After a thorough survey of the facility Mitchell, Teal'c and Vala had found a supply of food fit to last several years along with sleeping quarters and recreation areas. It was as well stocked and friendly as any known Ancient base but that still didn't mean any of them wanted to stay for much longer.

"Good news and bad news." Mitchell said as he walked in. "We found a ring transporter, but it only goes to the surface."

"Which is lethal to humans." Galen said. "I may be able to survive for a while up there, and probably form an air bubble to keep all of us safe for a little while, but unless we can count on rescue I wouldn't advise going up there."

"We're still looking through the database." Daniel reported. "There's so much information trying to find the right section is taking a while."

"Well we're overdue for our report." Mitchell stated. "By now General Landry knows we're in trouble, we might be getting some help."

"Prometheus is active." Carter suggested. "With its Asgard transporters it could get us out of here, but would have to put us into immediate quarantine."

"I'd rather be quarantined here." Daniel stated. "At least we have access to the database."

"Perhaps we could contact the Asgard?" Teal'c commented.

"It's an idea." Carter said. "But unless we figure out the Ancient communication protocols we'll still have to wait for Prometheus."

"Is there anything that can help us?" Mitchell asked.

"Well we've found a lot of data about the Virus." Daniel said. "It was found well over a million years ago and brought through the dimensional gate, and its origins were with an unidentified but ancient race."

"From the description the race was certainly the Shadows." Galen said. "It is beyond doubt, sometime in the past the Ancients met the Shadows."

"And all they got was this lousy virus." Mitchell grunted. "Not even a T-shirt."

"But they did get a long time to work on a cure, way longer than the Earth Alliance will have." Carter added. "If anyone has a cure it would be the Ancients, we just need to find it."

"You know how we're the luckiest people in the universe?" Daniel said. "I mean really lucky, like fate has made us it's mascot or something and we always get the answer when we most need it?"

"O'Neill's law." Teal'c intoned. "The opposite of the law created by Murphy."

"Well it might just have struck again, take a look at this."

They gathered around one of the data screens and took a look over Daniel's shoulder at the information. It showed what appeared to be a type of nanite attacking the slightly more familiar rounded Shadow nanites. As they watched the Ancient nanite rapidly latched on and dissolved the Shadow creation with no impediment.

"Well that's cool." Mitchell grinned.

"Does this mean we're not going to die?" Vala piped up.

"If we find a way to synthesise this stuff, yeah." Daniel confirmed. "This is it, this is a cure for the Shadow Plague."

The weight of the find was not lost on the group, for a long time the SGC had been concerned with the contuance of the human race, and while this alternate Earth was not strictly their people there wasn't anyone in the SGC who wouldn't consider themselves the same as the peoplefrom the Earth Alliance. That worlds survival was just as important to O'Neill, Hammond and their subordinates as their own survival. And now, by some amazing confluence events it looked like they might have done it.

"Gideon's gonna flip." Mitchell laughed. "We found it!"

"The structure is pretty simple." Carter examined the device. "Ingenious but simple, Earth Alliance medical facilities should be able to mass produce this on their side of the gate for massive distribution." She smiled. "I think we also found a cure for the common cold."

"It would appear we have succeeded in our mission." Teal'c said, an odd smile betraying his joy in an extremely understated way.

"It's no good if we don't get out of here, Daniel?" Mitchell looked at the facility door, still sealed shut.

"Working on it." He replied. "If we release the antidote into the air it should cure us and clean the room, then the door opens automatically. Well, in theory."

"I noticed a machine which might be what we are looking for." Galen said calmly. "I can use Ancient technology, with Colonel Carter's help I think we can get it working again."

Mitchell nodded and Carter trotted off to join the mage while Daniel found a way to send the data to the appropriate system.

"So." Vala pulled up right next to Mitchell. "We're going to live, right?"

"Well, I still might throttle you if you suggest what I think you're going to suggest."

"A cure for so many people could have a lot of value…"

"We aren't selling it."

"Oh go on." She smiled. "Business and Pleasure."

"We're not going to charge people for saving their life!"

"Why not? It's the one thing most people would be willing to actually pay for!"

"Well for one thing we already have a deal with our cousins from across the gate." Mitchell said curtly. "We help them with the cure, they give us… What was it O'Neill said?"

As one the rest of the team answered. "Big honking Space Guns."

"Right, so we're already doing pretty good."

"I'd still prefer hard cash." Vala sulked. "I just wanna have fun before I die!"

"We take some samples, download the data, then give it to Gideon on the Excalibur " Mitchell said firmly. "End of Story."

"Spoil sport." Vala accused.

"And if you try and take a sample for your buddies in the Lucien Alliance…"

"That won't happen." Vala snapped. "They lied to me and sent me in here knowing how dangerous it was. No wonder I didn't have to resort to my usual negotiation methods to get my asking price."

"Usual negotiation methods?" Teal'c wondered. Mitchell was already hiding his face.

"Well I start with a lot of alcohol, then there is this dance I learned on Bacchus that I perform and by the end I am completely…"

"Okay, enough, we get the picture." Mitchell said quickly.

"Oh I doubt very much you can imagine it." Vala smiled knowingly. "Of course if you'd like a demonstration…"

"That would be most helpful." The jaffa replied.

"Teal'c!" Mitchell spoke through gritted teeth. "Stop encouraging her."

"Nothing wrong with a little curiosity." Vala beamed.

"Let's continue this conversation later shall we?" Mitchell was starting to feel warm under the collar, and he doubted it was the virus. "There's a job, lets do it."

"Sir, yes sir." Vala saluted. "Duty before fun, aye aye Captain."

"Don't make me tie and gag you."

Vala didn't even need to answer that one with words, just a sultry wink.

"There are two thing in the universe I do not believe in." Galen's sonorous voice announced. "Leprechauns and coincidences."

Carter looked up beside him. "Well on one of our first trips we found a race called the Nox that might have been the basis for a lot of the Faerie legends on Earth, including Leprechauns."

"Really, I think I'd very much like to meet them someday." The Mage seemed genuinely pleased at the idea. "But the other point stands."

"Does seem strange how Dra'al could have predicted this." Carter agreed. "Perhaps he was able to use the temporal systems in the Great Machine to look ahead and tell us where the cure came form based on us actually finding it?"

"Perhaps, but the sheer number of Paradoxes that would violate beggars belief." Galen answered. "I don't think this knowledge came from the future, but from the past."

"You think he knew about the Ancients?"

"It is the only reason that makes sense." Galen explained. "The Ancients visited the other universe, they interacted with the races alive at the time, somehow coming across this Shadow virus and building the gate we found. Problem is this happened Millions of years ago, and the Great machine is no more than five hundred years old, at least that was our guess."

"Could the machine be older?"

"It might be Colonel, if Dra'al knew about this place from something stored in the Great Machines memory it could be older than any of us really gave it credit for."

The display chimed to indicate the synthesiser was now ready to operate. "Sir, we're ready." Carter said.

"Okay, let's see what happens." Mitchell gave the go ahead. "Think happy thoughts."

The creation chamber lit up, but if anything happened nobody in the room saw it.

"Shouldn't there be a jar?" Mitchell wondered.

"Sorry." Carter adjusted the controls. "My bad, I just ordered it to create the cure. It'll be circulating in the air, we should all have inhaled it by now."

They waited expectantly for a few moments, looking at each other and the sealed door.

"Are we sure it's a cure?" Vala said. "And not a trick designed to melt our eyes out?"

"Bit late to worry about that now." Jackson shrugged. "We'll know in a minute."

Vala held out her medical scanner and looked gravely at the screen. "Good news and bad news." She said. "Good news is I'm cured, bad news is you are all cured too."

Mitchell ignored the sarcasm. "This calls for a woohoo moment."

"Woohoo." Teal'c said in an utterly flat tone. "It is indeed cause for great celebration."

"We saved ten billion people, make this the fourteenth time we saved humanity." Daniel grinned.

A dull metal clank echoed in the room, and as they looked on expectantly the door slowly began to swing open.

"Well, at least one of you is smart." Vala smiled at Galen. "Ever considered having children?"

His response was to raise an eyebrow.

"Let's get out of here." Mitchell moved for the door with a bounce in his step, as far as first missions went this one had turned out pretty good. "You got the data?"

"Downloaded on an Ancient palm computer and I made a couple of samples." Carter said. Waving two test tube like containers.

"Lets go home then." The Colonel ordered. "I hear the Dodgers are playing and…"

He was cut off by a zat gun pointing at his head. The door had opened to reveal not the empty cavern leading to the gate, but instead a dozen heavily armed men in an eclectic mix of clothing.

"Ah hell." Mitchell managed and backed away, letting the people in.

"SG1 I presume." The man with the gun remarked smugly. "Consider yourself prisoners, and Vala good to see you again."

She waved. "I don't know these people."

"Consider yourself a prisoner too."

"And who exactly is taking us prisoner?" Galen asked out loud.

"I apologise for not introducing myself, I am Jarrel, Captain among the Lucien alliance. Now drop your weapons and move into that corner."

After being disarmed they were taken to the ring transporters and removed from the facility, finding themselves on board a Ha'tak class ship that must have been waiting in orbit of the planet.

"Imprisoned on a Ha'tak." Daniel sighed. "Just like old times."

"So does getting thrown in here make me an official member of SG-1?" Mitchell asked

"Getting out of here does." Daniel replied. "There should be some air vents around here somewhere."

Jackson started feeling around the edges of the gleaming room looking for a tell tale panel line, Galen watching quietly.

"Don't suppose you can help here?" Mitchell asked the mage.

"I could, but I don't think I have to just yet. I want to keep a few surprises."

"So getting us out isn't the right move? Because it would impress me."

"Once we're out we need to recover the cure and data that our captors took, if I use my little skills now they might try something unexpected before I can get to the cure. Make the whole journey pointless, if admittedly quite entertaining."

Mitchell shook his head. "We still need a way out."

It was Vala who answered. "Well while Daniel gets touchy feely with the wall, I have a way out." She strode to the bars and looked out. "Guard, open this door!"

Mitchell held back a snort. "Please, what are you? A jedi?"

The Guard walked over and dutifully unlocked the door, much to Mitchell's surprise.

"Tell me you're not a Jedi."

Vala smiled. "I don't trust anyone, if I deal with thieves like the Lucien Alliance I make sure I bribe someone on the inside." She tapped the guard's chest. "Price I was happy to pay for nine very entertaining hours."

Mitchell fought away the mental image. "Now what?"

"Now we walk out the door, Tostig takes us to our weapons, and we leave." Vala said. "Hopefully filling our pockets with loot in the process."

"And the cure."

"Well, each to their own." Vala shrugged. "We better move before we're noticed."

The small group slipped stealthily away following the former Jaffa soldier Vala had bought using her own patented methods. The interior of the Ha'tak was as ridiculously ornate and unnecessarily shiny as any the team had been on before, though it did show signs of wear and battle damage in some locations that had not been fixed. A hint of the rebellion on this vessel when the overlords had been deposed and the crew had turned renegade.

They took cover behind a bulkhead as a patrol passed by, not the usual clunk of Jaffa armoured boots but the joking and laughing of hired mercenaries. Tostig lead the way as the voices receded into the distance and inched them toward the armaments room in what would usually be a supremely well guarded part of the ship. Unfortunately the Lucien Alliance didn't like paying for extra security when they believed it wasn't needed and therefore the security system consisted of a tired and bored former slave trader called Carlos.

"Hold it!" Carlos demanded. "Do you have authorisation to be here?"

"Of course I do." Tostig growled.

Carlos peered around at the group following the warrior. "And these people?"

"Hi." Mitchell grinned. "Say, look behind you, it's a diversion!"

"A what?" Carlos snapped around, realising half a second too late that it was a very stupid trick to fall for. He grimaced and prepared the inevitable painful strike that was going to render him unconscious. He was not disappointed.

"Hide the body." Vala said. "The vault on a Ha'tak is kept between the hangar bay and the main transporter rooms, just in case they have to move things fast."

"Your weapons." Tostig gestured.

The team quickly rearmed themselves, attaching their equipment and making sure their vital gear was intact.

"One of these days they're going to learn to store our guns and ammo in separate rooms." Jackson remarked.

"Only if they survive to tell others of their mistake." Teal'c stated. "Would that constitute an example of evolution?"

"Don't strain yourself." Mitchell advised. "If they never learn it makes O'Neill's law more workable. Lets get the cure and head back to the planet." He slammed a magazine into the rifle. "Then we gate home, questions? Comments?"

"Can I take a Tiara I found in the cargo manifest?" Vala asked seriously.

"And we're leaving." Mitchell turned. "Make it fast, won't be long until we're missed."

The alarm didn't really sound like an alarm, at least not how Mitchell knew them, but the meaning behind it was universally clear.

Teal'c grunted. "it would appear…"

"Yeah, I think we got it." Mitchell interrupted. "They're on to us. How far to the store room?"

"Next corridor." Tostig stated.

"It'll be guarded." Vala warned. "My guess is reinforcements are heading for here and the ring room."

"We could try and hijack something from the Hangar." Jackson suggested. "Teal'c can fly a cargo ship, if we get to hyperspace before they fire on us…"

"Risky." Carter winced. "They might not be as skilled as Jaffa but I bet they have the hangar covered too. We'd need to take out some of the guns or tracking systems first."

"Lot of work." Mitchell guessed. "Lets just move quick, no point being subtle." He took the safety off his weapon, the rest of the team doing the same. Vala had retrieved a staff from Carlos the guard and was now undeniably in league with SG-1. "Shock and awe people."

Suddenly Jackson chuckled. "If I had a Dollar everytime we fought our way off a Ha'tak…"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "You would have Nineteen dollars."

"Thanks Teal'c, not exactly the point I wanted to make." Jackson shrugged.

"Okay people, focus." Mitchell brought them back. "Store room first, then ring room. Ready?"

They all nodded in the affirmitive, Galen prepared his staff.

"Go!" Mitchell yelled, and in unison they darted into the corridor staying low and hugging the walls. It did them absolutely no good, the corridor was lined with four ranks of warriors, weapons primed and pointing at the team. At their front stood Captain Jerrel

"Did you think I wasn't ready for this?" he smiled. "SG-1, famous escape artists. Of course I had a contingency plan, I'm not some arrogant Goa'uld, I had to earn this ship and it's contents and I won't be losing them to people like you."

More warriors filled in behind the team, denying them an avenue of retreat and bringing more weapons to bear.

Mitchell looked at the troops ahead and to the rear, then back again.

"Nuts."