Jared Kane of the Rand Protectorate requests permission to travel to Earth via the stargate. Earth has not heard from Rand in months, and Kane explains why – a Prior has visited his world. After the Ori plague killed many, including Jared’s wife, the Prior convinced the people of Rand to follow Origin. The Caladonians had no intention of following Rand’s lead, so the Prior provided Rand with schematics for an orbiting offensive satellite of enormous destructive power. Kane fears that Rand’s increasingly paranoid president will not hesitate to use the now-operational satellite to destroy Caledonia, so he has brought a copy of the early schematics to the SGC to ask for their help. Carter thinks that the Prometheus should be able to destroy the satellite, and Mitchell is ready to do so. Daniel wants to convince Rand to dismantle the satellite themselves, so he contacts their government and receives an invitation to return with Kane for further negotiations. Upon their arrival, however, they are immediately imprisoned as suspected Caladonian spies.
Two days after losing contact with Daniel, the rest of SG-1 arrives at Tegalus in the Prometheus. They attempt to beam Daniel back aboard, but the Rand government has taken his locator beacon. Carter and Mitchell initially hesitate to fire at the satellite, concerned that they are signing Daniel’s death warrant. When the satellite begins to power up, they authorize Col. Pendergast to open fire. But unlike the early blueprints, the satellite has shields – and enough firepower to overpower Prometheus‘s own Asgard shields and tear through the ship. Unable to fight or flee, Pendergast tries to negotiate surrender, but the Rand president refuses to show mercy to Origin’s opponents. Pendergast beams what’s left of his crew to Caladonia before going down with his ship. The Caladonians welcome the survivors, including all of SG-1, but the future looks bleak. Carter finds a flaw in the satellite’s defense system that she believes SG-1 can exploit, but Daniel is determined to make one more attempt to get both sides to break past their paranoia.
story by Robert C. Cooper & Damian Kindler
teleplay by Damian Kindler
directed by Ken Girotti
music by Joel GoldsmithGuest Cast: Gary Jones (Sgt. Harriman), Matthew Bennett (Jared Kane), Barclay Hope (Col. Pendergast), John Aylward (President Nadal), Ernie Hudson (Pernaux), Martin Christopher (Lt. Marks), Chelah Horsdal (Lt. Womack), Desiree Zurkowski (Chaska), Peter Shinkoda (Caledonian Aide), Sage Brocklebank (Rand Tech)
Notes: Daniel’s previous encounter with Jared Kane occurred in season 8’s Icon. “Ethon” is the name of the bird that tormented Prometheus as punishment for giving fire to humanity.
LogBook entry by Dave Thomer