Ex Deus Machina

Summary
With Vala missing in action after the incident at Kallana, Mitchell unites Carter, Daniel and Teal'c under his command at last — and not a moment too soon. A Jaffa warrior belonging to the warlord Gerak turns up dead by the side of a rural Virginia road, and the team has to figure out why.

Mitchell and Teal'c interrogate Gerak at the Jaffa capital on Dakara, but he evades their questions. Daniel and Carter, meanwhile, head to Virginia, where they slowly uncover an intricate conspiracy involving several corporations, especially defense contractor Farrow-Marshall Aeronautics. Most of the men involved have also been linked to the Trust, a secretive international organization that was recently infiltrated by the Goa'uld. SG-1 hoped they'd solved that particular problem, but Daniel and Carter now suspect that more Goa'uld might still be operating within Earth's highest circles of power.

Back on Dakara, Ka'lel, another Jaffa leader, privately confides in Teal'c and Mitchell. Her shocking news confirms Daniel and Carter's theory: Ba'al, one of the most despotic of the Goa'uld System Lords, is living incognito in the United States. Gerak has been sending Jaffa to Earth, hoping to capture Ba'al and thereby solidify his own grip on the hearts and minds of the Jaffa High Council.

After Gerak's Jaffa conduct an unsuccessful raid on Farrow-Marshall's headquarters, Ba'al himself steps openly into the game. He sends a videotaped message to Stargate Command, announcing that he wishes only to conduct his business on Earth in peace. Left alone, he promises to cause no trouble. But if anyone — human or Jaffa — tries to capture him again, he'll detonate a Naquadah bomb somewhere in the United States.

Letting a former system lord treat Earth as his personal playground is, of course, not an option. Mitchell and Teal'c struggle to restrain Gerak's Jaffa from making further attacks while Carter and Daniel track down Ba'al with the help of Agent Barrett and the NID. They hope to kill him quickly and quietly, denying him time to detonate the bomb. Their plans are foiled, however, when Ba'al goes public at a TV news conference. Posing as a human businessman, he proudly announces his acquisition of Hammel Technologies, a major corporation.

SG-1 must now find a way to capture the newly famous Ba'al, outwit Gerak's Jaffa warriors, and defuse a bomb hidden in a major U.S. city — all without exposing the Stargate program. SG-1 decide to kill Ba'al using the same symbiote poison created by the Tok'ra and used by the Trust to wipe out several Goa'uld planets the year before. Teal'c and Mitchell, meanwhile, return to Dakara, where Teal'c accuses Gerak of lying to the High Council and vows that, if the people of the Tau'ri capture Ba'al, they will deliver him to the Jaffa.

Ba'al makes no attempt to hide himself. Having received information about the Air Force's imminent attack on his location, he sends another message to Stargate Command, saying that the naqahdah bomb is located in a skyscraper in Seattle, and that he will detonate it within the hour. This, he adds, will only be the first of such demonstrations. Despite Teal'c's attempts to stop Gerak's interference, a small Jaffa contingent attacks the compound where Ba'al is located. General Landry calls the attack, and the missile carrying the Tok'ra weapon hits the compound, killing all Goa'uld in the area, including the Jaffa contingent.

Carter is transported to Seattle by the Prometheus to meet with the team that is trying to find the bomb. They have evacuated a five block radius, but they cannot find the bomb, as naqahdah readings appear to be coming from multiple locations throughout the building. The skyscraper, which was only built one month before, was constructed with naqahdah laced throughout its internal structure; it is the bomb. With only a few minutes left, Mitchell contacts the Prometheus, which transports the entire building into space. It harmlessly explodes, though Ba'al has disappeared.

When Teal'c goes to Dakara to confront Gerak, he finds that Gerak has captured Ba'al. Ba'al is killed right in front of Teal'c, by Gerak with a staff weapon. Gerak has won, and the Jaffa High Council now favor him completely. Carter, however, discovers that Ba'al had been experimenting with cloning technology; the Ba'al that Garek killed is one of many new Ba'al clones that are now free to do as they please.

Notable Quotes
In reference to Carter's transportation to Seattle by Prometheus' beaming device Daniel Jackson: Beats flying coach.