubt that it had been a gruelling day for the other man to deal with the Matriarch and whatever the alien woman demanded of them. Of course, the cooperation of SG-1 was a small price to pay to get the help that they needed to get the fighting change that they needed against the Priors and the Ori.
Hanging up the phone, only to pick it back up again, Cameron pushed aside the thought that he would have to see Carolyn when he arrived at the base. It wouldn't do to think about that. He still had to work with her in even a small way. Letting a break-up interfere with his job would be letting her choice get to him. Cameron punched in a telephone number and made himself think about work instead.
o-o-o-o
Sam was been curled up on the couch with a book. It was an easy read book, something she read when she just wanted to escape from work and the world. It wasn't a book she would ever take out into public; she actually hid the small collection of romance novels she had like some sort of guilty pleasure. And they were. She was just getting into the plot and the cookie cutter characters when her telephone rang.
Glancing at the clock, she frowned and tried to think of who would be calling at this time of the night. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that she was being called into the SGC for an emergency. It had happened often enough. Daniel wouldn't call her at this time either unless something was wrong. It might be General O'Neill. He often called at odd hours when he couldn't get a hold of Daniel to bother.
Checking the caller ID she was surprised to see Cameron's number flash across the little screen. Picking up the phone she answered in a somewhat cheerful, slightly concerned voice, "Hey Cam."
"Hi Sam. I just got a call from General Landry asking us back to the base. He apparently came to some sort of agreement with the Matriarch and we were apart of it. We get to act as a go between for our guests and the science and medical staff," Cameron told her. There was a slight bit of excitement in his voice.
Sam couldn't help but smile at that. Cameron had always been excited about his job. "When is the briefing?" Sam asked.
"In a little less than an hour," he told her with an apologetic tone. "I'm going to call Teal'c and Jackson. I'll meet you guys there with coffee."
Setting aside her book, Sam was already swinging her feet off the couch and walking towards her bedroom to get dressed. "Alright, sounds good to me. I'll see if I can swing by the bakery near my place and see if they still have some pastries."
"Great, see you there," and with that, Cameron hung up and so did Sam. She was already pulling on a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt. She could change into her uniform when she got to the base. She didn't bother putting on make-up, it was too late to bother and she just didn't feel like messing with the stuff.
Shrugging on her coat and slipping into her boots, Sam grabbed her keys and headed for her car.
o-o-o-o
Vala wasn't even sure what had woken her up in the first place. Listening carefully, she waited to hear whatever it was that had awoken her in the first place. It was the muted cry of the telephone that she heard. The cordless hand-held was buried under a pile of clothing on the floor on Daniel's side of the bd. Daniel didn't even twitch when the phone rang again. Wriggling out of Daniel's hold she climbed over him and reached for the phone. She just wanted the sound to stop so she could go back to sleep.
Hitting the talk button, she mumbled, "Hello?" into the mouth piece.
"Vala?" was the slightly surprised, slightly amused response.
"Yes," she answered back, annoyed that whoever was calling found amusement in having woken her up. "Who's this?"
"It's Cam, I –"
"Do you know what time it is?" Vala demanded. "You better have a good reason for calling and disturbing us."
Vala could almost hear the shudder on the other end of the line. She was secretly impressed with the idea of a telephone. It made communicating with people so much easier than attempting to catch them at home or find them on the streets. But it offered very little in the way of allowing her to make judgements about the other person's thoughts. "Look, it's about work. We –"
"Work? Hang on; I'll wake up Daniel so you can talk to him." Vala had already lowered the receiver from her ear and only caught the faint possibility of words, something like no, don't. Reaching over she shook Daniel's shoulder, ignoring Cameron's tiny, frantic voice. "Daniel, wake up. Cameron is on the telephone."
Daniel muttered something into his pillow and reached a hand out blindly for the phone. "What?" he grumbled into the receiver when Vala handed it over. He could hear Mitchell's amused chuckle over the line and it made Daniel want to just hang up and go back to sleep. His body ached from moving in the new bed. The movers had just left the thing in the front lobby and they had been forced to drag the thing up four flights of stairs because it wouldn't fit into the elevator.
"Briefing in about forty-five minutes. Landry apparently came to some sort of agreement with the Matriarch, and we were negotiating material" Mitchell announced cheerfully. "I'm bringing coffee and Sam is picking something up from the bakery near her place."
Pushing himself up and out of his pillow Daniel frowned and tried to wake himself up further. "Agreement?"
"Yeah. I don't know a lot of the details and I still need to call Teal'c and get him moving. Just meet me in the parking lot. I'll even pick up the good coffee you like so much," Mitchell bribed.
"'Kay. We'll be there," Daniel said and hung up without saying goodbye. It was a bad habit to have gotten into years ago, but it was one he couldn't really break himself of. He was so used to communicating with a radio instead of a telephone, and you didn't say goodbye every time you signed off with someone.
Flopping on to his back, Daniel closed his eyes for a brief moment. He could feel Vala moving on the bed next him, waiting for him to tell her something about the conversation he'd just had.
Sighing softly Daniel opened his eyes and rolled his head to look over at Vala. "We're being called back to the SGC. We've got a meeting with Landry and probably the Matriarch about whatever agreement they came up with," Daniel told her in a sleep rough voice.
"When?" Vala asked, moving to stretch out next to him.
Daniel closed his eyes again and just enjoyed the warm press of her body next to his. It had nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with simple comfort. But there was still the hint of the possibilities around the edges. Like it would take very little to create a mood conductive to erotic play. "In about forty or so minutes," he answered finally.
Vala sighed against his shoulder. "So much for going back to sleep," she muttered before sitting back up in bed and shoving at Daniel to get up. "Go start your coffee brewing. I'll get the shower ready for us."
o-o-o-o
Teal'c was standing in the kitchen of his relatively new apartment when the telephone rang. Reaching for the device he automatically turned away from the closed door of the bathroom where the shower was currently running. "Hello?" Teal'c spoke into the phone.
"Hey, Teal'c, it's Cam. Sorry about the late call," Colonel Mitchell responded. "I just got a call from Landry calling us all back in for a briefing in about forty minutes."
Teal'c blinked at his refrigerator at that. "Has there been some sort of emergency, Colonel Mitchell?"
"Not that I know of," the other man said. "Landry and the Matriarch came to some sort of agreement and we apparently were part of that agreement."
Nodding before he remembered that he could not be seen, Teal'c asked, "And the briefing will take place in approximately forty minutes?"
"Yeah. Look, I'm going to be running out to pick up some coffee. Sam's gone to see if she can pick something from the bakery near her place. I'll pick you up in about fifteen minutes, alright?"
"Indeed, Colonel Mitchell. I will be waiting for you," Teal'c told him before hanging up the phone.
Turning back to face the closed door of the bathroom, Teal'c sighed softly with some regret that he was being called back in. It was the first time in nearly two weeks that they had been able to get down-time at the same time and they had made plans to enjoy the freedom together. But working with the SGC was an honour that he could never regret, even when it pulled him away from spending time with his lover.
He heard the water shut off and a moment later the door opened to reveal a woman wrapped in a large white towel, water still beading on her skin. "Who was that?"
"It was Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c told her as he approached the bathroom. "We are being called back to the mountain for a briefing. Colonel Mitchell will arrive soon to pick me up."
The woman frowned up to him a little before asking, "Has my cell phone gone off?"
"No," Teal'c answered. "There is no emergency currently taking place." Leaning down he brushed a soft, slow kiss against her full lips. "I will return as soon as I am able to."