Susan gathered her notes up and bundled them into her file as the delegates began to leave the room. She took long deep breaths as she collated her files together and got up from her chair. Making her way over to the door she tried to avoid eye contact with General O'Neill but realised she wasn't getting away that easy when he grabbed her lower arm and prevented her from leaving.

"A word - Major Devon."

Susan sighed and dutifully followed him out of the door and along the hall to his temporary office. She sunk down into the chair opposite his desk and watched as he silently closed the door and made his way to his own chair. He sat down and looked deep into her hazel eyes.

"What do you want me to say Jack?" Susan's voice was resigned.

"Oh I don't know… that maybe you've still got some plan up your sleeve? That your presentation wasn't your last pitch? That by some miracle we still have a shot at saving the SGC?"

"I can't make people hear what you want them to hear. I can only present the facts as we have them and hope that they haven't already made a decision."

"You could at least TRY to highlight the achievements we've made."

"I can't highlight achievements that are three years old Jack. Bottom line – the SGC hasn't made any real progress in the last two years. All they've done is dug themselves out of one hole and into another."

"We demolished the Goa'uld threat."

"Yes but the threat wouldn't have been there if you hadn't gone through the gate in the first place."

"You know I'm getting sick of hearing that argument."

"We'll they're not going to let go of it that easily. All they've heard over the last two months is that the SGC should remain operational because you've angered yet another species that had left the Tau'ri alone until now. Once again your interference has caused another threat to descend on this planet and the government is not going to keep ploughing money into a project that is solely there to get you out of problems you've created yourself."

"Hey whose side are you on anyway!" Jack was beginning to lose his temper.

"Whose side am I on? I'm sorry but I didn't ONCE hear you even defend the people who got you to where you are today. Not once did I hear you back up ANY of the many important points I put across that validate keeping the SGC operational. You just sat there and let the board slam everything you worked for over the past 8 years." Susan frowned at him. "And don't you sit there and tell me that as a General you are expected to remain impartial because that is total bullshit. You've never played by the rules Jack so why start now." She saw him open his mouth. "And don't tell me that there's another layer to this fight, something outside of my classification that you can't tell me about because that's bullshit as well! I can't win this fight alone." Susan got up. "If you are just going to sit there and accept the fact that the board will shut down operations at Cheyenne as they've never sided with you before – then I am just wasting my time."

"I never said this was going to be easy Major."

"No… no you didn't." Susan opened the door. "But then you never said that there was no back up either." Closing the door firmly behind her she walked down the hall and rode the elevator to the second floor. Collecting her messages from her assistant she dumped the files on her desk and made herself a cup of coffee. The sound of her phone buzzing distracted her and she spilt coffee onto the side.

"Damn." She picked up the phone. "Hello…"

"Major… I have a Colonel Davis…"

"…tell him I'm too busy."

"Well I would but…Colonel… you can't…" The line went dead just as her office door opened.

She looked up and saw Paul stood in the doorway. "Do you not understand the meaning of knocking first?"

"No Major I'm afraid that when it's regarding a matter of National Security… knocking is the least of my concerns."

"If you are here to slam me over my board meeting then you can just turn around and save yourself the hassle. I've already been battered by General O'Neill."

Paul gave her a tight smile. "I can imagine. Not such a good outcome."

Susan grabbed her coffee and sat down at her desk. "I don't know what you people want me to do. The facts as they are do the SGC no favours. I can't just simply make assumptions based on the evidence that I have. It's impossible. Unless the SGC does something of extreme value within the next few months… you're going to lose."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Do you think you can hold them for that long?"

Susan sighed. "A few months at best. There is only so much red tape I can slam in this thing before it gets hauled up infront of the President and he's in no better position at the moment to help you than me."

Paul nodded. "I know that you're doing your best and I'm sure that General O'Neill does to, despite his lack of support. But then Jack never was one to give public displays of affirmation."

"I know. But I didn't expect him to just sit there silently for the entire meeting and let the board criticise everything he's worked so hard for over the past 8 years. I expected some sort of back up in there. I didn't expect to be fighting the entire board of directors myself." Susan sighed. "This isn't just about the money anymore Paul… it's about the embarrassment factor. When the SGC goes public, and it's only a matter of time now, the Government doesn't want to be made fools of. They don't want to be seen as people who have just been throwing money into something that hasn't produced any significant developments."

"What about Prometheus? And the advanced weapons we've recovered."

"There are no practical applicational uses for those things. And as for Prometheus… that is something we would have eventually come to ourselves. Granted the Asgard modifications are a huge help in our battles against the Goa'uld, the Replicators and I am sure the Ori as well. But inevitably the Asgard would have made themselves known to us and the Goa'uld probably wouldn't have returned to this galaxy for millions of years if we hadn't of interfered."

Paul sighed heavily. "I know. And I realise that you are on our side and I'm sure you have done your best to present all the facts and swing the argument to our side."

"You know how politics work Paul. The potential the SGC has to back fire on this Government is astronomical at the moment. With Atlantis now in operation, the SGC is seen as a project that has outgrown it's usefulness. The Government knows all too well what technology is out there in the Pegasus Galaxy and that is where they want to be right now. Atlantis is going to have priority over the SGC in many ways if we don't convince the board that we cannot leave the planet wide open with no defence. Without the information we gleam from our allies, without the sub space radar watch that comes out of Cheyenne… we would be sitting ducks."

Paul studied her face carefully. "You have a plan."

"Yes. But you are not going to like it."

"Tell me."

"We need to track down the Tok'ra. We need to re-activate the alliance. We need something to bargain with."

Paul let out a low whistle. "That's a tall order."

"Yes it is. But we now have a major bargaining chip over the Tok'ra…."

Paul smiled softly. "…Atlantis."