An awesome force of evil, bent on domination and destruction, has blasted its way throught the Stargate, threatening the very survival of planet Earth. Ra is dead, but the serpent god Apophis has risen in his wake...and he's more than Ra's equal in his cunning, in his cruelty, in his ruthless lust for power.

Colonel Jack O'Neill has been summoned out of retirement to lead the expeditionary mission through the Stargate to hunt down Apophis and his legions. But the search-and-destroy team is about to face the ultimate test of courage -- for if O'Neill and his crew fail to return in seventy-two hours, they will be trapped, their fate sealed forever.

Eons ago, the evil forces of Apophis and his minions made a sinister pact with the people of the planet M'kwethet. The inhabitants of the primitive world would pay homage to their master by way of tribute -- providing their best and strongest specimens to the Goa'uld as host bodies for their young. By doing so, they would avert total annihilation...while the hosts would be doomed to a living death. For years, the helpless supplicants obeyed -- and were sacrificed.

It is on this world that Col. Jack O'Neill and his SG-1 team find themselves stranded. With the new "payment" about to be sent, the unit struggles to rescue a terrified populace that does not want help, while facing the possibility of being marooned forever. But one fact overshadows all else -- the Goa'uld are on their way, and O'Neill and his team must make the ultimate sacrifice.

From the very beginning, the success of the Stargate project hinged on one vital factor --- absolute secrecy. The world remains ignorant of the Goa'uld and the war being waged in space, and that's just the way the Stargate command wants it. But their secret may not stay that way for long ...

A young reporter has been smuggled into the most restricted area of the Cheyenne Mountain base. He's witnessed the Stargate in action, and wants answers. But he'll get much more than a headline when Col. Jack O'Neill and his team decide to show him exactly how dangerous the universe can be ...

On the world classified by the Stargate Project as P4V-837, the SG-1 team encounters an environment hospitable to humans, and the Kayeechi, a race of seemingly friendly natives. But after a few hours spent with their hosts, the team find themselves hallucinating --- each member seeing a completely different landscape than the others --- both while dreaming and awake.

The longer the team remains guests of the Kayeechi, the darker their dreams become. SG-1 have become unwilling participants in a brutal conflict -- -and their subconscious minds have become the most deadly weapon of all ...