"Whoa," Jim said, stopping the stool with one hand while holding Sam into her seat with the other. "Watch out, Colonel."

Sam wrenched herself upright and pulled the stool back tight against the table, her arms tightening around her shoulders as she huddled in on herself.

Jim said nothing as he bent to pick up the notepad. He carefully returned it to the tabletop, positioning it exactly so it was in easy reach and not likely to fall off again, then turned to leave.

"Wait," said Sam.

Jim turned.

"You're here to pick up your weapon."

"Well..." Jim shrugged. "There's no hurry. If this is a bad time..."

"No." Sam rolled back her stool, more carefully this time, and pulled herself along the worktable until she reached a cabinet at the end of the table. "Here." She opened the cabinet and pulled out Jim's machine gun. "I *think* it should do what you wanted, but..."

Jim took the gun and weighed it in his hands, turning it over and around, then thoughtfully fingered the trigger. "Maybe..." He looked at Sam. "You could come with me to the firing range to test this out?"

-----

"So it *is* active," said Blair.

"Well, there's active, and then there's *active*," said Dr. Lee, tapping the smoking mountain on the monitor display. "Some volcanoes smoke for years without erupting, right?" He turned to the geologist for confirmation.

"Right," the geologist responded. "We can redo the analysis of the seismic data taking into account the presence of a possible activating volcano, but in order to reliably predict whether and when this mountain might erupt, we need to place observation instruments on the mountain itself."

"Ugh," Blair groaned. "We are never going to get a team to and back from that mountain within the safety windows we have, much less *up* the mountain."

"Can we land a UAV there?" suggested Dr. Lee.

"No." The geologist shook his head. "One, I doubt the UAV can carry the load, and two, we need people to set up and calibrate the equipment."

"Helicopter," said Blair.

"What?" Dr. Lee and the geologist said, more or less in unison.

"Helicopter," Blair repeated. "I mean, they must have ones small enough to fit through the Stargate, right?"

Dr. Lee and the geologist looked at each other.

"Hi, guys," said Daniel as he walked into the lab. "Sorry I'm late. What's up?"

He blinked as the other three men turned as one to him.

-----

"Helicopter," Jack said.

"Yes, sir." Dr. Lee shoved a sheaf of printouts at Jack. "We've got some models here that will fit through the Stargate, and are otherwise suitable for our purposes."

Jack glanced skeptically at the scientists and academics crowding his office, then flipped through the printouts. "Okay," he said. "These are all civilian makes, which means we have to pay for them somehow."

Blair, Dr. Lee and the geologist all looked lost.

"We can use the supplemental funds from the President," Daniel spoke up.

"I thought that was for the power reactor?" Jack frowned.

"Well, but we need naquadah to run the reactor, and this," Daniel gestured to the printouts in Jack's hand, "is for procuring naquadah."

Jack looked at Daniel. Daniel looked back at Jack.

"And you've got authorization to determine this is a related project?" Jack finally asked.

"No," Daniel said. "You do."

"Ah," Jack said. "Well. In that case..."

"Bill," Daniel turned to Dr. Lee, "get on the phone, call up the manufacturers and see who can deliver one the fastest. Oh, and buy two, so we have a backup. Dr. Olsen," he addressed the geologist, "have your team get together the observation equipment. Jack, you'll find us someone to pilot the 'copter?"

"Yes, sir. General, sir," Jack muttered.

Drs. Lee and Olsen ignored the exchange as they headed out to their assigned tasks. Daniel and Blair started to leave also, but Jack gestured them back.

"Daniel. Mr. Sandburg." Jack indicated they should sit.

The two glanced at each other, then slowly returned and seated themselves.

"So," Jack said once the two were settled. "This is going to take some time. I doubt the helicopter can be delivered today or tomorrow, and even if it could be, I'm not going to risk any teams anywhere near a potentially active volcano until the geology team has time for full observation and analysis. Which means," he looked sharply at Daniel and Blair, "SG-1 is free for another mission. Now, surely you can find something suitable on the mission roster?"

"I, er..." Daniel hesitated.

"Pick one, or I'll assign you one," Jack stated.

"I... No, we'll pick one," Daniel said.

"Good," Jack lowered his gaze to his desk in silent dismissal.

Slowly, first Blair, then Daniel rose from their seats and walked out of the office. Jack watched their departing backs and sighed.

-----

"So, anything look good to you?" Daniel asked Blair as they walked down the hallway towards Daniel's office.

"Well..." Blair hesitated. "SG-11 says negotiations on Kassata is at a standstill. They recommend another team go in and have a try."

"What?" Daniel pulled up short. "But Blair, that's..."

"Daniel, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it's all right," Blair said. "I can handle it."

Daniel stood still, absorbing Blair's words, then started moving down the hallway again. "Who said it's for you?" He shook his head. "Maybe I don't want to face that responsibility again -- yet."

Blair's eyes opened wide in surprise. "But Daniel..."

"What? What are you going to tell me? It wasn't my fault? I can't hide forever? Just try to do better next time?"

"Daniel..." Blair followed Daniel, speeding up his steps to keep up with the other man's longer strides. "Daniel, hiding doesn't make it better."

"Yeah?" Daniel turned on Blair. "So you just want us to jump right back into the thick of things?"

"I..." Blair swallowed hard. "I... This planet would have been nice," he admitted. "No people. Just mucking around the ruins, doing anthropology / archaeology type things."

"Yeah," Daniel smiled hollowly.

"Daniel," Blair said. "You're a great commander. That was the best-organized disaster relief operation I've taken part in, and I've been in a few."

"Yeah, but that's straightforward search and rescue." Daniel smiled self-deprecatingly. "No risk of people shooting at each other."

"If we don't do anything, the people on Kassata *will* start shooting each other," Blair said. "We can't make a difference unless we try."

"Yeah?" Daniel started walking again.

"Yes," Blair said, following along. "You know yesterday? That puppy Jim found?" Daniel nodded. "The General carried it around all over the base, as if finding it a home were the only thing he had to do at the moment. And you know what? It *was* the only thing he had to do at the moment. The General's like that."

"Yeah," Daniel sighed. "Yeah, that's Jack."

"And I was following him around, and I just... I just felt... If only I could *be* like that..."

Daniel stopped. "Yes," he said. "Yes, of course, you're right." He took a deep breath. "Okay, Kassata it is."