ShaViva's Stargate Fan ... Stuff

Chapter 02: Send in the Calvary
Wednesday 1st April | 0800 hours | The White House | President Hayes' Office

After Colonel Carter’s Sunday emergency call to the SGC the wheels of political manoeuvring had kicked into gear with a vengeance, sparking a series of intense meetings. Most of those had been closed door ... the final one that General Jack O’Neill had been invited to with the President himself presented the IOA position as a fait accompli rather than giving Jack a chance to influence their reasoning.

“The IOA seriously believe Doctor Weir is still working for the Replicators?” Jack commented to President Hayes in disbelief. “Have they even read Doctor Lam’s medical report? She gave Elizabeth such a going over it’s a wonder there was anything of her left to send back to Atlantis!”

“I know,” Hayes agreed earnestly, “but Jack ... you watched the playback of Colonel Carter’s report. It might have nothing to do with Replicators but there’s no doubt something is going on in that city.”

“Who do the IOA want to send on this little witch hunt?” Jack queried irritably.

President Hayes said nothing, watching General O’Neill just waiting for the penny to drop.

“No,” Jack said abruptly when he realised he’d been talking about himself. “Nothing good has ever come from sending me on a mission to Atlantis ... Sir,” he added, his whole demeanour teetering on the edge of whining.

“Jack,” Hayes said reproachfully. “We need someone commanding who knows the city and the people there – both ex SGC and original Atlantis. Who else would you suggest we send if not you?”

“You don’t see it as a conflict of interest?” Jack let go of his teasing side and his need to rail against 'the man' abruptly and got down to the heart of things. “You know I would have dropped everything and headed straight for Atlantis as soon as I heard about Daniel. So far it’s only ex members of SG-1 who've been targeted for these incidents – I can’t take that lightly Sir.”

“And no one expects you to,” President Hayes replied. “In fact it’s exactly that attitude that the IOA are looking for. They want a quick resolution on this one Jack. You’re authorised to pick a small team of additional personal and Gate out as soon as you can - later this morning if possible.”

Jack raised an eyebrow in surprise. Usually use of their only ZPM to power the Stargate was restricted to emergency only – the IOA guarding the 'gift' from Wraith ally Todd with jealous zeal. That they considered the situation on Atlantis that serious said more than anything else Jack had heard so far about how bad things were perceived to be in the city of the Ancients.

“Fine,” Jack said abruptly, shrugging to take the implied sting out of those words. “But I’m not going there to witch hunt Doctor Weir or Colonel Sheppard – we’re agreed on that right?”

“I expect you to conduct an impartial investigation,” President Hayes pointed out. “Don’t bring in any preconceived ideas either way ... but find out who’s behind this Jack – and do it quickly.”

“Yes Sir,” O’Neill stood, acknowledging the order before moving quickly to leave, already thinking about who he’d need for the mission.

Wednesday 1st April | 1130 hours | Gateroom SGC and Atlantis

One flight from Washington to Colorado and a couple of rushed change of orders papers later and General O’Neill was standing in the SGC Gateroom waiting for the Stargate to be dialled.

Beside him stood Doctor Madison Garman and Captain Darek Sterling, his handpicked choices to help him begin his investigation. As he cleared personnel, Jack would utilize staff resources on Atlantis, hence the relatively small size of his initial team.

Doctor Garman was going along for independent medical assessments ... if something was going on in Atlantis involving Doctor Weir then in all likelihood Beckett and Keller would have to be in on it.

Captain Sterling was his ‘red herring’ ... on the surface just a military inclusion to provide General O’Neill the protection the IOA had insisted on – given his own status as an ex member of SG-1. But Captain Sterling also held qualifications in engineering – on such short notice he’d been the only clear choice to assist because the ‘accidents’ had all had an element of technology about them.

General O'Neill had briefed his new team on the reasons and purpose of the mission – the impression he wanted to create along with how he really intended to proceed. Both had been confident they could assist the investigation within those parameters.

Darek Sterling held his eyes on the gate as it dialled out, his face had the stern "Hauptmann Sterling" mask firmly in place. He didn't allow any excitement or fascination for the destination of their trip to well up inside him. It would only be distracting. For the moment it was something akin to enemy territory. He had not liked what he had heard earlier in the briefing. 'Accidents' that had happened on Atlantis base, incidents that sounded like attempted murder and sabotage. Which meant somebody on Atlantis base was not to be trusted, was working for the enemy, whoever this enemy might be. During the few months Darek had served at the SGC he had learned, and be it only learned through things other comrades told him, that brainwashing, being taken over be evil entities and other means beyond human control were not so impossible out there and had happened before. Which led straight down to the question of whether or not the saboteur did what he did on his own volition or under the control of an enemy. Darek shook off his musings ... brooding and musing would not help him now. He knew whom to trust, the General and the Doctor, and everything else he would find out, when the time came.

Listening to the sound of the gate turning, with the rumbling of it echoing around her and vibrating beneath her feet was always a thrill. Even in the short time Madison had been involved with the SGC, the excitement of it had not worn off yet. Somehow she didn't anticipate that happening anytime soon. She watched as each Chevron clicked and locked into place, while mentally counting the seconds until they'd be stepping through the gate. It wouldn't be her first trip through the gate since joining N.E.S.T. (National Emergency Surgical Team) a few years before, but it would certainly be her longest. After hearing so much about Atlantis from Dr. Jackson during the weeks she'd been treating him after his previous trip to the city, she only wished she could be going under better circumstances.

As a member of N.E.S.T., Madison often found herself covering shifts at the SGC when needed. As such, she had been in attendance at Cheyenne Mountain, covering for a vacationing Dr. Lam when Daniel was brought back from Atlantis. This at least allowed her to be familiar with a few of the players, those with more recent links to the SGC in any event. Being with her particular organization also meant that she was a sort of floater, as far as where her skills were needed, and she could be sent wherever and whenever she was needed. It sure beat bandaging skinned up knees in an Emergency room somewhere.

Madison was pulled out of her thoughts by the final sound of the gate locking. She glanced up and back as Sgt. Harriman's voice rang into the gateroom.

“Chevron Eight is locked,” Walter announced from the Control Room moments before the gate kawhooshed.

“Let’s go,” General O’Neill strode forward purposefully, leading the way.

Stepping out on the other side of the wormhole Jack stood, looking around at those gathered for his arrival.

“Morning Campers!” he said jovially. “Did you miss me?”

"Sir." Sam strode forward to greet him. "I'm certainly relieved to see you." It had been a tense few days, given the events of Saturday evening and the not so successful briefing Sunday morning. "We've had offices and labs set up for your use, I've overlooked the arrangements myself."

"Thank you Carter," Jack said with a nod of acknowledgement. He didn't comment on it but O'Neill couldn't help but note the signs of obvious strain on his ex team mate's face ... that more than anything else proclaimed the seriousness of the current situation.

Madison walked through the gate and was taken completely by surprise. She strolled slowly away from the gate, her gaze riveted on the interior of the city itself. "Okay," she said. "So maybe all his excitement wasn't so nuts after all," she said, speaking of Daniel, her soft, southern accent lilting through the room.

Daniel chuckled softly at Madison's comments. He had gotten to know the acerbic physician rather well some months before while being mended and healing from the incident surrounding the discovery of Janus' secret laboratory. She was not the type of surgeon that breezed in, performed the operation or operations and breezed out. Dr. Garman had been involved in Daniel's recovery from start to finish once he had arrived back at the SGC. He also was not surprised that Jack had chosen an independent medical professional as part of his team. His eyes went to the other man with Jack, noting the flag patch on his jacket denoting his country of origin ... Germany.

Daniel's eyes then went to Jack's, meeting them and nodding slightly at the raised eyebrows. For now it was as much assurance as the older man needed on Daniel's well-being. The archaeologist was reasonably certain he would get the O'Neill version of the Fifth Degree when they had time to catch up. Daniel had spent the best part of Sunday and Monday taking it easy, handling his department from the safe haven of Sam's quarters. Monday night he had moved back to his own quarters after getting thoroughly checked out by Keller. By Tuesday he was back on duty, little worse for wear but recovering quickly. As of this morning, the near-drowning was nothing more than a particularly unpleasant memory accompanied by very occasional coughing. The one thing he had learned, though, was that forty-three years old did not bounce back as quickly as thirty-two. That thought made Daniel chuckle to himself slightly.

"Hey, Jack. This is getting to be a regular stop on your tour," Daniel said by way of greeting not missing the steel underlying the jovial attitude Jack was projecting.

"I'm like the Rolling Stones Daniel," Jack quipped in reply. "Never too old for one more tour."

Colonel Sheppard trotted up the few steps to the Gate platform to greet the incoming arrivals. They were here on official business and it was only appropriate that the City's commander was able to show a united front before the eyes of official visitors. All John was sure of was that he would never embarrass Col. Carter in front of others despite her uncertainty of him.

"General O'Neill, Sir... welcome back to Atlantis," Sheppard offered standing at attention.

Colonel Mitchell stood to Sam's right, flanking her as General O'Neill arrived. "Morning, Sir," he greeted the man, standing at attention.

After greeting his ex team mates General O'Neill turned to acknowledging the other members of his welcoming party.

"Sheppard, Mitchell," he said with a nod. With the two members of his special team now standing behind him Jack moved into quick introductions.

"Doctor Madison Garman," he gestured first towards Madison, and then to Darek, "and Captain Darek Sterling. They'll be assisting with the investigation." Noting the reactions to his introductions, Jack then looked directly at Sam.

"Carter, I read your reports on all three incidents," O'Neill began, adding before Daniel could make a comment, "yes Daniel - I do read reports occasionally. Based on the seriousness of the last incident I'm ordering the immediate lock down of the Atlantis base. Gate travel is suspended barring the return of any off world personnel or the rendering of aid in an emergency. Colonel Mitchell, the Hammond is also grounded until further notice - your crew will remain on board once you've parked your ship in the usual spot. I'll want to talk to everyone individually but for now my team and I will need to review the evidence and assess the site of each incident. We'll get set up in the lab first - Carter, lead the way." Jack motioned with a sweeping gesture for Sam to move first.

"Of course, right this way." Sam stepped back and did a half pivot, allowing the General to step in stride with her. "I think you would like where we have you set up, under better circumstances."

Madison stopped in front of Daniel, just briefly. "Well, he was right about you wasn't he?" She inclined her head to study him, while her blue eyes twinkled with amusement. "You don't know how to stay out of trouble. We're going to have to work on that." She lifted the strap of her duffel over her shoulder. "Give us a few to get setup, then I want you to come down for a full exam." That said, she moved to follow the others, falling in step with Derek behind the General and Colonel Carter.

Daniel gave a slight wince to Madison's request for a full exam later. If she were still smarting from his abrupt departure back to Atlantis, the ordeal could be a bit unpleasant, but he decided he would debate the need on that with her at the appointed time. After all, he was back on duty and none the worse for the incident. He watched Jack and Sam head out trailed by Dr. Garman and Captain Sterling with a slight frown. He had seen Jack in lots of modes...chief investigator was a new one. Deciding he needed to get to work himself and warn his senior staff about the lockdown, Daniel glanced back at Sheppard and Mitchell and shrugged slightly before turning to walk away as well.

Cameron gave General O'Neill a nod as he got busy with Sam and spared a glance over at Daniel, wondering if this was new or just new to him. He returned the shrug and went to get his boat parked again as ordered.

Wednesday 1st April | 1230 hours | Special Investigations Lab

An hour after arriving Jack O'Neill and his team had been shown to the labs and offices arranged for their use. Carter stayed for a few minutes to make certain they would be able to settle in with the minimum amount of fuss. Then she left to let them get on with their business. Once she was gone, the security code for the door was reset. O’Neill’s investigative team would have access, no one else would. In the minutes that followed, gear brought with them was unpacked and set up. Madison got a look at the Atlantis Infirmary but shook her head at the other two. "They've got some nice toys." She lifted a large, black duffel and let it fall onto a workstation with a loud thump. A maniacal little grin curved her lips. "But so do I."

Darek was somewhat curious what kind of toys the Doctor had brought along for the trip. His own gear was pretty standard and had no "secret weapon" in any shape or form. Perhaps the laptop for notes, reports etc. was a minor trap, but nothing that would stop a sufficiently linguistically skilled person. "What did you bring, Doctor?" he asked, eyeing the black duffel with a mix of curiosity and wariness.

General O'Neill watched as Doctor Garman let the items she was unpacking speak for themselves ... Jack only hoped he'd have no personal need for any of them.

"Let's leave the setting up to the good Doc," O'Neill suggested, looking at Darek. "I want to check out this balcony first and then the underwater lab. They would have removed the damaged view screen but hopefully they'll have stashed it somewhere so we can look at that too."

Nodding to Doctor Garman Jack strode purposefully from the room, Captain Darek following at his side.

Madison was expecting Daniel shortly, at least that was the idea. She'd give him an hour and then she was going hunting. Actually, that might be fun. She almost hoped he was late. The doctor pulled her hair back into a ponytail and shrugged out of her jacket before getting to work. In her section of the lab, the gear she'd brought was laid out in a methodical fashion. She had a workflow, a way she expected everything to be. It was almost perfectionism, and maybe just a little bit manic, but she liked things the way she liked them, and she wanted her workspace efficient. Her scanning equipment and diagnostic tools were set out in such a way that she could flow from one station to another with ease, and an almost choreography. When she'd finished with that task, she pulled out one of the notebook PCs they'd brought along and set it up for use. Because of the nature of the investigation, she would not be networking into the Atlantis database. Instead, there were PCs available for that access, already set up in the lab.

She was perched on a stool, a stethoscope hung around her neck and making notes when he arrived. Madison glanced up, then at her watch. "Well," she sighed softly. "So much for hunting you down." Her blue eyes sparkled at him. "Dr. Daniel Jackson. We meet again."

Daniel watched Madison, a wary glint showing in his eyes. They had become very close during his recovery period after the Attero device incident nearly a year before and had continued seeing one another afterward...until his recall to Atlantis and a rather precipitous leave-taking on his part. There had been genuine caring on his part and he had never suggested to Madison that he was in love with her. Daniel gave a mental shrug feeling as if her were trying to justify his choosing Atlantis over remaining at the SGC and potentially moving on with Madison.

Smiling at Madison, Daniel relaxed slightly. After all, they were bound to encounter one another again eventually...the SGC program was not that big. “Yes...small world...or galaxy. Uh...how’ve you been?”

"Better than you from the looks of it." Her lips curved into a slow smile. "You do keep life interesting for everyone around you, don't you?" The doctor slid off her stool and walked around the workstation. She clasped her hands in front of her while she studied him. He looked to be in fairly good health, despite Saturday night's harrowing ordeal. That was good. She didn't wish him ill, no matter what might have gone on between them previously. He was an interesting puzzle to her. Even in the short while that they were seeing one another, she still didn't quite manage to peel back all of those first layers. It was one of the things that drew her to him. She wanted to know what made him tick. Why someone who was such a scholar would continually put himself into a position of being a soldier. What kept sending him back. She had an inkling, but that was all she'd uncovered. Madison genuinely cared about him, but she couldn't say that she was in love with him. There really hadn't been time enough for that. What they'd had, was a very good time, and she'd like to think, a comfortable friendship.

"Well." She told him. "I looked through Dr. Keller's notes from Saturday night. I was just reviewing the scans that she took, and I know you're scheduled with her for a follow-up, but I wanted to examine you myself." They hadn't ruled Dr. Keller out as a suspect or co-conspirator yet. She was put in position to be of suspicion, given her position within Atlantis, and the fact that she was Dr. Weir's previous and current care-giver. Madison also just wanted to be able to assure the General that Daniel was okay. "So, why don't we step into my office," she gestured to a curtained off area. "We'll get started. Take off your clothes, Daniel." It was purely professional, but her eyes were sparkling at him again.

Daniel stopped dead in the process of moving toward the curtained off area, still trying to formulate his argument against a thorough exam and turned to face Madison, wide blue eyes blinking slowly. "I...uh...we...I'mseeingsomeone," he blurted out rapidly, still confused and not quite balanced between Madison the Doctor and Madison the Former Whatever They Had Been.

It took the good doctor a few seconds to translate what he'd said into comprehensible English. When she had, her brows climbed to perch near her hairline. "I see." Her eyes went a bit wide with surprise. It didn't stop the smile. There was a twinge of something, jealousy maybe. That was normal. She wasn't finished figuring him out, not that doing so was completely dependent on their previous relationship. Madison looked, and felt, more amused than anything. "That was certainly... fast. You're still going to have to lose the shirt."

The blue eyes were still in the wide, please do not yell at me mode, and it was more than slightly obvious that the man was quite uncomfortable with the situation. Daniel recognized that his unease was not completely founded on logic. While he and Madison had gotten close...very, very close...after all she was a very lovely woman and her down-to-earth attitude along with the caring and compassion she had shown as his doctor had been more than any red-blooded man could hope to cope with. It probably was not the first time Madison had had a male patient develop a crush on her. It may have been one of the first times that she had reciprocated the feelings though.

And things had been good with them. There had been the thrill of the obvious physical attraction backed up by the warmth of a genuine friendship that developed over the months they had been together. Daniel had found that Maddie could dress to the nines and enjoy a formal dinner and attending a museum exhibit opening or get down and dirty while spending a weekend rafting the Colorado River. Maddie had also kept his mind off Sam although he did not like admitting that he had used that as a very small portion of their relationship. Daniel always suspected that Maddie had an inkling about his conflicted feelings for someone else. Maybe that was one of the many reasons she never seemed inclined to take their relationship further than the somewhat light-hearted affair it had been. Either way, he cared a great deal for Madison and found the current situation somewhat awkward. It did not help that he had never mentioned how close he and Maddie had gotten to Sam.

Therefore, Daniel stood his ground, not making a move to lose the shirt, "Yeah...hmmmm...about that. I'm fine...really. Dr. Keller has checked me over...after it happened and again day before yesterday. So...honestly...I'm good. I just came down to see you...see how you've been doing and let you know that I've been checked out by the docs...over and over." Of course Daniel realized he did not have a prayer of winning this encounter as Maddie was a formidable obstacle all on her own and with Jack's orders to back her up...well...it was a lost cause, but he had to try.

Madison inhaled softly and let it out on a long sigh as she shook her head at him. He really was very cute. She chuckled. "Daniel, do you really expect me to go back to General O'Neill and tell him that... Hey, Danny said he was fine, he said the Docs here told him it was all hunky-dory, so I decided to pass..." A single brow rose at him, even as she gave him a pointed look. One which asked plainly if he really thought she was that gullible. He knew better, she thought. But it was a very nice try! "You get bonus points for the attempt, boyo." It came out in a drawl, Central Georgia lilting softly in her tone, with just a hint of Savannah. Madison reached back and gave the curtain a single, effective jerk to close it.

"Daniel," this time she spoke more seriously. The hint of humor and mischief were gone from her eyes and tone. "You were nearly killed, we're taking that very seriously. Not just because it was you, but the fact that we have no idea who is responsible has a lot of people on edge." She knew she didn't have to tell him that, he was living in the middle of it. "Simple fact is, we just got here. No one has been cleared as a suspect yet. I'm not here to second guess Dr. Keller, I'm here to make sure that she is beyond reproach. To do that, I have to retrace some of her steps. You are one of those steps, however awkward it may be."

She smiled at him, this one genuine. "We're adults, Daniel. I think we can handle it. What's her serial number?" Her eyes were sparkling again, this time it was pure mischief.

Daniel's eyes widened again. Madison knew! How could she know? Okay...well...he and Sam had not been secretive or sneaky about seeing one another...suitably discreet considering their positions yes but not sneaky. Still...she could not have learned about who he was seeing so fast. No...Maddie was just taking a guess that it was someone in the service and even the civilians had an assigned serial number. Deciding that Maddie was just messing with him...and it would not be the first time for that, "Ummmm...sorry, we've not gone as far as exchanging numbers," he quipped back with a cheeky grin.

Sighing slightly, Daniel made a shrug of surrender although he was still feeling awkward. It should not be different or awkward...but it was. Madison had been his doctor after he had been badly injured. Later, they had become romantically close. Seeing one another unclothed was nothing new. And that was the problem. Daniel had to refocus on Dr. Madison Garman and put Maddie the ex-sort of-girlfriend in perspective. Beyond all that, Maddie was right. Jack had given her orders and those orders involved possibly clearing Jennifer Keller of any suspicion regarding what looked to be some sort of conspiracy aimed at some of the former members of the SGC.

Suddenly the humorous portions of the situation hit Daniel and he laughed softly. While not forgetting how deadly serious the incidents had been...especially the one that had nearly killed him and might have Sam had she arrived on schedule. Grinning unabashedly at Maddie, Daniel shrugged out of his jacket and t-shirt, "You just want to get me out of my clothes..."

"Hmm." The semi hum was her only response as she shifted her attention away from him momentarily. She picked up a blood pressure cuff and walked to stand beside him. She couldn't deny that she was affected. She felt the familiar tug of attraction. It was her own sense of professionalism that allowed her to shove it firmly aside while she worked to refile him under the classification of patient in her mind. The fact remained that he was a physically attractive man, and one that she was intimately familiar with. "I promise not to jump you," she stated simply. She wrapped the cuff around his upper arm and went through checking his vitals. Then, while the stethoscope was still in her ears, she listened to his breathing.

When the doctor was finished with her cursory exam, she moved in front of him and ran her hands along his ribs. Her touch was gentle, but certain. "Any tenderness remaining here?"

Daniel felt a gentle shiver at her touch as memories flared behind his intense blue eyes. This situation was the last one he figured he would ever find himself in. Yet while his heart, soul, and body belonged exclusively to Sam now, Daniel could not deny the lingering attraction he felt for Madison. Stronger than though was his respect and admiration for the woman that had been his healer, his friend, and briefly his lover. He glanced at where her hands had gently rested on his ribcage and finally realized she was staring at him, waiting for an answer while a knowing look and humor lurked in her own dark blue eyes. "I'm still a little sore but not bad. I'm keeping my workouts a little lighter than normal for another day or two."

"You're in good shape," She told him. "I'm still hearing some rattling in your chest. That's to be expected. There is still fluid in some of the smaller bronchi. I see Keller put you on a decongestant for preventative. That's good. I want you to keep taking that. The lungs are a tricky organ." She moved away from him, and gestured he could put the t-shirt back on by handing it to him. "You can get water in them, cough it up, and all is well. Or you can inhale something along with that water and it will take root and knock you on your bum. I'm going to prescribe an anti-fungal, again preventative. Sea Water is chock full of all kinds of little buggers. It depends on the doctor, if they want to go with it or wait and see. I don't think Dr. Keller did anything wrong in not prescribing the anti-fungal, but she's a surgeon. Different specialties, different ways of thinking." While she spoke, she made notes on a chart, and then keyed them into her notebook PC as well.

Daniel frowned a bit as he shrugged back into his black t-shirt and then outright grimaced at the thought of some sort of fungus taking up residence in his lungs. One thing he could always say for Maddie...she never sugar coated the medical news. That was also something he had immediately admired about her. She had not tried to make the news or even his recovery easy on him. But she had helped him fight to get back on his feet as quickly as possible...in fact...she had been with him almost literally every step of the way. At any rate, he acknowledged her comments with a nod as he searched for where he laid his glasses. Bottom line...while he liked Dr. Keller and thought she had done an amazing job in her tenure as CMO...he trusted Maddie just as he had trusted Janet Fraiser.

"I'm also going to take some blood samples," she told him. "I'll compare the tests to what I already have on file as your base line." It was for the investigation, but she was sure that she wouldn't have to explain that.

Madison quickly labelled three test tubes and set them on the tray beside where he was sitting. Then she lifted his arm and tapped at the veins in the crook, looking for good vein to use. A small line formed between her brows as she ran her fingers over the area, testing it. "You're veins are always so uncooperative," she murmured softly. Finally satisfied, she tied a tourniquet around his upper arm. The doctor snapped on a pair of latex gloves before lifting a small vacutainer.

"You're going to feel a little pinch," she said quietly, automatically, and pressed gently as she could through his skin and into his Median Cubital vein. The first test tube was slid into the vacutainer and began to fill almost instantly. She watched it closely, replacing the first with the second, and then the third. When the third tube was almost full, she released the rubber strip from around his arm. The needle was carefully pulled from his arm and a square of gauze, folded in quarters, was pressed against the site.

Madison kept the pressure steady for several moments, then folded his arm up. "Hold that." With the needle discarded into the biohazard container labelled for such things, she placed the final tube with the first two, in a clear plastic envelope labelled for testing - which she would be doing herself. When she returned to his side, she had fresh gauze, and a smaller, more aesthetic bandage. She replaced the gauze and put the bandage in place, tight to keep the pressure steady. "You can take this off in about fifteen minutes," she told him.

She looked at him then, meeting his gaze. A smile touched her lips. "Missed you." She could say it honestly, the romantic and intimate portion of their relationship put aside. They'd always enjoyed themselves, he was an amusing and interesting individual with which to spend time, whether it was for conversation, companionship, or as a playmate. She missed the banter and the quick wit as much as the other.

Daniel looked up to meet Maddie's eyes from his seat on the exam table and smiled...the very rare smile that lit his blue eyes from within. He reached out to gently touch her cheek and brush a strand of hair that had fallen free back behind her ear. Maddie had come into his life at a time that, were he willing to be truthful, was a very low point for him personally. It was the first time he recalled that being injured in the line of duty actually got him down. In the beginning he had simply not wanted to deal with the whole healing process yet again. Maddie had changed that with her forthright yet caring manner...and her continuing support long after he really could have let go of leaning on her. She had been the right person at the right time and Daniel loved her for that.

Taking her hand, he raised it to his lips and kissed it gently, "Missed you too," he said honestly. Daniel had missed her company, her humor, her laughter, and her gentle ribbing of him when he became too serious, too caught up in being Daniel Jackson. Even though he was with Sam now, he wanted Maddie to know that he had...and still did...care. "I was really busy when I first came back here...catching up with the research and where it had progressed in my absence. Didn't stop me from missing you...missing us...and wondering how you were doing."

Daniel paused before reaching out to take her other hand and hold both of hers clasped warmly between his hands. He owed Maddie honesty and he wanted to tell her the truth without hurting her. To his credit...and hers...neither of them had stated an undying love for the other. Both recognized loving someone versus being in love. As he thought about it, a tremendous amount of the awkwardness fell away and Daniel realized he would not be ashamed or afraid to tell Sam how he felt about Maddie. "The person I'm with now, Mads...she's someone I've loved a very, very long time and that I honestly thought was completely out of my reach...as in she was in love with someone I'd never betray or hurt. I recently learned I was very mistaken on that score."

"I did not and do not regret the time we had together, Mads. You healed me...in more ways than just a banged up body. I needed you then and I need you now...your friendship, your honesty...it means a great deal to me. I feel very certain that the woman I've loved for so long would definitely approve of you and I think you'll like her." Daniel paused and grinned sheepishly, "And yes...before you start razzing me...I did have a serious Oh My God moment when I saw you step out of the 'Gate with Jack. In fact...for several minutes there...I can honestly say I'd rather have faced down a Goa'uld System Lord and his entire Jaffa army." He squeezed her hands gently, "But that only lasted a moment...I'm glad you're here." Bright blue eyes sparkled at her although his regard for her shown clearly in their depths.

"So am I." She rested her palm against his cheek for just a moment. Then she pulled away from him. "I was a little hesitant to come, but then the General mentioned the trouble you'd gotten yourself into and..." She shrugged and grinned at him. "Someone had to make sure you were set straight again. Although, I really did have to see this place for myself. I get it now. The city is incredible." She made notes in his file and saved them. "When we get this mess straightened out, I'll let you give me the grand tour."

Daniel grinned, "Deal. And just have Chuck buzz me via the comm-link if you want a guide to the Thirty-Nine or Mess Hall to grab a bite to eat." He slid to his feet and leaned forward to place a gentle, chaste kiss on her cheek. "Thanks for coming, Mads," he said as he grabbed his jacket to take his leave.

Wednesday 1st April | 1300 hours | Balcony, outermost tower | Site of the first incident

Half an hour later General Jack O'Neill stood at the doorway of a remote balcony on the edges of the city. Shooting a quick glance back at his companion, he nodded to Darek before swiping a hand over the control pad and then punching in the override code to open the door.

The site that greeted him was about what he'd expected ... deserted balcony with a large section of railing missing. Rather than repair the damage Carter had locked off access for safety and presumably slotted the entire site for assessment and reconstruction at a later date.

Stepping cautiously onto the balcony, O'Neill edged forward slowly until he could see what lay below ... a dizzying fall into the ocean if you were lucky - into the concrete pier if you weren't.

"Long way to fall," Jack quipped, motioning for Darek to stay where he was just in case the balcony itself wasn't as stable as it appeared. Taking a closer look at the railing he frowned.

"We need some samples of this rust stuff," he told the other man, thinking it didn't look like any rust he'd seen before. Bending closer he ran a finger over the jagged edge where the missing railing had broken away. "And some photos of these edges," he added.

Stepping back towards the door, O'Neill took a few more moments to glance around before deciding he'd seen enough for now. Moving back to the door he passed Darek and then motioned him forward.

"Take a look," he invited.

Darek had not liked seeing General O’Neill step on the balcony first. That thing was most likely unstable if not downright dangerous. The invitation to investigate himself was welcome, and even more was knowing the General was off the dangerous broken edge of the collapsed balcony.

Darek carefully proceeded towards the broken railing. Squatting he checked the ground a number of times for cracks, rust, or other indicators of instability. The ‘rust’ was the next he turned his attention to. It was rather prominent along the break-edge of the balcony. Darek slid the small backpack off his shoulders, taken along so he'd have room for samples, notes and everything else that might be needed. A look at the remaining railings told him that the force that had taken the balcony down had moved straight down, not sideways as an explosion would. Thus far the description of the accident and the visible facts matched.

He followed the General’s orders and took some samples of the rust for testing. He marked the tiny plastic containers with the date and time of the sample taken. That done he carefully took another sample, which he simply packed off in a small cellophane sample bag. That stuff did not look like rust, the texture and structure were wrong too. “Säurerückstände?” Darek said to himself, observing the odd structure of the ‘rust’ he had collected. Realising that he had spoken the wrong language, he at once switched back to English. “This does not look like rust or natural corrosion remnants, Sir,” he said, stashing away the samples. “I wonder if it’s metal oxidation – caused by acid or another aggressive substance. No sign of an explosion or other violent influence,” he reported his findings, up to this point.

"Acid would make more sense," O'Neill acknowledged grimly. A part of him had wanted to believe the balcony railing failure had been an accident rather than the dangerous piece of sabotage it was turning out to be. He really hated it when his gut won out over hoping for the best.

Carefully Darek proceeded to the jagged edge of the balcony. Fishing a small digital camera from the outer pocket of the backpack, he began to take a series of pictures of the broken structure. Pocketing the camera again, he took out an army-knife. Making use of the solid tools it provided it was no big problem to break lose a small metal splinter of the jagged edge. It too was covered with the odd rust, but was not rust alone, but metal underneath, and the layer in between, where the initial chemical reaction, be it corrosion or oxidation, had surely left it’s traces. He put the splinter into another small sample container. Then he studied the edge again. The main structure of the balcony was not really thin, but rather a strong, thick metal structure, solid work. Darek shook his head, this was too strong to be taken down by natural corrosion lightly. Carefully testing his ground he knelt and reached down far enough to take some splinters and metal samples from the core of the structure. He did not believe for a moment that natural corrosion would have penetrated a metal structure that thick without anybody seeing signs of it. But some samples might clear up the matter.

Again Darek studied the edge, his eyes wandering along the jagged break, noticing some minor cracks, but all close to the original collapse zone. A short look at the railings did not produce any new facts. He had seen what there was to see from up here.

“Sir, I’d like to take a look at the lower side of this place,” he said calmly, pointing at the ground. “There might be some things below that are not visible from up here.” And climbing down the side of the balcony would not be any problem.

"Ah ... sure," General O'Neill allowed after considering the proposition. Clearly Sterling would need to lower himself off the side of the balcony in order to see below it but Jack knew enough of Darek's background to know he was more than capable of doing so. "Got any rope in that pack?" he gestured to said item with a curious look.

Darek nodded curtly. "Yes, Sir.“ He had taken the rope before heading out when he had learned they were taking a look at the balcony. It was a light 7mm dry rope, just a tad too light for long climbs but ideal for things like this.

Darek headed off to the side, until he found a spot where one of the horizontal beams that held the balcony was visible. After making sure the railing there was stable and not likely to break any time soon, he slung the rope around the base of the railing, securing it thoroughly. A carabine hook secured the rope on Darek’s side. Crossing the railing, he began his way down. Once he reached the lower end of the balcony he used the support structure on the underside to secure the rope around another spot, to avoid having the strain of the rope fixated on one single point. Then he began making his way along the underside towards the broken part of the balcony.

Avoiding all free swings or other heavy movement that might have triggered another break of the unstable structure it took him more time than it usually would have, but he reached the broken parts in a good time still. Feet against the balcony, back supported by the rope, he began studying the underside of the jagged break. There too was rust, but the color seemed lighter to Darek, than the ‘rust’ up there. The form of the break was interesting too. Seeing it, Darek wondered if the full force that broke loose the piece of the balcony had come actually from the upside, or if there had be some additional pressure or force breaking it lose from down here. Otherwise he would expect the lower edge to be far more deformed and bend down by the pressure and force coming from the upside. But then, he did not know the exact reactions and strengths of this metal to draw a conclusion solely by eyesight. Making sure the rope at his back was tight enough to not slip away, he began taking pictures of the underside. Getting some ‘rust’ samples took some careful skirting of the edges of the break. The rust was only to be found along the break line, nowhere else. Darek frowned ... that was odd. Natural corrosion would be spread all over the place, not along a random line on the material. He made sure he had pictures of that as well, before he made his way up again.

General O'Neill waited patiently for Darek to complete his inspection of the balcony ... well, patiently for him anyway, which involved a fair amount of pacing and internal dialogue over why it was taking so long. Rather than talk about what he'd found, when Darek concluded his study and was back on relatively firm ground Jack stepped back into the corridor, giving the other man room to pack up and stow away his gear.

Darek rejoined General O'Neill in the corridor outside the balcony, waiting quietly while Jack swiped the door closed and reapplied the security lock down. Together the two men walked silently back to the special investigations lab, neither willing to speculate yet on what they'd found out so far.

"Find out who the regular users were for the section including the balcony," Jack instructed Darek in a low tone. "We should have full access to all the security footage as well as Atlantis system records on transporter and door accesses."

As Darek moved off to follow that order General O'Neill turned and headed for his own desk. Grabbing Carter's report on the underwater lab incident Jack propped a hip against the desk and began to review it.

Sitting down at the workstation Darek began the first check. It was correct: they had access to all data, security feeds and other records. He then checked the logs for the time in question, and the time leading up to it for completeness and if they existed at all. He compiled a protocol on his findings while he did this check. After getting an overview on the ground he had to cover he started to go through the data in a systematic manner. It was much to cover, but there were patterns he could check. He took the time of the accident and compiled a list of people who had been on that balcony at that specific time during the last some weeks and back. That produced a list of names. He structured it for one-time-appearances, up-to-five-appearances and regulars. The list took shape far faster than he actually liked. Cross-referencing it with door-logs of the respective door and some other data the list of regulars was not all that long.

All the while he was working, a small open ringbook lay beside him, where Darek made a handwritten protocol of what he found. This draft was not done in English and used shortsigns instead of names. It usually served only the purpose of a reminder and help when it came to compiling the final report at the end of the investigation, whenever this might be.

Compiling his findings and the relevant data into a report of three files, Darek re-read the data, cross-checking it a second time. He would not give any half-considered analysis to the General, especially with this type of find. But another check did not provide any other result as the first two cross-checks had already done. He made two backup copies of the report and saved on to USB too. Two more copies he would deposit on his laptop, later, along with the pictures from the camera. Backups in case original and first backup vanished somehow.

Darek rose from his place at the workstation and walked over to the General. “Sir?” He kept his voice down, as the General had done when he gave the initial order. No one knew how well this room could be overheard from below or above.

"You found something Captain?" O'Neill asked blandly. After reading the reports and talking to Carter before he'd known he would be the one sent to investigate, Jack was already expecting to hear that Colonel Samantha Carter was a regular on the balcony. Part of the reason why he'd asked Darek to do his own search was to see how easy it would be for anyone with relatively basic assess to the systems to work that out for themselves. The other part was of course to see who else was a regular ... after all, if you intended to sabotage something where records of your presence would be noted, surely you'd engineer it somehow so that your name was just one of many, a regular feature.

“Yes, Sir.” Darek replied to the question. “The only person that visited this place with predictable regularity in the mornings was Col. Carter. Frequent visitors include Col. Sheppard, Dr. Beckett and Doctor Mallory, but their visits follow no regular patterns or intervals while Col. Cater came to that spot about 80% of all mornings.” Darek handed over the report on his findings that contained the structured breakdown of times, visitors, and frequencies through the last few months. “There is no second person that went to that place as regularly as Col. Carter Sir,” he summed up all that was to be said about this. There was only one likely victim of that ‘accident’ and she had been damn lucky.

"Understood," O'Neill replied, his eyes flat and suddenly a lot darker than they'd been moments before. Someone had targeted Sam specifically just as they'd targeted Daniel only days later and Jack felt the anger bubbling up inside him. Whoever was behind this was going to pay for attacking his friends ... Jack would see to it ... personally.

"I'll want to talk to the others anyway," O'Neill said, his grim tone reflective of his mood. "I know why Carter went to that balcony so often ... the others probably all have equally valid reasons but if one of them was involved maybe they'll let something slip."

Darek had seen the shifting moods reflect in the General’s mien in a manner of seconds, for a moment he even suspected that the General had already known the outcome of the security feed check. But all these shifting expressions were rapidly replaced by a grim resilience, an intense grim resilience that left no room for speculations whatsoever: they were going to get those bastards and they would make them pay. Period. Full Stop. Darek wondered why he was surprised, he had heard enough about “SG-1 this” and “SG-1 that” during his few months at the SGC along with any amount of rumors, stories and speculations about all of them. But they had been just that: stories and cantina talk. 'Those were his long-time comrades, his friends, that got nearly killed.’ Darek reminded himself. ‘What would you do if it had been Karl, or Heinrich?”

Focusing on the General’s orders Darek wasn’t so much surprised any more that his words echoed the grim mood of the moment. Interrogating all other visitors of that place was a good idea, he mused. “One of them might also have seen something suspicious, Sir.” Darek replied, his voice keeping the same calm, observant tones as usual. Of course this was practically inviting them to accuse each other, opening an entirely different can of worms. But every little detail, every small hint on what had actually happened prior to the balcony collapsing could be the one important detail they needed to get on the right track.

"We can only hope that someone saw something," Jack returned.

He stood for a moment, finding his calm before looking again at Darek. "Let's go look at the underwater lab," he suggested. Although part of him wanted to just bring people in and start leaning on them until they caved Jack knew that approach wouldn't achieve anything other than get alot of people he'd probably need cooperation from offside. No ... much as it pained him he'd have to dot the 'i's and cross the 't's on each incident before he could move on to more satisfying pursuits.

Suddenly impatient to get it done, Jack turned and strode from the room with Captain Sterling following close behind.

Wednesday 1st April | 1400 hours | Underwater Oceanography Research Laboratory | Site of the third incident

Unlike the balcony there was no evidence readily apparent that someone had almost died in the underwater research lab only a few days before. The corridor outside the lab was spotless, the control panel outside the airlock door showing no signs that Colonel Carter had accessed it to cut the motor keeping the doors closed when Daniel had been trapped inside.

General O'Neill waited the few moments required to get a seal before the inner doors opened, knowing he'd probably find a similar story inside the lab but still determined to look anyway.

"Nice place," O'Neill commented to Captain Sterling who still accompanied him, taking a few steps into the lab and looking around appreciatively.

Darek suppressed a chuckle, the General’s dry humor was something he was learning about rather fast. “And a clean crime scene, Sir,” he observed calmly. There would not be much in terms of evidence traces in here. But that didn’t mean that looking could hurt. “I take it there were no safety measures in terms of oxygen bottles and other emergency-dive equipment in here?” There had not been when Dr. Daniel Jackson nearly drowned, which either meant they didn’t exist or they had been removed.

"Carter's report said no diving equipment was present," O'Neill replied. "There should have been ... whoever set Doctor Jackson up made sure he wouldn't be able to save himself." O'Neill didn't say it because it was just another one of those gut feelings but ... Daniel hadn't been meant to save himself but Jack was just as sure that at the same time he had been meant to be saved by someone. The 'bad guy' hadn't wanted to murder Daniel ... just make it clear that they could have.

Darek nodded before continuing his assessment of the lab. The first thing that was of interest was not the airlock but the moon-pool. Something had caused the pressure to fall and the water to rise inside the pool until it flooded the room in conjunction with the airlock malfunctioning. “How likely is it, that both systems – pressure control and airlock access fail at the same time?” he said, more to himself than to the General, as he examined the pool. Turning his attention off the fascinating, but not exactly helpful pool, Darek turned to the airlock itself. He studied the door control silently for a moment. It did not look damaged, but was way beyond his engineering expertise.

While Darek was looking around General O'Neill was also taking in the main features of the room and what they meant in terms of classifying their perpetrator. Jack had done enough diving in his time to understand how the moon pool worked ... it was pretty simple really - just a matter of establishing the right level of pressure to keep water in the pool but at the same time stop it from rising above deck height. The fact that it was so simple meant it only required a small tweak to shift the balance, as had happened during Daniel's ill fated visit. Rigging up a pressure leak was both a physical and systems exercise which meant mechanical and computing skills that were probably pretty standard on Atlantis. Turning off the safety protocols however required more than a little skill and should narrow the field on potential culprits.

Darek turned to the General. “Sir, I’d like to check all changes, repairs and other adjustments made to the pressure controls of this room, and to the computer systems that in turn control said pressure controls,” he said. Airlock and pool both shared connection with pressure control, so to cause an accident like this they had to be manipulated, or the computers behind them. If their saboteur was a bright one, he had done a manipulation where both failures depended on each other. But nobody said the saboteur was a bright one - he might have done two different manipulations and just hoped the timing worked out.

“I’d also suggest an examination of all door-protocols for the airlock control,” Darek continued. And be it only to find out whether or not Daniel Jackson had been a regular down here. The reports about the incident claimed that Dr. Jackson and Col. Carter had been invited down here by written notes. Notes that they claimed had not been written by the other one respectively. With none of the notes available for deeper investigation, it could not hurt to make sure that neither Jackson nor Carter was a regular visitor at the lab. This room might be used for other purposes than just deep-sea research. But if this checked out and they were rarely down here, they would need to follow up the track of those notes too.

"Okay," Jack replied vaguely, happy for Darek to take the running on the tech side of their investigations. Jack wasn't known for his expertise in scientific endeavours although he understood a lot more than he ever let on. "I reviewed Colonel Carter's report before we came down here and we won't get as lucky on the security footage as we did for the balcony scene. They already tried to access video on the corridor and within this lab ... the only thing recorded the night of the incident was static ... same thing at apparently random intervals during the prior two weeks. You'll still have to access and review all the video logs - just in case something was missed. We can check out one of the bogus notes though ... Daniel's was damaged beyond recognition but Carter managed to save hers. She's kept it under wraps and put around the base that both notes were destroyed. Maybe we'll get a lead from that."

“Random incidents of static on the security feeds in the last two weeks, Sir?” Darek asked to just clarify the fact. He did not like what he had just heard there. It might well mean that they were facing a long-term, well prepared series of sabotage incidents. In his mind Darek already had a whole list of things to check, the maintenance intervals for the underwater lab, the pressure controls etc. Now he would also have to crosscheck the incidents were the cameras recorded static, with the places from which the tech equipment of the lab could have been manipulated. He pushed all these thoughts back, he would have time to work on all that later. It looked like a big jigsaw puzzle.

"So Carter's report said," General O'Neill confirmed. "The intervals weren't large enough to be noticed at the time ... this is a big place and it'd be impossible to actively review footage from every security camera."

Darek nodded thoughtfully before focussing on what the General had said about the notes. “So one of the notes survived the incident?” It might be an invaluable source of information for them. The notes had been handwritten, if he remembered it correctly. If their saboteur had made the mistake of writing those notes they might contain a clue or two.

"Slightly water damaged," O'Neill returned with a faint shrug, "but the handwriting it still recognisable. We should see if there's someone on base with handwriting analysis skills ... that note was forged good enough to fool Colonel Carter but we might still get something useful."

“And it proves that the notes existed in first place, Sir,” Darek had nearly held back that observation. But with at least one of the notes surviving, there was proof that someone had lured Col. Carter and Dr. Jackson down to the lab. “The note might give also some hints to the forger’s own handwriting.” It would be a tedious exercise to compare the note to many samples of Jackson’s handwriting, to sort through what were the ‘marked’ meaning forged elements and where had the forger let some of his own writing habits slip into the forgery. Then there was the type of pen used, the paper itself might also provide some clues. Minor ones, but they might add up with others.

"You were thinking SG-1 should be suspects?" O'Neill looked at Captain Sterling incredulously.

Darek met the General’s gaze calmly. “You said it yourself, Sir: Nobody is above suspicion,” he replied. "And all I said was: that the existing note removes the question of whether or not these notes existed in the first place. A note inviting someone to come to a certain place, where consequently a suspicious event happens, is a good means to draw suspicion to that person, especially if this note is nowhere to be found later. With one of the notes still in existence, that's one question less to worry about." One question every shrewd politician or other unfriendly bureaucrat would ask, should he read the investigation report.

"While I take your point Captain," Jack's tone was just shy of snippy, "let's rewrite that statement to read 'no one other than the members of the former SG-1 is above suspicion'. I hardly think anyone would go as far as almost drowning themselves in an attempt to not look guilty. You don't know any of the players here so you'll just have to trust my judgement on this one."

Before Darek could make any kind of follow up response Jack moved the conversation on. Recalling the various checks the other man had recommended, the General gave his orders. "Do whatever you have to do to work out what happened here ... I want to know how these systems were tampered with and when ... and what skills someone would have needed. Let me know when you have something."

"Yes, Sir." Darek nodded curtly, indicating he had understood his orders, all of his orders. Whatever thoughts he had on the topic, they did not show on his face. And arguing the point here would mean beating a dead horse anyway. This conversation was over and he had his orders, so Darek turned to his task.

Jack stood for a moment ... realising for the first time how close to home the situation was, and how irritated it had him feeling. "My apologies Captain," he said in a more even tone. "This is ... this is my team ... regardless of how long it's been since I've been out in the field ...," he trailed off, hoping the other man would understand what he was trying to say. "I'll leave you to it," Jack finished, pausing another moment before turning and leaving the lab.

For a moment Darek's eyes widened in astonishment as his gaze followed the leaving figure of the General. The apology had found him totally surprised and puzzled him too. He didn't feel that the situation had warranted an apology, and he sure as hell had not expected to hear one. But it was the explanation, short as it had been, that really drove the message home. The General cared a damn lot what happened to his people, to his former teammates ... he trusted them, no matter what, and he sure as hell was loyal to them. It was the mark of a good comrade, or a good CO for that matter. Small wonder he hadn't liked hearing Darek suggest that Carter and Jackson might be suspect in any shape or form.

Shaking off his musings Darek's mind returned to the task at hand. They had to check how the sabotage on the moon pool had been done, he had to go through the data on the missing security feeds and to see if it had any correlating pattern with the sabotaged systems or areas of other suspicious activity. The computer systems themselves needed to be checked too and there was still the wide open analysis of what they were dealing with. Up till now the question of what the attackers actually wanted to achieve had not been asked aloud.

Wednesday, 1st April | 1600 hours | Hallway

A dark headed woman looked around the hall, watching for someone very close to her to arrive. When he walked towards her, she pulled him aside, hiding in the shadows.

"Colonel Carter suspects," a male voice said in a low, urgent tone. "She's been looking at me ... strangely."

She frowned, sighing. "Of course she suspects. You weren't supposed to go after Dr. Jackson yet. He's mine to deal with," a female voice scolded. Her eyes caught on another person entering the hallway as they stopped, knowing that she and her co-conspirator were most likely out of sight.

"It was a tossup who'd get to the underwater lab first," the man replied, his tone apologetic enough to imply the woman was the one in charge. "Fate decided it should be Doctor Jackson ... it looked bad but I invited them both so one would arrive to save the other. We don't want to kill anyone right? At least not quite yet."

She scowled at him. "You were reckless, showing up like that...," she told him then closed her eyes. "But what's done is done. We move forward now. You got the ship, right? Did anyone see you?"

"I don't think so," the man replied confidently. "General O'Neill landing the General Hammond like that was fortuitous for us - made getting on the ship much easier than it would have been if they'd still been in orbit."

She cocked her head at him. "Good job. I was concerned. Wouldn't want our work to get noticed at this stage in the game," her voice was full of smug optimism. "This plan is working much better that I expected. You do very good work, Jo-" she cut herself off, letting the first half of his name slip.

"I'm glad you approve," he replied, his tone pleased with an edge of something ... more. "It's set to go off between shifts. With any luck we should do a bit of damage without causing any serious injury. Do we need to do anything about O'Neill?"

"Not yet. Once we pick off his team, excepting Dr. Jackson, of course, we can go after him. I know he's fought for you several times. When we take him out, we need to keep that in mind," she hesitated for a brief moment. "Do me a favor, will you? I know I said he was off-limits, but do something about the lab. I don't want to hurt Dr. Jackson yet, but perhaps we can still disable him, make getting the information that we need a little simpler..." she said, smirking slightly.

"Alright," the man agreed. "I'll try to rig something up for after we blow the General Hammond .... I can make use of the confusion and distraction to get into that lab without anyone spotting me."

"Try to keep it pretty close together... I know it's a lot of hard work, doing this and keeping our normal, day to day habits, but maybe we'll get lucky and they'll both happen at once... confuse the issue even more," she suggested, warmly.

"I'll do as much pre-prep as I can," the man agreed, "try and set them off one after the other. They won't know what hit them!"

"Thank you, John. I do appreciate all the hard work you're doing for me," she appreciatively.

"You know I'd do anything to see you in your rightful place Eliz...," the man broke off abruptly, hearing footsteps coming their way. "I think someone's coming."

"We'd better go," she hissed, hurrying away and ducking into hiding. She smiled in satisfaction as the footsteps passed and hurried to Operations, pulling off a small device and heading back the other way.

He walked to three hallways over, then leaned against the wall and put a hand over his mouth. Trembling, he tried to come to terms with what he'd just heard. He'd seen the pair and had heard everything they said.

"Ach," he whispered, "má Bůh.... this....this cannot be happening...." He stopped and pressed his lips together, then straightened his shoulders. "The Colonel.... she needs to know..." His eyes closed. "Forgive me, kolega...."

Then Radek Zelenka was striding determinedly down the corridor, heading to catch Colonel Carter and inform her of what he saw and heard.

Wednesday 1st April | 1610 hours | Operations | Carter's Office and Special Investigations Lab

Radek went to Sam's office, muttering to himself the entire way. When he reached her office, he saw her talking to someone he could only see from behind. He nevertheless knocked sharply on her doorframe, announcing his arrival.

"Colonel? I must speak with you. It is a matter of some urgency."

Cam looked at the twitchy scientist and raised an eyebrow at Sam. They had been discussing the escalating incidents and what he'd found amongst his crew. They were all clean so far. Of course that all depended on what General O'Neill found out, but still, he was certain his people were clean.

"I can take off, if you want, Sam," he told her, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

Sam lifted surprised eyes to Dr. Zelenka. "This is in regards to the investigation?" At his somewhat anxious nod, she glanced at Cam. "We'll finish our discussion later. Right now I think Dr. Zelenka and I need to meet with General O'Neill." She looked at the scientist and smiled tiredly. "General O'Neill is now in charge of the investigation, any information you've received should be relayed to him." As she spoke, she rose from behind her desk. "I'll accompany you." Whether she remained or not would be Jack's decision.

Cam nodded at her. "Alright. I'll check back in with you in a few hours," he nodded to Zelenka and left the room.

When he was certain Cam was gone, Radek turned to Sam. "We must not be overheard," he said softly. Then he stepped closer, so he could speak clearly -- and told her everything he had overheard. Everything he had seen.

Then he stepped back and waited for her reply.

"Damn." It was out of her mouth before she could stop it. "That's really not what I wanted to hear, Doctor." The Colonel sighed. "There's nothing to be done for it now. We should report this to the General." Zelenka's report left a troubled line marring her brow as they left the office.

Carter walked with Zelenka, neither speaking in the corridors of the city as they made their way to the labs and offices setup for O'Neill and his team. When they arrived, Sam rang for entry.

Beside her, Radek vibrated like he was going to spontaneously combust if he had to wait much longer.

"Carter?" General O'Neill greeted Sam at the doorway with a hint of surprise, not liking the troubled look on her face one bit. A quick glance at the man standing beside her had Jack frowning even more. Doctor Radek Zelenka radiated nervous disquiet all too plainly - whatever the two were there for it was pretty clear some good news wasn't in Jack's immediate future.

"Come in ... see if you like what we've done with the place so far," he said casually, stepping back and motioning the pair forward.

Carter gave the room a cursory look. "You've done well. I take it you left it up to your team of course."

"Creative consultant," O'Neill quipped proudly, sighing when Carter barely acknowledged his joke. "Okay ... give it to me."

Sam looked at Zelenka for a moment before sighing. "Sir. I don't have good news. Dr. Zelenka overheard something that is... pretty incriminating. Doctor," she nodded for him to repeat what he'd told her for the General.

Radek repeated what he'd told Sam. Word for word, not embellishing. Not changing one iota, except for a turn of phrase here and there and some backtracking when he'd lost his English and had lapsed into Czech.

When he was finished, he fell silent and waited for the General's reply.

"Let me get this straight," Jack glanced around to confirm there was no-one nearby who shouldn't be there - restricted area notwithstanding. "You overheard Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Weir plotting another incident?" When Radek did nothing but nod dejectedly Jack frowned. That wasn't what he'd expected to hear, especially not so soon after he'd arrived in the city. Clearly those behind this were more sophisticated and well connected than he would have initially assumed.

"How closely did you see them?" O'Neill queried. "Are you certain it really was them?"

"General," Radek said with a sigh, "I don't want to believe it was them. I saw them down the hall, I heard their voices. I don't want to believe what I saw and what I heard -- but I can't deny the evidence of my eyes and my ears."

"I'll talk to Colonel Sheppard and Doctor Weir," Jack announced, his expression grim, "but for now we assume these threats are real and act accordingly. Carter, inform Colonel Mitchell of the situation on the Hammond ... get as many people as possible searching that ship asap," the General ordered decisively. "The rest is a little more problematic. The lab could mean any one of probably hundreds of possible targets. The fact that Daniel's name was mentioned in the same sentence could narrow it down to just the places he frequents. Carter - have someone sweep any lab Daniel has even a passing association with - if we don't find anything we can broaden the search."

"I'll get a team on it," Sam replied. "We'll need them to search Janus's lab, as well as Daniel's office, primary lab, and he spends a good deal of time in the library. It wouldn't hurt to have it searched as well once the other locations have been cleared."

"Do what you have to," Jack agreed. "Put anyone with any kind of background in explosives on alert," he continued. "The quicker we can find and defuse these bombs the better."

The Colonel nodded once. "I think Lieutenant Cadman would be our most likely candidate sir," she replied immediately. "Her background and training in weapons and explosives is extensive. I'll see to it that she's ready when the time comes." Though she knew that all of them were hoping that wouldn't be necessary.

"Keep the details at a minimum," O'Neill advised, making eye contact with Zelenka as he continued. "That goes for you too Doctor - I'm sure I don't have to remind you not to tell anyone else what you overheard. The last thing we need is more rumours fuelling what is already a pretty tense situation. Cadman can be fully briefed if it turns out we do require her services."

General O'Neill sat back as his visitors acknowledged his words before taking their leave. This was getting more and more worrying by the second ... and Jack hadn't missed the timing on the latest threat - mere hours after he'd arrived in the city. If it was a message the culprit was trying to send him, he'd received it loud and clear.

As she left the lab, Sam contacted Colonel Mitchell. "Cam, it's me. We need to finish that conversation," she kept it simple, but hoped the gravity in her tone would tell him how serious the situation had become.

Cam was in the mess hall, freshening up his mug of coffee. "I'm on my way, Sam." He told her, hurrying back to her office. He heard the tone in her voice and feared the worse. Obviously, the twitchy scientist's words were just as serious as he figured they were.

While she waited for Cameron to join her, Sam contacted Lieutenant Cadman on a secure radio frequency. She did not give her all of the details, but simply that the investigation had turned up cause to believe an incendiary device might be detonated aboard the Hammond or within one of the labs in the city. She instructed the Lieutenant to have her equipment ready to move out at a moment's notice, because if a bomb was found, it would be Laura's job to defuse it.

As she was finishing up with Cadman, Sam noticed Cameron approaching her door. Sam leaned back in her seat once the comm link was closed and sighed. "You're going to want to sit down for this one," she said gravely.

Cam took a seat, really not liking the look on her face. "What is it, Sam?"

"We think the next target is the Hammond," she said bluntly. "We have very good reason to believe that an explosive device of some kind has been rigged on board. We don't know where, and we don't know when it will be detonated. I don't have to tell you how quickly you need to find it." Sam shook her head. "We've got Cadman on standby, she'll go aboard the Hammond to defuse the bomb if or when it's found. General O'Neill would like the search done as quietly as possible," she told him, knowing she probably didn't need to specify that either. Being a possible target, Cameron would realise the seriousness of the situation.

Cam looked at her in shock, frowning. "I'll put together a search team immediately. We'll keep it small, two man teams and sweep the entire ship. Start with the vital systems before we start looking in the quarters," he outlined his plan and rose to his feet. "This is escalating pretty quick... I'm going to go take care of my ship, but Sam... Please. Be careful," Cam told her, the worry he felt for her showing in his eyes.

"I could say the same," she told him. "Don't take any chances Cam. If you find it, don't try to be a hero. Cadman is the expert." She knew him too well, and smiled slightly to soften the comment. "I'd be incredibly irate if you got hurt when I haven't got baking access."

Cam ducked his head and grinned at her. "You know me too well... I'll do my best, Sam. That's all I can promise," he told her, reaching out and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll be around. See you later," Cam said and left her office to go take care of his ship.

Sam watched him go, the concerned look remaining on her face until well after she'd been left alone. Her only hope would be that they could resolve this quickly, before anyone else was hurt or anything worse could take place.

Thursday 2nd April | 0900 hours | Special Investigations Lab interview room and medical bay

After the disturbing discussion he'd had with Carter and Doctor Zelenka late the previous day Jack had thought long and hard overnight on an appropriate course of action. He didn't want to believe what Zelenka had overheard any more than Sam or Radek did ... whatever the explanation the reason for that incident was apparent and Jack had resolved to act accordingly. Colonel Mitchell was leading the search on the Hammond but nothing suspicious had been found so far ... Jack was sure it was only a matter of time before that changed. The news on the labs was more favourable ... every lab Daniel had even set foot in had been checked thoroughly with nothing suspicious turning up ... the library had come back clean as well. Sam had a team discretely working their way systematically through all the other labs in Atlantis but it was going to take time to rule out the labs as a secondary target.

Before O'Neill could get into the nitty gritty of the investigation he needed help ... from the inside. It was time to start labelling the staff of Atlantis as either clean or continuing suspected ... unpleasant a prospect as that was turning out to be. O'Neill's first choice hadn't been difficult ... if he wanted help with an ‘in’ he needed someone high up the chain of command he could trust ... someone not directly connected to SG-1 but someone he knew. There was only one person who met those requirements.

"Major Lorne," Jack rose from his seat to greet his first interviewee, noting from the other man's expression that he was less than comfortable being the first cab off the ranks. The interview rooms adjoined the main lab which meant Jack could just call people down without having to worry about giving them access to the restricted areas Carter had provided for him.

"Sir," Lorne strode forward, standing to attention beside the vacant chair.

"Sit down," Jack waved a hand at the chair as he retook his own. "I understand from Colonel Carter's reports that you weren't present at any of the three incidents that appear to be directed at the members of SG-1."

"No Sir," Lorne said simply.

"Some might think that more than a little fortuitous," Jack commented. "Where were you during those times?"

"Ah," Lorne thought for a moment before answering. "The balcony thing was early morning ... I was either still in my quarters or in transit to the Mess Hall. The weekly check-in with the SGC is usually restricted to Colonel Carter plus anyone requiring direct communication ... the one where the screen collapsed coincided with a regular resupply mission to M7G-677. I tagged along because they were having a special celebration and their leader, Keras, wanted to discuss some additional requirements. And last Saturday night? I was at Thirty Nine ... team dinner minus Doctor Jackson who already had prior plans."

"How long were you on M7G-677?" Jack queried.

"It was an overnight mission Sir," Lorne revealed. "My team returned to Atlantis only a couple of hours after the incident in the Control Room."

Jack nodded thoughtfully. The Control Room was usually manned 24/7 but the night before the incident there had been a disturbance in the Gateroom that had drawn the technicians away from their stations for about twenty minutes. The damage done to see the screen collapse on schedule had to have been done during that time ... when Lorne and his team were off world. Maybe the Major was the mastermind working with someone who did his dirty work but Jack thought it unlikely ... his gut was telling him Major Lorne was clean.

"Permission to speak freely General?" Lorne broke into O’Neill’s thoughts abruptly.

"Speak away Major," Jack waved a hand expansively in invitation.

"I've heard the rumours Sir," Lorne said in a troubled tone, his expression turning earnest as he continued. "Regardless of how things appear I know Colonel Sheppard wouldn't be involved in anything so underhanded. It's just not his way ... it'd be so far out of character you'll struggle to find anyone who really believes he's behind any of this."

"Nice to see the rumour mill alive and kicking on Atlantis," Jack quipped, before turning seriously. "You were stationed at the SGC for long enough to know there are way too many disturbing situations under which Colonel Sheppard could be behind this. Until I can rule them out, no one is above suspicion."

"Even me Sir?" Lorne asked in all seriousness.

"Even you Major," Jack returned. "However ... the fact that you were off world at one of the crucial times makes you an unlikely suspect. Doctor Garman is waiting to conduct a thorough medical examination that should clear you of 99% of those disturbing scenarios. Assuming you check out okay I could use some help. You know these people - you've worked with them under some pretty stressful situations. I won't order you," Jack looked at Lorne directly as he made his request, "but I would appreciate if you assisted me with the investigation - gave me the benefit of your knowledge of Atlantis."

"I can do that Sir," Lorne replied with barely any hesitation. Some might see it as Evan choosing sides - going back to his roots at the SGC - but Lorne saw it differently. This was his chance to influence the General directly, to make sure everyone on Atlantis was represented accurately and fairly. He couldn't let his team, his CO's down by refusing to take that opportunity.

"Good man," Jack replied with a faint smile. Standing he waited until Lorne had stood too. "Go do the medical thing with Doctor Garman. I'll let you know what's next once we have your results."

"Yes Sir," Lorne replied, standing to attention before taking his leave after a nod from the General. "Great," Evan thought. "Just what I need ... a whole bunch of probably disturbing medical checks before I get labelled SGC mole ... this just keeps getting better and better." Shaking his head at the current state of affairs Lorne went to report to Doctor Garman as ordered.

oOo

Doctor Garman looked up as Major Lorne stepped into her corner of the lab. "Major." She rose and walked around the workstation. "I'm Doctor Garman. I'm going to be taking blood samples and running scans to make sure there aren't any external influences that could be coloring your actions. I promise, it's all very simple and part of the weeding out process. I'll try not to take up too much of your time." She waved a hand at the exam table. "If you'll just hop up, we'll get started."

"Yes Ma'am," Lorne replied respectfully as he went to stand next to the table she'd indicated, trying not to let his general reluctance show through. Putting his hands on the surface behind him he lifted himself up onto the exam table, letting his legs swing casually. "Do what you have to do to clear me Doctor Garman."

Madison walked over and picked up the notebook PC that his medical chart had been downloaded on to. She had given it a cursory review in preparation for the exam, but now that she had him there she went through it with him - verifying its accuracy.

Lorne listened to the highlights of his medical history, confirming that everything there was accurate to the best of his knowledge.

That was the first step of the examination. Next, Doctor Garman had Lorne lay back so the Ancient medical scanner could be used. The device had already been examined and checked out as being unaltered ... they could trust the data that came from it.

Lorne lay back and closed his eyes as the scanner moved over him, starting at his feet and slowly travelling up his body and then back down again.

The doctor was quiet as she went through the data and exam, keeping to her promise to not take up more of his time than necessary. Once the scans were complete and saved to her PC, Doctor Garman indicated for Lorne to sit up. "Now for the blood samples. Roll up your sleeve please," she asked, already laying out what she would need on a nearby tray table.

With a sigh Evan folded his shirt sleeve up and then held out his arm when requested. He'd never admit it under pain of death but needles had never been his thing and even after four years on Atlantis he still found himself wondering why the Ancients hadn't invented something less ... pointy for taking blood.

When his sleeve was raised, Madison took his arm, looking for a viable vein. It wasn't difficult to locate one, and she applied the rubber tourniquet before snapping on a pair of latex gloves and reaching for the vacutainer. Madison took his arm again and bent over. "You'll feel a little prick," she said softly, and carefully slid the needle into his skin.

Lorne resolutely kept himself from flinching when the needle went in, looking away as the Doctor drew what seemed like enough blood for a hundred tests.

Later, once Madison had filled the requisite three test tubes and labelled them, she pressed gauze to Lorne's arm and covered it with tape. "You're good to go Major. It will take me a few hours to analyse the samples, but you will be contacted as soon as we know something."

"Thanks Doctor ... I guess," Lorne replied, rolling his sleeve back down over the gauze and hopping quickly down from the table. "I hope those tests come back clean because finding out I've been Gou'alded would put a serious crimp in my social life."

Madison's lips curved. "Yes, I can see where that might be pretty inconvenient."

"Do you really think there could be something ... external behind all of this?" Lorne asked in all seriousness. Ordinarily he would have just nodded politely at that point and taken his leave but this wasn't the kind of situation he was comfortable being in. Doctor Garman was part of the investigative team ... Evan wasn't looking for reassurance and he wasn't really sure why he lingered to talk to the Doctor ... maybe it was as simple as trying to get a handle on how someone from outside Atlantis was seeing them.

"It's possible," the doctor told him. "We really don't know a whole lot of anything at this point. We just want to rule as much out as we can. The entire program has been plagued by individuals who've been influenced by some sort of outside alien presence to do things they wouldn't normally. In this case, there are any number of ways an outside influence could be wreaking havoc inside Atlantis. There are the replicators, the Wraith, the Goa'uld - even if their foothold in our own galaxy is very nearly non-existent now. Anyone being controlled, coerced into doing this is as much a victim as any of the targets. It's important that we find out if that's the case or not." She smiled at him. "Fortunately, finding out is very simple in this case. I'll run the blood work and review the scans more thoroughly. On the downside, if I don't find anything medically wrong with anyone, then the very sad truth is, someone is doing this intentionally and for no other reason than their own personal gain. Whatever that might mean for them."

If that turns out to be the case it won't be Colonel Sheppard or Doctor Weir," Lorne said with insistent confidence. "I'd hate to think anyone who's worked here and been through the kind of pressures we've been through even just in the last year could betray us like this ... and why they'd want to - what they could hope to gain from it - I just can't see it."

Shaking himself out of his reflective mood Evan realised he was probably holding the Doctor up from doing what she needed to clear him as a suspect.

"Ma,am," he nodded respectfully to Doctor Garman and then took his leave. He'd hate to admit that he was crossing mental fingers over his own test results even though he was as certain as he could be that there was no one else sitting in his driver’s seat.

Madison watched him go before securing the blood work. Then she took a glance at the General's tentative schedule for interviews. If it remained as it was, then Colonel Sheppard would be next. She moved around her work station and settled to get to work analysing the scans she'd taken. She wanted to get as much of this out of the way as possible before the Colonel arrived.

Thursday 2nd April | 1000 hours | Special Investigations Lab interview room

The first interview concluded, General O'Neill called Captain Sterling back into the room. Darek had been set up in an adjoining room with video and audio feed to act as observer for all the interviews.

"Any thoughts Captain?" Jack asked curiously.

"Sir, he is a 50-50 case, in my opinion,” Darek supplied his thoughts on the matter. “He was surprised to be a suspect, he did not realize that he actually was, prior to you stating it clearly, Sir. Someone who has something to hide, usually expects to be suspected and reacts on a stronger scale for that reason. That’s the point in favor of the Major. Against him is the fact that he is the logical candidate for you to place some trust in, Sir.” Darek kept what he said in very respectful tones. It was usually not the place of a Captain to have thoughts about whom a General trusted or not. But being asked for an analysis, Darek spoke his mind. “Combined with the fact that he was conveniently absent on all three incidents - absent in ways that can be easily checked and proven - and his obvious ‘innocent’ reaction to himself being a suspect… he could be an enemy as well as an ally. In that context his defence of Col. Sheppard becomes a two-edged sword too.”

"You're right that Major Lorne is an obvious choice to assist me," O'Neill agreed easily. "I've known the Major for more than six years Captain. Even though for the last four of those he's been stationed here as far as I'm concerned his loyalty is without question - his defence of Colonel Sheppard only highlights that. If Doctor Garman clears him of being under external influence I'm comfortable with trusting Lorne ... we'll have to draw conclusions based on what our gut tells us as much as on what we can prove."

“Of course, Sir.” Darek replied politely. There was not much more to say. Either the General was right, meaning he knew his people very well and thus knew whom he could trust, or it was a big blind spot that could be exploited by the saboteurs. Darek had high respect for the General’s decision to trust his people, and not to jump at shadows, yet he knew that this kind of trust could easily be used by conspirators to manoeuvre people into positions that made them equally guilty. For now he could only wait and keep his eyes open.

Seeing Darek returned to his observation post O'Neill reluctantly called his next subject down to the labs interview rooms. This was gonna be a tough one and at that point Jack wasn't sure how he was even going to approach it. Ad libbing had always worked for him in the past so he'd just have to take things as they came.

"Colonel Sheppard, please report to the special investigations lab," he ordered over the radio.

---1015 hrs ---

It only took a few minutes before the Colonel arrived. Jack looked up from his notes to see the other man standing uncertainly in the doorway.

"Sir? You wanted to see me?" John asked, his expression was tense and his eyes held a great deal of uncertainty. He looked behind him over his shoulder then licked his lips as he looked back, waiting for the other's confirmation.

"I did Colonel," Jack replied, waving the man inside. "Sit down."

"Yes, Sir," Sheppard acknowledged and hesitated a half second before stepping toward the chair in front of the desk. He sat down and shifted himself a couple of times, trying to get comfortable. When he finally stopped fidgeting and pulling at his slacks, his long legs always made the short chairs a bit uncomfortable, he took a deep breath and became almost stock still. The extreme differences of demeanour were quite overt and even John seemed to notice that he'd suddenly seemed to have frozen, so he tapped his hands lightly on the arms of the chairs as if a drummer testing a freshly stretched skin.

Then he stopped. He hated this... it was like being called to the principle's office, or Dad's den... being sent to detention... or the Antarctic...

Waiting while Colonel Sheppard got himself settled, Jack contemplated the man before him, looking for signs of anything ... worrying. Unfortunately they were there ... the nervous gestures, reluctance to enter the room, and obvious desire to be anywhere else almost shouting out 'guilty'. The question was ... guilty of what?

"Can you tell me where you were at 1600 hours yesterday?" Jack asked, deciding the upfront approach would work best.

Sheppard looked up from the floor and blinked at General O'Neill as he considered the question, then he answered plainly, "No, Sir."

"Do you want to rethink that answer?" Jack returned mildly, raising an eyebrow at the abrupt response. Did Sheppard mean he couldn't answer the question because he didn't know or just that he didn't want to admit to whatever it was he'd been doing at the time?

John blinked at the General, his expression slowly pinching as he realized 'no' was not what the officer wanted to hear. But he couldn't just say that he'd been looking for Dr. Weir to see if she wanted to go to dinner with him. After what Colonel Carter had said in her briefing, how could he add to that and drag Elizabeth into whatever this was?

"I mean... I was... umm, 1600 hours? Let's see..." he chewed on his bottom lip a bit and then offered a fumbling answer. "Oh, yes, right... I was, umm... I believe I was looking for Dr. Weir to ask her a question... but she wasn't in her office, so I left. Yes, that was just about 1600 hours. Yes." John finished, then added, "Sir."

"Geeze Sheppard," Jack exclaimed incredulously. "Could you possibly be any more unconvincing?" Slouching back in his chair Jack considered the other man's almost tortured expression before letting out a disgruntled sigh. "Fine ... what question was so important you had to walk all the way to Elizabeth's office rather than use the comm like any sane person would have?"

He hadn't thought of that. Crap! John swallowed thickly as if he had a wad of peanut butter stuck to the back of his tongue. His heart started beating faster and it showed itself outwardly as his respirations picked up their pace slightly. Why couldn't anyone understand that he ... just ...

John blinked at O'Neill trying to look not grief stricken but he wasn't that good at playing poker either. He swallowed again and let his eyes drop to the floor that spanned the small distance between his feet and the General's desk.

"I just..." he paused and then looked at Jack, "I just wanted to ask her if she wanted company for dinner ... and I didn't think it was anybody else's business ... Sir." He took a deep shaky breath and fought back a lot of emotions that really felt like erupting right then. He felt sad and angry and betrayed and lonely and angry and hurt and lonely. He stopped himself when he realized a particular echo in that thought. "I ... WE ... lost Elizabeth ... Dr. Weir ... nearly two years ago, Sir. I vowed to bring her back if she was still ... alive. She's home now. I missed her," he said with barely bit back anger. "Is that a court-martial offense, Sir?" he asked, feeling a lot more defensive than he probably would've two weeks ago. "She wasn't in her office, so I left."

"You went there to ask Doctor Weir out on a date?" Jack raised an eyebrow in surprise at that news. His mind raced with the possibilities suddenly generated by the knowledge that Colonel Sheppard was ... whatever the term was for the man's feelings ... for Elizabeth Weir. Suspicious behaviour that made sense in the context of trying to keep his private life out of the hands of the rumour mill ... to explore something new without an audience watching his every move. Of course none of that explained the scene Zelenka had witnessed but Jack's instincts were telling him John Sheppard wasn't involved.

"No, Sir! It wasn't a date, Sir!" Sheppard countered quickly and with perhaps a tad too much contesting of the term. "It was just... dinner. Ya' know... dinner... and an offer of company. Something a bit more engaging than a wall to look at while she ate... that sort of thing. NotthatIthinkI'mmoreengagingoranything..." he added quickly. God, he felt like he was sitting there naked.

"Sounds like a date to me son," Jack returned, amused more than anything by the other man's overly exuberant protests, "but maybe they're calling it something different these days." He held in a smirk with difficulty as the Colonel visibly squirmed in an effort to refrain from protesting again.

O'Neill had always liked the younger man, had made no secret of his support or approval of the Colonel's prior actions - even the bordering on insubordination ones. None of that mattered now ... in order to catch a master manipulator one had to be equally adept at manipulation. In this case Jack had to appear to be travelling in the direction the perpetrator was so carefully leading him. He would have liked to let Sheppard off the hook - tell him his private life was of no consequence - but for now he'd have to convince the other man of the opposite. Jack had been in the position of having to mislead people he respected and trusted in the past and he liked it no more now than he had back then. Eyeing John with a deliberately bland expression Jack let him stew on his admissions for a few moments before continuing.

"So you were on your way to offer Doctor Weir some dinner company," General O'Neill summaried. "Did anyone see you during this walk from wherever you were to Weir's office?"

"No, Sir," Sheppard answered and then realized he really wouldn't know since he wasn't paying that much attention. Oh, who was he kidding? He was looking over his shoulder every step of the way, overly worried about letting the rumor mill start grinding over his around the clock tracking of 'Lizabeth's whereabouts. The middle of the night excursions from his quarters to hers to share a cup of coffee and catch her up on events she'd missed out on.

Then he remembered there was someone who'd seen him there, outside her office. "Dr. Jackson did see me, Sir. And I think he saw me leave, but I can't be sure."

"I'll check that with him when I speak to him later," Jack returned, still eyeing Colonel Sheppard with a bland expression. "Your name has also been linked to the first incident," O'Neill shifted topic with deliberate abruptness. "Records on access of that section and the balcony in particular place you there on a semi regular basis. Why?"

John looked up at the general again and suddenly a flash of an image from his past blinded him. He blinked to erase the image and glanced around the room. Sheppard's expression shifted slowly but obviously as his training took over. He'd tried to come in there without taking that stance under the circumstances but he'd just allowed himself to tell the one person whom he'd never wanted to be aware of his feelings for Elizabeth and O'Neill had just given him that 'holy crap' look when he put two and two together.

Col. Sheppard chose, instead, to keep to the task and try to veer focus away from Dr. Weir and his friendship with her. He met Jack's gaze with a steeled darkness settling in his grey eyes. "What?" John started, pulling a face at that accusation. "My name has been linked to the first incident? Which first incident would that be, General? The first incident of this expedition nearly drowning only hours after setting foot in the city? Or the first incident of waking the Wraith? Or are we talking again about my atrocious behavior of having shot and killed my first commanding military officer the very day we set foot here?

"Because these things happen routinely, Sir. Almost as if they are cyclical. They come in threes and fours and then they stop for weeks or months before beginning again. Or are we talking about only these past two or three days, Sir? The balcony in question is along the route I run every morning and sometimes at night when I can't sleep. So maybe I chose to access it to catch a breath of fresh air ... I don't remember. I didn't know at the time that it'd matter. Sir."

O'Neill listened dispassionately as Sheppard expunged a host of obviously torturous memories ... things he clearly felt personally responsible for despite being cleared of any wrong doing. Jack understood that ... hell, he could go twenty rounds with Sheppard on who had the blackest torments buried deep inside and not even get to his time at the SGC. But this wasn't about him ... it was about John Sheppard as the prime suspect in a series of steadily worsening sabotage attacks. As the other man wound down, covering his use of the balcony much as Jack had expected, O'Neill let nothing in his thoughts show.

"Well it matters now," Jack returned sharply when John finally paused. "You need to take this very seriously Colonel because from where I'm sitting right now you're on the road to being my only suspect." Jack briefly considered revealing the conversation Zelenka had overheard but decided to hold that in reserve for the next time he spoke to John ... because there would have to be a next time ... maybe more than one of them.

John's mind reeled at that comment. How in the world did his personal interest in his former boss lead to him being a prime suspect in a sabotage plan that put the city's inhabitants and guests in jeopardy?

His anger barely tamped down, Sheppard stared at General O'Neill, keeping his fingers threaded in front of him. He was clenching his teeth now though and his adrenaline was pushing, causing his heart to pound and he could feel a light sweat building around his collar. "I'm military commander of this expedition, General. I have the right to go wherever I want, whenever I want," he reminded the other man. It was a simple statement, meant only to remind the higher ranked officer that he held a degree of respect and faith from those who have lived there the past five years.

"I'm aware of that Colonel," Jack replied. "What you don't have the right to do is hinder my investigation with your personal concerns ... now while I might understand your desire to protect the people you care about you need to understand that I'm here in part with the very same motive." Jack left it there, sure the other man was smart enough to work out which way it would go if their individual loyalties ever clashed.

John thought about that statement and then nodded, lowering his eyes again. "Yes, sir. I'm not trying to hinder your investigation, Sir," Sheppard told him and then rubbed his fingers harshly across his forehead a few times.

"I will have more questions for you Colonel Sheppard," Jack almost grinned at the obvious expression of distaste that statement provoked. "For now report to Doctor Garman for a complete medical examination - she's got her own med bay set up next door."

"Medical exam??" John's eyes snapped up and he actually looked horrified at the thought. "What for?"

"Relax Colonel," Jack frowned at the other man's reaction ... surely Sheppard had spent enough time in the infirmary to develop a thicker skin that his expression suggested. "Let's rule out any external forces that might be at play here before we revisit what's occurred in this city since Doctor Weir returned."

"Elizabeth has nothing to do with whatever is going on in this city, Sir," Sheppard tried again, his tone almost forceful as he slid forward in his seat and stared at Jack.

"I never said she did," O'Neill pointed out gently. "If nothing else I'm more than aware of where your ... interests lie Colonel. We'll talk again soon ... after we get your test results back."

"Yes, Sir," Sheppard replied and stood up stiffly, as if his entire body was reluctant to go to Doctor Garman's medical bay. All John could think of was 'what if he was infected with nanites?' and that thought terrified him. He'd seen what they'd done to Elizabeth ...

Or what if there was a Goa'uld in him like there had been inside Caldwell? Oh, man ... was that what the SGC was expecting to find inside one of his people? He turned away from his chair and walked slowly toward the door before turning back to look at General O'Neill. With a final nod of assention he turned back to the doors and they slid open to allow him to leave.

He stepped out into the corridor and waited for the door to close behind him. John looked at his watch to see it was 1038 and he hadn't had breakfast this morning. The way he felt right now he wasn't sure he'd make it through the exam up to par so he decided to not go next door right this moment. General O'Neill didn't actually say he had an appointment, so he'd pop by later... maybe.

John turned left instead of right and moved quickly down the corridor to hop into the transporter. A second of bright light and the doors opened again on the level where Elizabeth's office was located. He moved down the hall to her door and swiped his hand over the controller. He waited. Again he chimed to no answer. He glanced at Jackson's door a few yards down the way and chose instead to look for McKay. He was always in the mood to eat.

Sheppard tapped his ear. "Sheppard to McKay. Rodney you on radio?" he asked. He waited a few seconds and tried again. When he received no answer again he frowned and redirected his attention. "Sheppard to Control Room. Can you give me the location of Dr. McKay?"

"Dr. McKay is presently in Janus' Lab, Colonel," replied Chuck.

"Thanks," he said and jogged back to the transporter, coming out a moment later in the sub-levels to the secret lab Rodney and Daniel shared.

Thursday 2nd April | 1130 hours | USS Hammond

Cam looked over the engine room, looking at each module. They'd checked all the key areas the day before but when the overnight search of the rest of the ship had failed to turn up anything, had started at the beginning, rechecking the crucial components again.

Cam glanced across at Major David who was bent over another console. "You ever worked on an engine before? Like a car engine?"

"No, Sir. Not my thing." she answered before going to the next one.

"That's a shame. Relaxing, makes you feel a sense of accomplishment once you've finished ... You find anything?" Cam asked her.

"I haven't yet, Sir. Do you -," she stopped as he held up a hand.

"I found it. Or at least something that appears to be a bomb. Get me on the intercom, ship wide, Major and sound the alarm," he said as he started slowly taking the area apart so he could get to the bomb. She nodded and all of a sudden alarm klaxons sounded within the ship.

"Attention, all hands. This is Colonel Cameron Mitchell. Evacuate the ship immediately. This is an order. I repeat, evacuate the ship."

He started looking at it and it's count down, both in Ancient and numbers, feeling a slight sickness to his stomach. "David. Is there anyone on board that would know how to defuse a bomb?"

"I- I don't believe so, Sir."

"Ok. Report immediately to General O'Neill - they'll send their bomb expert. I'm going to try and at least see what this is."

"Sir -," she said then stopped. "Yes, Sir." With that, David left the room, hurrying to do as ordered.

Cam looked at the device and scoffed at it. "Well, well,... you certainly look like a piece of work," he said, eerily reminded of the Replicators he had seen. "Let's see what you're attached too," Cam said, talking to it. As he put his hand near it, it quickly jutted out blades, slicing across Cam's palms. He swore loudly, pulling his hands back.

"Nrgh ... Son of a bitch ..." Cam said as he bled from his palms, putting his hands on his shirt to put pressure on the wounds, hoping that someone hurried.

oOo

"General O'Neill ... there's a message coming through from the General Hammond," Jack snapped to alertness at that announcement from the Control Room.

"Patch it through," he ordered.

"This is Major David Sir," a female voice spoke a moment later. "Colonel Mitchell requested I inform you that the item we were looking for has been found and asked for you to send your expert. Personnel are currently leaving the ship with all haste Sir."

"Thank you Major," Jack stood up abruptly, motioning for both members of his team to accompany him. Darek might be able to provide assistance to those trying to defuse the bomb and Doctor Garman would be on hand ... just in case.

Tapping his comm General O'Neill spoke as he exited the special investigations lab, heading for the pier where the Hammond was docked. "Colonel Carter, have your expert report to the Hammond immediately." Knowing Sam would understand the current situation on that alone he added nothing further. Picking up the pace Jack led his team towards the danger, hoping there'd be time for someone to put a stop to this incident before someone got hurt.

"Yes Sir." Sam rose and was leaving her office as she replied. She looked down at Chuck, sitting at his console. "Put me through to Lt. Cadman." She waited for Chuck to do so and spoke quickly. "Lieutenant, you've been given a go. Report to the Hammond at once."

oOo

When Lieutenant Cadman had gotten the call late the previous day to get her gear ready and be on alert for a bomb threat she'd been more than a little incredulous. Sure, she'd been the one to discover the balcony had been messed with and not in a good way. And she'd heard the rumours about sabotage, the most unbelievable one of all being that Colonel Sheppard himself was out to get the ex members of SG-1. But until that point Laura hadn't really appreciated just how serious things could get.

She'd spent the morning catching up on paper work in order to be close on hand should the threat prove to be real. When the call from Colonel Carter came through Cadman was all purpose, grabbing the handle of the large suitcase like equipment case set on wheels and running for the door as she made her reply.

"I'll be there inside of five minutes Ma'am," she promised.

Running down the corridor, Laura dodged people with a shouted apology. Four minutes later she burst out of a transporter leading to the pier and ran the remaining distance to the Hammond itself.

"Sir, Ma'am," she greeted General O'Neill and Colonel Carter breathlessly, nodding to Major David whom she knew from her time on the Daedalus. The other two people with General O'Neill weren't known to Laura so she smiled a quick acknowledgment before focusing on the General.

"Lieutenant Cadman," General O'Neill greeted her cordially. "Colonel Mitchell is waiting for you inside ... Major David will show you the way."

"Yes Sir," Cadman replied confidently, turning to follow the other woman.

"No risks Lieutenant," General O'Neill said in a firm tone.

"Sir?" Cadman glanced back expectantly.

"We want that bomb disarmed," O'Neill explained, "but if there's any doubt that you can do it in time you get yourself and Colonel Mitchell clear. The ship has been evacuated so it'll be just the two of you in there. Doctor Garman here is on site to assist in a medical capacity but let's not give her the need."

"Yes Sir," Cadman straightened and all but saluted O'Neill before turning and following Major David inside the ship.

Major David was silent as she led Laura down the deserted corridors to the engine room where Colonel Mitchell was still examining the explosive device.

"Colonel," David announced their arrival as they walked through the door.

Cam turned to look at them, pulling his hands off his shirt with a sticky yank. "Major, Lieutenant," he greeted with a nod.

"Sir," Laura greeted Mitchell, stopping a safe distance from where the man was currently crouching. Her attention was more on the mess of engine and wiring behind him than on the man himself ... that is until she noticed the bloody handprints on the Colonel's shirt. "Are you okay Sir?" she asked in concern.

"Oh yeah, peachy keen," he told her, showing off his hands and the deep slashes within the palms. "It's got some sort of defensive ... thing to it. I tried to touch it and it shot out sharp blades. Be careful, Cadman. Thanks, David. Get yourself out of here, alright?" he told his XO. The Major frowned heavily at them both and turned, hurrying away as ordered. "It appears to have Ancient designs to it. Plus the defence system ... it sorta morphed out of the thing. Kinda like a Replicator," he said, fighting the pain from his hands.

"You touched the bomb?" Cadman reacted instinctively, her professional side rearing up as the possible implications occurred to her. Realising she was still talking to a superior officer Laura added a hasty "Sir?" before Mitchell could reply.

Cam's eyes widened. "No! No. Not like that! I was reaching towards it, yes. But I didn't touch it. C'mon! Give me a little credit here. I know the proper procedure, but I was trying to check it out, see if I could do anything and if it was real," he said, making a face. "Whoever's behind this could've planted a dud," Cam continued.

"It's always a possibility," Cadman agreed more calmly. "Since we have no idea on the destructive capability of this device I need you to step back from the bomb now Sir."

Expecting her request to be followed without question Laura turned to assess the gear she'd brought with her. Being fully qualified for IEOD - improvised explosive ordinance disposal – was an advantage but they’d never covered Replicator enhanced bombs in any course she’d attended ... and she'd gone to more than her fair share to earn the tag of explosives 'expert'.

Ordinarily Cadman wouldn't even be standing in the same room with an unknown explosive device. Most render-safe techniques involved the deployment of remotely controlled vehicles called wheelbarrows. They'd have cameras and microphones as well as sensors that could pick up biological and chemical threats along with hand like implements for directly accessing bomb components. Sadly Laura didn't have an IEOD wheelbarrow sitting on hand for just such an occasion so she'd have to rely on more hands on techniques to work out what they were dealing with.

Opening the large equipment case she'd dragged in Laura ripped out her specialized protective suit. It was made from flame and fragmentation-resistant material and designed to give the wearer a better chance of surviving a close range explosion. This one had been tailored for her small frame and fit perfectly such that it wouldn't hinder her movements during delicate operations.

Glancing to where Colonel Mitchell was watching her actions with interest Cadman hesitated before deciding how to put what she wanted to say next.

"Sir, it's probably best if you join the others outside the ship now," she said briskly. "Normal procedure dictates that only qualified and suitably protected personal be in close proximity to an explosive device."

Cam had stepped back as asked, watching her. As she bade him to leave, he frowned and shook his head. "You're not doing this solo," he told her, being stubborn.

"Ordinarily neither of us would be here Sir," Cadman explained earnestly. "Since we don't have access to remote render-safe capability it's only logical that we minimise the risk by having only necessary personnel present. I'm sorry Sir but that doesn't include you ... and besides, it's not safe for you to be here unprotected - especially not with those injured hands."

Cam made a noise, gesturing with his head so he didn't mess up his hands again. "No arguments, Lieutenant. I'm fine. Besides, you have a backup suit. I can be your wingman on this one. It'll hurt, but I can still move my fingers and my hands," he told her, determined and starting to get a little ticked off.

Cadman glanced impatiently at her equipment case, frowning at the spare suit sleeve hanging over the edge. Realising she'd get nowhere arguing with a superior officer she nodded. "As you wish Sir." Reaching for her first aid kit Laura held it up expectantly.

"At least let me bandage those hands before you put on the suit Sir," she said, adding with a smirk "I'm sure you'd rather not pay the dry cleaning bill on what is a very expensive item."

Cam snorted and grinned at her. "Sounds like a plan. I'm guessing that we're not completely in any imminent danger, then?" he asked, letting her bandage him up and helping him get the suit on. "You're the boss here, Lieutenant. Tell me what you need me to do," he told her, looking into her eyes, unwilling to leave a man behind.

"First up Sir we need to get a look at the inside of that device ... without touching it," Cadman explained. Releasing the side snaps on the front of her equipment case Laura pulled away the covering to reveal the tools of her trade. "This is a portable high performance sensor," she explained as she selected what looked like a large torch because it had a handle and one end was clearly designed to be pointed at something. Connecting the leads to a portable monitor Laura adjusted the settings for an initial scan. "I should be able to get some relatively accurate images ... enough to hopefully determine what sort of anti-handling device has been employed."

Cam nodded, watching her work and waiting for her to direct him.

Approaching the bomb site cautiously Cadman knelt on the floor, placing the scanning monitor close by so she could see the results. Laura carefully ran the sensor over the affected section, watching as images that looked like schematic photo negatives cycled across the screen. Making adjustments to the scan settings Laura made a second pass, getting higher resolution close ups of what she considered the key components. She registered in the background that General O'Neill had called for a progress report to which Colonel Mitchell had made some reply but mostly her focus was on making sure she went as deep with the scans as needed to fully define the bomb.

"Whoever set this up isn't a first timer Sir," Cadman finally offered as she switched off the scanning equipment and rose to her feet. "The bomb itself is a complex mix of Ancient, Earth and Replicator components ... it's really very clever Sir."

Cam frowned. "Glad to hear that. Can you defuse it?" he asked wryly, slightly amused by her excitement. "So the replicator bits... that would be the defensive systems, then?"

"Well ... we've got your classic fuse connected to a high explosive - in this case it looks like Composition B," Cadman explained as she brought up the relevant scans she'd taken and zoomed in.

Looking up to see Colonel Mitchell's less than enlightened expression Laura realised abruptly that she needed to flesh out the details a bit more. "Ah ... Composition B Sir - it's a mix of TNT and RDX - explosive nitroamine and widely used in military applications. Because it’s a high explosive - low sensitivity but high energy - the detonator alone won't deliver sufficient shock to ignite it. That's where the explosive booster comes in."

Laura pointed to a small metal cylindrical object highlighted on her scan. "This pellet is probably pure RDX - the detonator is connected directly to that so that when its detonated it'll upgrade the energy released ... enough to ensure the main charge will detonate. This is all standard Earth based explosive tech ... if this was all we were dealing with Sir then I could disarm the bomb by removing the detonator or bypassing the booster."

"But...." he drawled out, catching the but in her explanation.

"It's well hidden but ... sitting underneath the main bomb components is what I think may be a secondary detonation system Sir," Cadman revealed, again using her scan diagram to aid in her explanation. "It looks Ancient Sir and without knowing what it does I can't risk disarming the Earth components."

Cameron looked at her and nodded, looking distinctly unhappy. "What are our options, Cadman?"

"There's a chance we can take it out of the equation altogether Sir," Laura returned, her expression calculating. "It's Ancient tech ... if we can get someone strong enough with the ATA gene in here they might be able to deactivate it. Wouldn't even need to touch it. As far as I'm aware Sir Colonel Sheppard is the strongest ATA gene operator on base."

Cam nodded, getting on the com. "Sheppard, this is Mitchell, do you read?" he said, waiting. Minutes passed as Cadman looked at the pictures. "He's not answering," Cam told her. "Who else is strong ... Lorne?" With her nod, he got on the com again. "Lorne, this is Mitchell, do you read me?"

"Yes Sir," Major Lorne looked up from the report he was reading as the call through.

"This is Colonel Mitchell. I need you to report to the Hammond immediately. We're having a problem with an explosive device and could use your assistance, Major."

"Tell him to put some protective gear on first Sir," Laura called out before Colonel Mitchell could close out communication with the Major.

Cam looked at the Lieutenant and nodded. "Major, make absolutely sure you get your protective gear on," he said. "And hurry," Cam told him.

"Acknowledged Sir," Lorne was already heading for the door, taking the shortest route to the armoury where he acquired a basic protective suit and quickly pulled in on over his uniform. Movement wasn't restricted overly but Evan had the sense that everything was a little muffled ... he passed a few people in the corridors on his way down to the Hammond but only picked up a word here and there as they checked out his unusual attire.

As he moved with all possible haste Lorne's thoughts were swirling inside his head like a swarm of angry bees. Explosive device. Sabotage. Suspicion against the city leaders. And now a bomb for God's sake! "Focus," he thought to himself sternly. "Just wait and see ... maybe it won't be as bad as you're thinking."

A few minutes later Lorne arrived outside the Hammond where General O'Neill's special team waited with an officer from the ship.

"This way," Major David once again played guide, getting Lorne to Cadman and Mitchell and then returning to relative safety outside the ship.

"Sir," Major Lorne greeted the Colonel first before turning to Cadman. "This better be good Lieutenant - the suit drew a lot of attention."

"There's an Ancient component attached to the bomb Sir," Laura explained. "It seems to be self contained except for its connection to the explosive booster. I was hoping you'd be able to deactivate it ... you know," and Cadman waved a hand vaguely in the air.

"You want me to use the gene to shut it off?" Lorne frowned as he considered the possibilities. It was true that many of the systems on Atlantis could be switched off and on with just a thought alone - for those with the ATA gene - but Evan wasn't sure that would apply to Ancient bomb tech. "Wouldn't the person who built this thing have anticipated we could do that and ... stop us from doing that?"

"Not necessarily Sir," Cadman explained. "It depends on how much they know about ATA gene usage ... given we haven't experimented with that much ourselves they may not realise a person wouldn't have to touch the bomb to switch that part off. That might even be why they put anti-tampering component into the design as well as a backup detonator."

"Fair enough," Lorne acknowledged. Looking at Colonel Mitchell he felt compelled to point out something the other man probably already knew. "Colonel Sheppard would have been a better choice for this."

Cam gave him a wry look. "We know. I tried to raise him over the radio and got absolutely nothing. He's not answering his com," he said, clearly not pleased.

Lorne tried not to give a visible reaction to that ... Colonel Sheppard was never off comm and anything to do with using his ATA 'powers' would normally have him turning up almost before he was called. Was the man trying to make himself look guilty?!

"If you can't deactivate the Ancient elements of that bomb I can't disarm it Sir," Cadman stated the obvious with deadly seriousness.

"I get that Lieutenant," Lorne approached the site cautiously ... and reluctantly. "No pressure right?" Standing in front of the bomb Lorne considered how best to approach what had to be done. Glancing back at Cadman he felt the need to check something before proceeding. "What are the chances my tampering with this sets off the bomb? 'Cause I have to tell you getting blown up is not on my to do list for today."

"Nor mine Sir," Cadman replied. "There is a very slight chance deactivating the Ancient component has a negative effect if you do it wrong ... more than likely it would set off a countdown for lighting up the main fuse. We'd have time to get clear Major."

"All right ... I guess I should ...," Lorne trailed off, turning back to the bomb. Closing his eyes to shut out anything that could distract him he thought Off at the device - punching it sharp and focussed. Waiting a few moments during which he used the ATA part of himself to tune into anything Ancient in the vicinity he finally felt satisfied that he'd done all he could. Turning to look at Cadman he said hopefully "Well?"

"Very nice Sir," Cadman's tone was relieved and impressed as she checked her equipment and the latest scan picture. "The Ancient component is no longer linked into the booster. I should be able to render the bomb safe by removing the fuse. You don't need to stick around for the rest of this Sir ... it could take a while."

"I think I'll stay just the same Lieutenant," Lorne replied. "You might need my gene again and I'd hate to do another run through the city dressed like this. If it's all right with you Sir?" Evan looked at Colonel Mitchell hopefully.

"Perfectly fine with me, Major. We've still got the Replicator defences to deal with... Might be able to use you for that, Lorne," he told him. "Take as long as needed, Cadman. I'd like my ship to be in the condition they gave her to me in. Not the itty bitty pieces our bomber would like."

"Thank you Sir," Lorne stepped back to give Cadman the room she needed to do her work. As the two men watched, Laura laid out tools and then carefully began the process of getting to the fuse so that she could disconnect it.

"If I come at this from the side Sir," Cadman explained to Colonel Mitchell as she took the adjoining panel off the wall and set it aside, "I should be able to avoid those Replicator defences you so cleverly discovered."

"I wouldn't go so far as clever, Lieutenant," Cam said dryly, his hands starting to scream for attention.

"Sorry Sir," Cadman replied, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

"You mentioned Replicator defences too Sir," Lorne said in surprise. "This thing has Ancient and Replicator parts? How the hell could anyone in the city get access to all of that?"

Cam frowned heavily. "I don't know. The only people stationed here who have had anything to do with the Replicators are Dr. Weir, Sheppard, his team and Dr. Beckett. Plus didn't McKay create a replicator not too long ago? Fran, I believe?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He did," Lorne admitted. "There's a lab here in the city designed just for that purpose ... which means anyone who can hack a security lock out could have created some Replicator cells themselves."

Cam smirked, chuckling once. "Nice save, Major," he said.

"Just stating the facts Sir," Lorne replied casually. Sure, he wanted to discount any suggestions that any of the people he'd served with for more than four years were behind this ... but he'd do it with the truth because that's all he'd need ... wasn't it?

"I don't suppose you have an ARG on board Sir?" Laura looked up at Colonel Mitchell hopefully. "If this doesn't go well and the Replicator components decide to ... I don't know - take over the ship or something, I'd feel happier knowing we can stop them quickly."

"We might, but I don't know if it'll be effective. When the IOA's little playmate was on board the Odyssey, they took that function out. Plus, it's been used one too many times against the Replicators' in this galaxy. It's probably immune to it. But it's worth a shot. Lorne. There's a weapons depot about five yards away. You should see the door," he told him. "Go get the ARG."

"Yes Sir," Lorne strode quickly in the direction indicated, found the weapons locker and grabbed the ARG. As he made his way back to Mitchell and Cadman a thought occured to him. Depending on the outcome from Laura's work to disarm the bomb Evan might actually have a clue to report to General O'Neill.

"Ready Sir, Lieutenant," Lorne announced as he walked back into the engine room, taking up a ready to fire position covering Cadman's location.

"We'll have to let the General know about this new update. Take care of it while I report," he said, giving them a nod to continue.

Cadman looked to Colonel Mitchell and got the nod to proceed. "Here goes," she said softly as she reached slowly into the wall cavity towards the detonator. Things went well as first ... in fact Laura had managed to detach the detonator completely and was actually pulling it from the wall when things went wrong. She saw as well as heard the ominous sounds of movement inside the wall and didn't hesitate. "Hit it Major!" Laura yelled, ripping her hand still clutching the detonator from the cavity with all possible speed. She fell back, ending up sitting on the floor and then scrambled on hands and heels away from the danger zone.

Lorne reacted, firing the ARG twice in rapid succession covering the bomb and surrounding areas.

The ARG wave appeared to have no effect.

Sharp metal bladed spikes burst from the wall much as they must have when Colonel Mitchell had first tried to touch the bomb. As one all three present froze for a few seconds ... waiting and wondering if Replicators were about to burst from the walls. But nothing further happened. The spikes retracted again and all was quiet and still.

Cadman grabbed her portable scanning unit and approached cautiously, stopping when she was in range and running the device over the bomb.

"I don't believe it!" Laura exclaimed, turning to Mitchell and Lorne with an incredulous smile. "Our bomb designer was very clever Sir," she told the Colonel. "I'm not sure whether that's reassuring or cause for further concern but they were smart enough to limit the capabilities of their anti-tamper Replicators. I don't think they're capable of much more than what we've seen ... my hand must have brushed the edges of their detection range, sending them into defence mode with those spikes. Once the zone is clear they retreat, ready for the next attempt ... a simple but very effective deterrent."

Cam held up his hands. "I'll say. The Doctor is going to have a fit," he confided. "So ... You got it, Lieutenant? Nothing else is going to happen?"

"I can't say for sure Sir," Cadman admitted reluctantly. "This bomb has been surprise on top of surprise."

"Did you disarm the bomb Lieutenant?" Major Lorne asked impatiently, looking pointedly at the object she'd torn from inside the wall and then discarded.

"Yes Sir," Laura said matter-of-factly. "The main charge can't be detonated but we still have to -,"

The sound of an alarm ringing throughout the ship interrupted her before she could finish.

"Oh what now?!" Lorne asked in exasperation.

Cam inhaled sharply. "It's coming from the bridge. It sounds like ... it's the fire alarm," he said slowly, trying to piece it all together. "What in the hell could be on fire in the -" he stopped as the ship shook slightly. "Oh shit. Do you think it could be another bomb?"

General O'Neill's voice urgently requesting an update startled them all.

"We're all fine here, Sir," Mitchell responded quickly. "It was from the bridge. We're in the engine rooms. No one was caught in the explosion and we were able to get the other one deactivated."

"Damn it!" The sudden, uncharacteristic curse from Cadman had both men looking her way in surprise. "Sorry Sir ... I should have expected this! Somehow our clever little bomber rigged a back up explosion ... maybe it was the Ancient component deactivating, maybe using the ARG. I don't know ... just that the bomber made sure they'd get an explosion out of their handiwork."

"The ship still seems to be in one piece Lieutenant," Lorne pointed out, "relatively speaking. I'm guessing the same wouldn't have been true if the main bomb had gone off."

"Maybe not Sir," Cadman allowed, turning to look at the Hammond's commander. "I'm really sorry Colonel Mitchell."

"Don't say sorry," he said, looking rather pissed. "It's our mad bomber, not you, Lieutenant," Cam told her as he frowned heavily. "I'm going," he said and took off running towards the bridge, hurrying across the ship.

"Stay here!" Lorne ordered Cadman before running after the Colonel.

Laura thought about protesting but the Major was gone too quickly. Settling back with her scans and the bomb that hadn't gone off, Cadman got down to work. They might have got a secondary explosive past her but she was determined to find the clues that would help bring the culprit down ... whoever they turned out to be.

As he got closer to the bridge, Mitchell could see smoke coming from the forward section. He pushed the broken doors open to reveal a scorched area where his chair had been sitting. As Cam's eyes searched the area to see if anything else was hurt or burning, there was a loud thump upon the roof.

He looked towards the ceiling and noticed a rather sizable hole in the ceiling with scorch marks surrounding it as well. Someone just blew up his chair and his roof! Cam started swearing, loudly.

"Sir?" Lorne stepped onto the damaged command centre carefully, assessing the destruction. "Isn't that where you usually sit?" he gestured to the blown up chair with a frown.

Cam looked at Lorne, his eyes blazing. "Why yes. Yes it is, Major. It's a message. This son of a bitch wants me dead," he said darkly, wondering just how the hell he or she blew a hole in the damn roof. Had to be a third charge or something ...

"Or maybe they just want you to know that they could have taken you out," Lorne suggested. When Mitchell frowned at his comment, Evan shrugged. "It just strikes me as odd that none of the intended targets have been eliminated Sir ... no offence. Either this person is very incompetent which seems unlikely in light of how clever that bomb was, or ... they never intended to actually hurt anyone. They just want us to think they did."

"Exactly. It's a message, like I said. Just because they didn't do it this time, doesn't mean the next time will fail. Scare tactics," he said shortly, his temper still blazing.

"Colonel Mitchell," General O'Neill's voice interrupted further conversation. "If you have the situation under control in there, we have another ... incident ongoing. Proceed to my position asap ... bring Lorne."

"Yessir," Cam told him. "We'll be there momentarily," he said and started stripping off the protective suit as they hurried towards the door.

Major Lorne followed the Colonel's example, feeling uncoordinated as he took off his own suit while trying to hurry through the ship. Another incident? At the same time as the one they'd mostly just adverted? Had the bomb been a distraction for something more sinister? Or was it the other way around? Were they being lured from the ship when danger still existed?

"Cadman, this is Lorne," Evan contacted Laura when they were still a few metres away from the ships exit.

"Yes Sir," Laura's voice came back promptly in return.

"Keep your eyes open Lieutenant," Lorne advised. "It's probably nothing but ... don't take any chances up there."

"No Sir," Cadman replied, frowning at the worry evident in the Major's voice. "You too Sir."

"Acknowledged," Lorne agreed, following Mitchell out onto the pier.

Thursday 2nd April | 1215 hours | Outside the General Hammond

General O'Neill began pacing the pier almost as soon as Cadman and Major David disappeared inside. When David returned a few minutes later and reported that Colonel Mitchell appeared to have sustained an injury to his hands but had stayed with the Lieutenant Jack wasn't surprised. Hell, he'd have done the same ... probably had although not in quite these circumstances. If he was honest, not wanting to leave unless he knew for sure his people were okay was why Jack was still standing around on the pier ... bored and feeling useless but not wanting to concede his position.

It was a tense scene outside the General Hammond ... nobody saying much as they all waited to hear something from the inside.

"He's fine," Jack said to Sam, in part responding to the unspoken worry on her face.

"You're probably right," She told him with a slight smile. "I'll feel better when I see it for myself." She wasn't pacing yet, but watching the General was enough to make her wish that she was. "I did warn him there could be severe consequences if any unnecessary chances were taken," she added.

"Mitchell will be careful," Jack reiterated firmly.

Darek had silently observed the events as they happened, his mind racing as he turned the events over and over again. A third attack, one at the Hammond this time. Why? Why risking another attack, especially as the hunt for the attacker was already on? And why on the ship this time, and not on the base again? What could the attacker possibly achieve with this attack? Taking the ship out of the equation, perhaps, but if stranding them here was a goal of their attacker then it was likely that the gate was next on the list. But … Darek forced himself to let go of the speculation. He did not have enough facts for a decent analysis of the enemy’s motives.

There was one other explanation of course … now with all of them here, their attention was suitably directed on the Hammond, off other things. Never allow the enemy to dictate the things you focus on. A small, grim smile flickered over Darek’s features ... there were lessons he would always be grateful for. He waited until the conversation of the General and Colonel was finished, then addressed the former. “General, is it possible that this is an elaborate set-up? A distraction while another attack is prepared or carried out?” He did not know Atlantis well enough to already know what places were susceptible, or likely to be attacked, what places were so well secured that it took some distraction to get in and out unseen.

"I wondered," Jack admitted grimly. "We've had teams searching the labs since yesterday ... haven't turned up anything so far but it's a big place. Besides ... we don't have all our eyes on the Hammond. Still ... if they were going to attempt simultaneous attacks now would be the time. What do you think Carter?" Jack looked to Sam expectantly.

"It's entirely possible Sir," Sam told him. "It seems rather ... incompetent of them to have let themselves be overheard in the manner they were. While we're busy focussing on the Hammond, something else entirely could be going down. Or it was simply fortunate for us to find out about this when we did. It's really very hard to tell. Whatever their objective, they've accomplished part of it. Everyone in this city is on edge and beginning to lay blame."

"Convenient, isn't it?" Madison said. "No one, with the exception of Dr. Jackson, has actually been harmed. It's almost as if the emotional uproar could have been the purpose. Or they're really very stupid. Six in one hand, half dozen in the other," she added with a shrug. "At least until we know more."

The others nodded an agreement, everyone falling silence as they waited to hear what was going on inside the Hammond.

"Okay, that's it," O'Neill announced suddenly after fifteen minutes of radio silence from the bomb team. Tapping his radio to get a line to Colonel Mitchell he let his impatience show as he spoke. "Mitchell ... you wanna fill us in on your progress?"

"Yessir," came the quick reply from Cam. "Cadman has started looking at the bomb. It's apparently got a lot of layers. We have to be extremely careful not to set it off, Sir."

"Yes you do," Jack replied pointedly, realising this was going to take more time than he would have liked. Turning to Sam and Major David he shrugged. "You guys can go do something useful rather than hanging around here," he suggested. "Assist with the lab search ... or keep your eyes open for whatever this is a diversion for ... if it is one."

"If it's all the same, I think I'd like to stay," Carter said. She had taken to pacing, just a little, a few steps one way and a few more the other.

"I'd like to remain here too Sir," Major David replied, glad that the General had given them a choice rather that making it an order.

With Carter and Major David both deciding to stick it out with O'Neill and his team, the group went back to their previous introspections. More time passed ... minutes that felt like ours as far as Jack was concerned. It was the arrival of Major Lorne in a protective suit that heralded some progress had been made.

"Major?" General O'Neill raised an eyebrow expectantly as Lorne approached.

"Sir," Lorne replied, stopping just in front of the others. "Lieutenant Cadman has discovered some kind of problem with the bomb she thinks I can help with Sir. I was just gonna ...," he trailed off, nodding towards the entrance.

"Carry on Major," Jack waved him forward, motioning for Major David to show him the way. "Have Colonel Mitchell report in when you've made progress." Lorne nodded before following Major David inside the ship.

When Major David returned a few minutes later he simply said it looked like Cadman knew what she was doing. Jack certainly hoped so ... he'd hate for any ship under his responsibility to be damaged but this ship - named after the great General George Hammond himself? Well, that just made it being the target all the worse ... made Jack all the more determined to deliver some much needed justice.

O'Neill went back to his pacing, wishing he'd brought something to occupy himself with ... he really, really hated waiting.

Darek had taken out a pen and begun scribbling down all the details of the bomb, he wished he had enough intel to do a short tech-sketch for it. It was habit, from days back and from a completely different context, but a useful one. There were some components that were restricted in access and in a place like this, they might be able to track down who could have acquired them and where.

Looking up he saw the General pacing forth and back. Darek understood well enough that the man hated waiting, and being able to do absolutely nothing. “Sir, the problem the Major mentioned, it would mean some kind of alien tech in the bomb?” he asked, eyeing his notes and rough sketch thoughtfully. If someone had created a kind of hybrid bomb disarming would be one hell of an exercise. But it might mean that some more exotic parts of the bomb could be traced even better than their standard equipment.

"I'm guessing Ancient tech Captain," Jack replied. "This is Atlantis after all and a smart bomber isn't going to use parts that can be traced back to the Milky Way."

"A bomb created using Ancient technology," Sam commented. "I think that narrows the suspect list considerably. There aren't many in the city that have the gene - of those there aren't really many that can use it with any distinction. Not on a level that I would imagine was required to build a device of this sophistication. I can name two of them off the top of my head, and one of them is standing right here."

"Well that's convenient, isn't it?" Madison looked at the General. "Can I assume that we can trust you haven't been sitting around in your spare time creating bombs for fun?" The doctor shook her head. "I wish they'd get a move on." She shifted impatiently. Either she was going to have patients, or she wasn't. The waiting wasn't easy. Her patience was nearing an end with the potential danger level for those involved inside the ship.

"What spare time Doctor?" Jack countered with a mock frown before continuing. "Should I be offended Cadman didn't consider me for whatever she needs Lorne for? I am standing right here outside the ship! And isn't Colonel Sheppard widely acknowledged as the strongest gene person ... why didn't they ask him to come down?"

"Lieutenant Cadman probably thought it would be pretty uncouth to ask a General into such a dangerous situation, Sir." Carter smiled at him. "I would assume they contacted Colonel Sheppard first, perhaps he was unavailable." Of course, if he was unavailable, then what was he doing that was more important than this? She frowned as she thought about that. Where was Sheppard anyway? Shouldn't he be down here with them?

"I miss being asked into dangerous situations Carter," Jack replied with exaggerated sadness. "I miss creating dangerous situations. I'm still not convinced the bigger pay cheque and parking space are really worth being 'The Man'." O'Neill didn't comment any more on Sam's speculations regarding Colonel Sheppard's absence. He should be there ... he wasn't. And the General would be asking him why at the earliest opportunity.

"General O'Neill," Colonel Mitchell's voice came through fifteen minutes after Lorne had gone in, interrupting their conversation. "Cadman's got the first layer off. Lorne was able to disable some Ancient components our very clever bomber decided were needed and we're working on getting the Replicator pieces deactivated so she can do her thing, Sir."

"Thank you Colonel," Jack said briskly. "Proceed."

"Replicator and Ancient technology," Sam blew out a breath. Her brows knit in frustration. "This just gets better." She folded her arms over her chest while her head inclined slightly as she thought over the possible schematics that would be needed to devise such a creation. "Put McKay at the top of your suspect list," she told Jack. "And me."

"I'm not putting you on the suspect list Carter," Jack said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought about what she'd suggested. "McKay on the other hand? I always thought there was something off about that guy ... monumental arrogance largely but maybe there's more to it."

"You can't ignore the possibility sir. I'm one of the few people here with the knowledge to pull that off," Carter explained.

"Fine," Jack grumbled. "I'll pencil you in ...," trailing off he realised that Sam had a point. There weren't many who could have sourced and then constructed the kind of bomb it seemed they were dealing with. And maybe it was that very arrogance on the part of their culprit - needlessly adding complexity to something that would have worked just as well without it - that would spell their detection. Unless using Ancient and Replicator components was part of the plan ... part of manipulating him to take the investigation in a particular direction. He'd only been there two days but Jack was already frustrated at not having a clear idea on motivation nor a list of real suspects ... apart from the suspiciously behaving Colonel Sheppard.

Fifty minutes after Cadman went in the situation changed in the most dramatic way possible. There was a loud explosion that drew everyone's attention to the forward section where the command centre ... the ships bridge ... was located.

Jack shot his gaze there just in time to see smoke, flames and debris shooting out of the ship followed by something much larger. The object arched high over the ship almost gracefully before slamming into the pier a short distance away.

"Holy crap!" O'Neill reacted immediately, putting the call through to the ship. "Colonel Mitchell ... Major Lorne ... please report your situation. Do you require medical attention, over?"

"We're all fine here, Sir," Mitchell's voice came back strongly reassuring. "It was from the bridge. We're in the engine rooms. No one was caught in the explosion and we were able to get the other one deactivated."

Jack felt himself relax as he listened to the report ... Mitchell and the others had been elsewhere in the ship. The main bomb had been deactivated but some kind of secondary explosion had taken place. As Colonel Mitchell and Major Lorne made their way to the site of that explosion inside the ship, General O'Neill approached the object that had slammed into the pier outside the ship.

"What the?" he thought, looking down at the still smoking wreckage of ... Mitchell's chair?

"Darek, is this what I think it is?" he asked the other man who'd followed him up the pier. "Because it looks a lot like the captain's chair."

"About 30% of it, Sir." Darek replied dryly. The wreckage was impressive in its own way. Even if blowing up the Captain's chair was not exactly an efficient way to take out the bridge. Darek's thoughts stopped cold. Not an efficient way ... it was an idiotic place to have a back bomb in the first place. Blowing up this chair only made sense if someone sat in it. And Mitchell should not have been with Cadman, had rules been obeyed.

"It wasn't sabotage - it was an assassination attempt," Darek said in low tones. "All of them were." His mind was spinning, going over the facts he knew again. Three unsuccessful attempts on three different people. Either the whole series had been planned in advance, unstoppable from the moment it began, and they were damn lucky, far too lucky or ... or they might never have been meant to succeed in the first place. The first goal of terrorism is the spreading of terror. It made more sense than he actually liked.

"Against SG-1 specifically," General O'Neill agreed with Darek's assessment, his expression black .... grim ... purposefully determined. "Whether they meant to succeed or just to scare their targets - raise fear in the city - no longer matters. If this keeps up it won't be long before someone gets hurt ... intended or not."

"General O'Neill ... Colonel Carter," Chuck's voice broke into Jack's assessment of the ultimate 'ejector' chair. Surely the command chair as such an obvious target had been a deliberate message ... was the culprit playing with them, taunting them with how easily they'd gotten to every member of SG-1?

"Go ahead," Jack replied distractedly.

"Sir, Colonel Sheppard has just called a security and medical alert in the Janus lab," Chuck reported. "Doctor McKay has been injured Sir."

"We'll be right there," O'Neill replied, catching Colonel Carter's eye.

"Maybe not McKay after all," Sam commented, although she hadn't honestly thought so. He was many things. Arrogant, obtuse, a complete egomaniac, psychotic wasn't among them. Well, not most of the time in any case. "Let's go." She turned, heading away from the pier.

"Wait up Carter - Colonel Mitchell should be here for this one," Jack said, holding up a hand as he put a call in to the Hammond requesting Mitchell and Lorne both join them asap.

Shortly after two thirds of the bomb squad appeared at the ships entrance, each man now rid of their protective suits. Jack noticed the bloody hand prints on Cam's shirt immediately.

"Something you forgot to report Colonel," he motioned to the evidence pointedly.

Colonel Mitchell looked down at his shirt, having forgotten about the slices in his hands. "Oh. Uh... The Replicator part of the bomb was a defensive system that turned into rather sharp blades... Sir," he said, adrenaline and being pissed off having pushed that out of his mind.

"Let me see." Madison took his wrists without hesitation and turned them over, so that she could see his hands. "Nice. So, are you a fan of infection or just like to live dangerously, Colonel? Go to the infirmary, the duty nurse should be able to treat these. They don't look too debilitating," she said drily. Then she looked at Jack, "I'll go along with you and meet Dr. Keller's team in the lab." She was a trauma surgeon, her skills would be better served there she thought.

Cam gave her a sheepish look. "I did as the situation dictated, Ma'am. Yes, Ma'am." he said with a nod.

"I assume the ship is safe?" Jack asked, getting a nod from both men in return. "All right then - go get patched up Colonel," Jack ordered Cam. "We'll fill you in on this latest problem when you get done. Major David - remain here until Lieutenant Cadman is finished securing the bomb site." Motioning for everyone else to follow him Jack turned and headed for Janus's lab.

Cam nodded to the General. "Yessir," he said as they hurried off and he went to see the On duty nurse, trying to hurry. She quickly took a look, the entire infirmary on edge as they waited for Dr. McKay to show up. She quickly and efficiently cleaned him up, giving him some stitches and wrapping him up so he didn't tear them. Cam took the pain killers, taking the lowest dose possible and promised to come back and get more once things calmed down and hurried to report back to the General.

Thursday 2nd April | 1300 hours | Janus' Lab

Rodney was enjoying his alone time in Janus’ lab, but the reason for the solitary study really freaked him out whenever he thought about it. Daniel actually died, for crap’s sake, and if Sam hadn’t arrived when she did …. He shuddered as he hopped over to his laptop to check on the status of the translation program and saw it was ninety-six percent complete. Maybe Sam wasn’t too far off base with all the Machiavellian thoughts after all. And here he thought he had a monopoly on paranoia around here.

He started scrolling through what was finished and all thoughts of conspiracies and possible homicidal maniacs targeting geeks flew out the window as he glanced over the schematics. His finger tapped the down arrow faster and faster and he started humming excitedly to himself. Holy crap, he thought and started grinning happily. Daniel could have all the soft, boring, historical/cultural stuff, but this ….. He hit home and started reading everything, carefully, from the beginning, and the volume of his humming increased in proportion to the detail of the schematics. He was so lost in thought he didn’t realize someone else was in the room until he heard an amused snort. Rodney spun around and saw Sheppard standing just inside the lab, his hands on his hips, and his lips clamped between his teeth. He immediately glared at his friend’s barely contained amusement. “What?”

“So, ….” John started, but his voice cracked. He rubbed his mouth. “Is humming ‘Air Supply’ songs part of the scientific process now, or is this something new that I should be worrying about?”

Rodney grimaced crookedly – he honestly had no idea what he had been humming. “Hey, you recognized it.” John suddenly grimaced, too, as that sunk in. “I promise not to tell too many of the Marines.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Rodney grinned, his mouth a crooked narrow slash across his face. “What are you doing here?”

John glanced around the empty lab. “Thought you might want to grab some lunch,” he mentioned and then asked, "Where's Dr. Jackson? I thought he'd be down here with you."

Rodney waved a dismissal at the activated empty station Daniel usually worked at. "Who knows." His attention returned to his own computer briefly. “What, Elizabeth busy?” The words just popped out of Rodney’s mouth, bam, and somewhat snottily at that, and his eyes were a bit wide when he suddenly looked back up at John. Since she’d been back he barely saw his friend anymore and, well, it did kind of sting. He felt his grin start to slide. “Or are they serving something with Spam?” he countered quickly, covering the hurt with snark.

The first question shot at him like a bullet with his name on it and John shot a look back at Rodney. He didn't answer right away, he seemed more intent on considering the reason behind the question. His eyes roamed about, focusing inward as he thought back on just how much of his time Elizabeth had been getting lately.

With Rodney's second question, John's attention was pulled back to the present and he pulled in a deep breath, scowling lightly at McKay as if realizing perhaps he'd been giving Dr. Weir a bit more of his focus than he probably should. Obviously Rodney was feeling a bit left out and having the words slap him across the face seemed to wake John to that fact. He felt bad about that and arched a serious brow at his friend as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah, sorry about.... ya' know, not being around so much lately," he offered a bit uneasily and then pushed it aside to become overly animated as if trying to lighten the mood. "C'mon, Rodney. Let's get outta here. Grab a bite. I'll make it up to ya'. I'll even buy."

“Okay, give me a sec to shut things down.” He turned back to his laptop, and now that the translation was complete he just put it in sleep mode and unplugged it so he could pick things up right after lunch.

“Why don't you just leave that stuff. Let’s go now, you can do that later. It's not going anywhere,” John halfway whined. Rodney ignored him as he checked his workstation over and made sure it was shut down. When he turned back around John motioned towards the door. “C’mon, Rodney... I'm starving. Let's go.” He actually took a few impatient steps towards the door.

Rodney just sneered at him and continued his sweep. There were protocols for this lab, and not leaving the Ancient equipment running when no one was present was the number one rule. That’s why it pissed him off when he came in and found the console Daniel usually worked at on. For the first hour after he arrived he kept expecting Daniel to show up, some excuse about needing some tea before he could start anything, but after awhile he got so absorbed in his own work he completely forgot the station was even running. He walked up to it now, rested his left hand just on the top edge, and leaned over the back to shut it down.

"Hey," John said warily, taking half a step forward, "should you be touching his stuff? Leave all that alone, before you get into trouble. Maybe he's coming back to work on that. You should really leave his stuff alone, Rodney. We're under enough suspicion as it is. C'mon, let's just get out of here," John pushed but McKay seemed to be intent on ignoring him.

The snap Rodney heard as he hit the control crystal reminded him of a breaker flipping, and for a second he actually had time to think huh, that was odd before the console exploded. It wasn’t a big explosion per se’, but metal, crystal shards, and flames blew out from the panel, and if he’d been standing where he should have been, Rodney’s guts would have been shredded by the shrapnel. The blast did catch his lower right arm even as he did flinch back in surprise, and the force was still strong enough to flip his arm up and spin him away. His left hip connected with the table that was set up behind Daniel’s console, and both he and it went over and down.

Rodney wasn’t even aware he’d taken the table out – he writhed on the floor, his arm cradled to his chest as pain drowned out every coherent thought. In a few seconds the front of his jacket and shirt were soaked with blood. He’d been burned before – hell, it was part of the job, and nothing compared to the deep electrical ones – but not like this. His entire forearm blazed with agony that even robbed him of speech, so all he could do was just rock back and forth and make guttural noises.

Sheppard had reflexively cringed, ducking down in the doorway as the console exploded. He looked back to where Rodney had been standing, not seeing him through the churning smoke and flashing sparks of light.

"Rodney!?" he called out and ran back into the lab. "Rodney! Are you okay?" John asked, frenzied as he knelt down beside McKay. "Holy crap," he remarked as he realized McKay was bleeding. "You never listen to me..." he said, as if that would've made the difference. Sheppard tapped his earpiece. "This is Sheppard. I need a medical team to Janus' lab ... now! Security teams to Janus' lab ... Security to Sub-Level, Section E-3."

Rodney finally found his voice and he bellowed out a profanity in Czech so forcefully he curled up with the effort. Then he let out a tight wheeze of a laugh. "Been ... hanging ... Radek too much." He remained in a foetal curl, his arm clutched tightly to his stained chest, and really wished he'd hurry up and pass out.

Keller hurried into the room a few moments later, carrying a black emergency duffel bag and trailed by two medics with a gurney. She took a few seconds to analyse the scene before moving to Rodney's side. "What happened? What did you do?" She crouched down, careful of the glass and debris littering the floor and carefully rolled him onto his back.

"What did I do?!?" Rodney didn't care that his voice came out high pitched. "Nothing! Booby-trap!! So not my fault!" Then he went back to the quieter noises as new waves of pain hit.

John moved out of the way and let Keller take over with Rodney. He stood up and moved back a bit, near the burnt console and watched with a forlorn expression as his friend writhed on the floor bleeding. After Rodney went back to whimpering John offered in a soft voice, "He was trying to shut down the station or something. I told him to leave it be. It's Dr. Jackson's station ... I don't know much about all this stuff but I figured ... well ..." John shrugged.

He turned away from the scene on the floor, trying to figure out what just happened. He let his eyes roam over the burning equipment but came to no conclusions except the obvious - it had blown up.

"I need to assess your condition," Keller told Rodney. "I know it hurts." There was blood coming from the arm, so she carefully pried his hand away from it and gently rolled it so she could see the damage. All Rodney could do was let her, and supply a quiet litany of owowowowowow as he uncurled.

General O'Neill strode down the corridor with Sam walking just slightly in front leading the way. The Janus Lab was some distance from the main tower but luckily for Jack and his entourage not as far from the Hammond. In fact they arrived while Doctor Keller was still engaged in treating Rodney before seeing him safely to the infirmary. Colonel Sheppard was standing beside the culprit this time ... what used to be a console but was now a mess of broken control crystals and charred plastic.

"Doctor Keller?" Jack asked for an indicator of Doctor McKay's condition ... although the fact that Rodney was conscious seemed to be a good sign.

"I just arrived, sir," Keller replied. "He's conscious and responsive, but I haven't finished assessing his condition."

"Excuse me," Madison pushed her way past Carter and O'Neill. "Doctor," she nodded to the other woman as she crouched on Rodney's other side. She snapped on a pair of latex gloves and bent over him. Her hands cupped his neck, palpitating gently. She could feel no swelling or deformation, and he was moving responsively. She tipped his head to one side, gauging the damage. "Minor burns and abrasions to the face and neck," she told Jack. Her experience working in a Trauma centre allowed her to assess and report as she worked. "Same to the chest, left of his midline."

Rodney just listened to them and kept quiet. He preferred Carson's silent assessments so much better, because, seriously, this med babble was freaking his already freaking mind out. He looked up at Jennifer, and she must have sensed his current state of mind because she offered him a tight but sincere smile.

Sheppard stood nearby watching everything closely. He chewed his bottom lip lightly in concern as he listened to the two doctors counting off McKay's injuries and setting up to treat him.

"Deep cuts to the arm," Keller said. "He's going to need stitches. He's losing a lot of blood." She had already pressed a dressing to the wound to slow the flow of blood. If she was agitated at having another doctor on her scene, she didn't show it. Instead she looked across Rodney at the other woman, seeming to speculate for just a second. Finally, she gave a slight nod, as if having come to a decision. "Let's stabilize before we move."

"Ya think?" Rodney grated out and finally, finally things started to go black.

"My preference exactly." Garman reached into her bag and pulled out IV and tubing. As she began setting up, she tapped her ear piece and instructed Chuck to put her through to the infirmary. When he had, she began speaking. "This is Dr. Garman, we're going to need two units of blood readied on the rapid infuser. I'm going to want a portable x-ray and ready an OR." When she finished speaking, she tucked the IV bag between her chin and shoulder and took up a pair of scissors. She cut away at Rodney's other sleeve. Her hand moved up and down his arm, looking for a viable vein. She found one near the crook of his arm and used it. "I'm in." She taped it down and handed the bag off to one of the medics, then she stepped across Rodney to join Keller.

While the other doctor was prepping the infirmary, Jennifer had been splinting the arm for transport. As she finished, she moved around to his head and used a penlight to check pupil response.

Major Lorne hung back in the corridor outside Janus's lab watching the controlled symphony of action inside as McKay was treated. Evan felt like he shouldn't even be there .... in fact he kind of wished he wasn't. Colonel Sheppard was standing clearly visible inside the lab and Lorne was worried. Not that the Colonel was guilty of some offence because why would he have put himself in danger by being at the scene? Something was going on with Sheppard though and Lorne found himself concerned that John would have whatever it was forced out of him before his innocence was proven.

Darek had resisted his first impulse to rush into the scene, instead he kept close to the entrance of the lab, taking in the situation silently. The console was a mess, no doubt about that and Dr. McKay was injured. The same man that had been mentioned when they had discussed the bomb. Col. Sheppard was there too. Darek studied him silently for a moment before turning his eyes to the remains of the console. He knew nothing about this technology, so he could neither rule out a bomb or sabotage, or even system failure for that matter. Inwardly he sighed, the list of things to check and analyse had just grown longer.

Sam moved carefully through the lab, and stepped over to get a look at the blown console. Her brows knit into a frown as she examined the damage. "This is Daniel's console." She looked over at O'Neill. Any number of questions sprang to mind, but she held on to them, for the time being. Instead, she contacted Chuck and requested a Marine unit be sent down to secure the lab - which had just become a crime scene.

Daniel's console? For a moment Darek believed he had misunderstood. Could every single incident that happened actually somehow be targeted on one of SG-1's former members? If so, the next question was: were McKay and Sheppard accidental victims, like Cadman had been on the balcony, or had they something to do with the incidents? Facts, Darek reminded himself. Keep with the facts, there is enough speculation already around here.

"Colonel," Jack stepped cautiously around the medical team who were just loading Rodney onto a gurney and across to Sheppard, looking for a moment at the evidence before addressing the other man. "What happened?"

John continued to stare at the scene on the floor in front of him with his hands planted on his hips as if he hadn't heard the general. Then he blinked and looked around the room before his eyes settled on O'Neill. "Sir?" he said as if lost in some conversation then he shook himself from his seeming stupor as the events settled in his head. He turned around to look at the blackened control platform and shrugged. "I don't know what happened, Sir. I came down to see if Rodney wanted to grab some lunch... he started shutting stuff down. When he went over to Daniel ... to Dr. Jackson's station I told him to leave it alone. I told him not to touch it. I tried to get him to leave ... I thought Jackson would be here too but he wasn't. I tried to get Rodney to leave with me but he insisted on shutting everything down, ..." Sheppard paused and stared at the smoking console, then shrugged.

General O'Neill listened to the Colonel's somewhat rambling explanation of events prior to the console exploding, his expression blank of judgement. Internally though his thoughts raced. How did Sheppard know which console was Daniel's? Why would he tell McKay not to shut it down? And even more baffling, why would Sheppard choose to describe what had happened in a way that was so personally incriminating? Was he really so caught up in his own personal concerns that he couldn't see the truth?

Because Jack was seeing it much clearer now that the investigation had evolved with the latest incident. Colonel Sheppard was as much a target as Daniel, Sam, and Mitchell had been. In all likelihood Doctor Weir was too. The only question was why? What could the perpetrator hope to gain by incriminating the city's leaders?

Focusing back on John, O'Neill nodded shortly. "Very well Colonel. Why don't you accompany McKay to the infirmary. We'll talk more about ... everything ... later."

"Yes, Sir," John looked to him with a bit of gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you, Sir," he offered and quickly moved to assist the medical team out of the room and stuck close to the gurney, looking down at Rodney with heavy concern as they moved swiftly down the corridor to get him to the infirmary. He and McKay may come across to others, often, as being on opposite ends of any spectrum, from scientific vs. military points of view to self-esteem and shows of self-importance. But deep down they understood each other and there was very little either wouldn't do for the other. And they were sure that only they knew that, but in reality that wasn't true. The team knew that and at times like this Rodney knew too that he could put full dependence on John even if he refused to admit it aloud.

Turning back to everyone else, Jack motioned them all to make room for the gurney and medical team to leave, nodding for Doctor Garman go with them. Sam's Marine unit arrived to secure the area as they were exiting, making for a few moments of activity in the lab.

"Captain," Jack called to Darek in a low tone. "Stay and begin collecting anything to explain this ... while it's still fresh. We'll need to talk to McKay when he's feeling up to it - see if his story meshes with Sheppard's."

"At once, Sir,” Darek carefully navigated his way around some people until he was right in front of the wreckage that had once been a workstation. Broken crystal, metal, and plastic torn apart and melted into bizarre forms. For a brief moment Darek wondered if anybody in this world could make head and tails of the mess. Squatting down, he silently took in the details of the destruction. There was no clear direction for a main blast force visible in the way the materials had been torn apart and bent around. Some parts had been scattered into the corners of the room, but the debris by itself gave no hints to the direction of a blast, or explosion force.

Darek began by taking pictures of the wreckage rather thoroughly. To later reconstruct the events they would need every detail. After documenting the site he turned back to the charred remains of the workstation. Samples of the various destroyed materials were the next important point. The deformation and damage to them might contain clues as to what kind of explosive device had been used. Plastic, metal, and crystal ... all of them had suffered varying degrees of damage. Darek took samples of them in the different diameters of the destruction zone - inner, second inner, middle, out middle and far off. But again he had to note that there was no trace of a blast force, or explosion.

Having all he could gather from a first-glance inspection, Darek squatted down again to begin an in-depth survey of the remains.

General O'Neill watched for a moment as Sterling went to work before turning back to the rest of his expanded team.

"Major," Jack pinned Evan with an intent gaze. Garman hadn't explicitly cleared the man from being suspect but she'd had time to conduct the tests - Jack was sure she would have mentioned if there was a problem with Lorne. "Co-ordinate with Lieutenant Cadman on the removal of everything relating to that bomb from the Hammond. Have it delivered to my Lab."

Major Lorne nodded once. "Yes Sir," he replied, turning on one heel smartly and striding back down the corridor. General O'Neill had given him a task related to the investigation. Was that just expediency or had he decided Evan was no longer a suspect? Deciding not to read too much into it, Lorne continued on his way.

"Carter," Jack turned to his ex team mate last. "Check in with Mitchell at the infirmary ... placing a guard on McKay might not be a bad idea either - just in case he was the target here." As Sam made to move away Jack stopped her. "Call a meeting for 0900 hours tomorrow ... SG-1 only."

"Sir?" Her head inclined slightly as she considered the order. Calling a closed door meeting of just the SG-1 personnel within the city might separate them more from the general populace, of course she realised that could also be his intention. It wasn't exactly simple to decipher. Few things really were when the spokes were turning within O'Neill's mind. Truly the man was every bit as intelligent as she, he just chose not to project it. Therein lay the beauty of it. "Of course, Sir."

"Time to shake things up a bit," Jack said by way of explanation. Carter nodded an acknowledgement before turning and heading away to follow his orders.

O'Neill stood in the corridor for a moment, lost in thought, before he too left the scene.

On to Part 3