Space Race (S07E08)

Maj. Samantha Carter rushes into Stargate Command, still wearing her motorcycle gear from a joyride. She was summoned because the spaceship captain Warrick — a Serrakin whom SG-1 rescued from planet P2X-005 — has a diplomatic proposition: In return for allowing Carter and SGC full access to the ion propulsion engine of his ship, the Seberus, he asks for her technical assistance and a Naquadah generator in order to have a chance at winning the Loop of Kon Garat race, held by his home planet Hebridan's largest corporation, the Tech Con Group. The prize is a lucrative contract. Carter will agree only if she's along for the ride — Stargate Command doesn't just let Naquadah generators out of their sight, after all. And besides, there's her need for speed. She convinces a dubious Gen. Hammond to okay the diplomatic mission, and on Hebridan, Col. Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson attend meetings that Warrick has arranged with the highest-ranking members of the Hebridan government and business community. At the Seberus hangar, Warrick's brother, Eamon, who has refitted the ship for the Loop, explains to Teal'c that Warrick is in financial trouble, and that his wife remarried while he was stranded on P2X-005. Warrick sees winning the race as the only way to get his life back on track. The competition is fierce, however. Among the pilots are a legend named Muirios; the beautiful and very fast La'el Montrose; and Jarlath, an ex-con with whom Warrick shares a personal enmity. The race begins. After Warrick and co-pilot Carter evade the obstacle course's attack drones, they move on to Stage Two, in which the racers head into the coronasphere of Hebridan's sun. Then an explosion occurs: The ship's power diverter has been sabotaged and overloaded. The Seberus is heading into the sun. Their only hope is to relocate the Naquadah generator, bypass the diverter and supply power directly to the engines. It works, restoring the ship to full power. Meanwhile Eamon suspects that his Tech Con boss, Del Tynan, has accessed the Seberus redesign plans in order to sabotage the craft. Eamon and Teal'c break into Tynan's computer and find their suspicions confirmed. They also find Tynan arriving with armed guards. He reveals his plan to have the only full-blooded human in the race — Muirios — win in the interest of human supremacy on Hebridan (where humans and the reptilian Serrakin peacefully coexist and even intermarry).

Meanwhile the Seberus receives a distress call from another racer — none other than the evil Jarlath. Warrick and Carter divert to save him and find that he, too, has been sabotaged. Tynan contacts Warrick and threatens to kill Eamon and Teal'c if Warrick doesn't drop out of the Loop. Meanwhile, O'Neill and Daniel arrive at Tech Con and contact Hagan, Tynan's boss, with whom they've struck a deal to bring a stargate to the planet in exchange for an ion drive for study. Hagan takes Tynan into custody and Warrick is now free to win the race. But Murios has an unfair lead. La'el is second. Jarlath's devious demolition skills come in handy as he reroutes the conduit from the Naquadah generator, doubles it back through the communications array and sends a blast transmission that disables Muirios' ship. La'el wins! As a reward, she hires Warrick as her co-pilot on her new Tech Con contract. As for Carter, she's really looking forward to kicking butt in next year's Loop.... (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM))