Fatal Error

by Ayesha Jen

The story is set after Daniel has ascended and the Russians and Jonus had joined the program. This is also after my story Insect Tsunami and has a common extra character.

Disclaimer

Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret productions, and Gekko productions. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Note After Daniel had ascended, Russia had joined the program and Jonas was part of SG1. After my story Insect Tsunami.

A measure of Freedom

Jonas stared down at the open book accusingly, it lay on the desk in front of him open but the pages might as well be blank. He'd been trying to concentrate on Daniel's notes all morning and was frustrated by his inability to see the problem. His normally absorbent mind just wasn't playing ball. 'Another of those phrases Colonel O'Neill uses…' he thought, 'This one seems to relate to that curious game he calls baseball.' He closed his eyes as he realised that his mind was wandering yet again. He leaned back in the chair and sighed, knowing that boredom was not usually his problem didn't help.

The newest member of SG1 stood up and stretched, then he moved around the office picking up an odd artefact here and there. He turned them over and pretended to study them for a while but was thinking of their previous owner who no longer had a use for them. He wondered if Daniel knew he had been given his office. He shook his head and put the last artefact down. The periods between missions were becoming damned dull and the grey walls of the base oppressive. 'Perhaps I should ask Teal'c to teach me to meditate.'

A tap on the door interrupted his wandering thoughts and he turned to his visitor with an automatic smile pinned to his face. Sam could not fail to notice how his eyes lit up, it gave him an eager-to-please boyish appearance. Even though she thought the smile was a nervous reaction to his position in the SGC she was aware it caused a few heart flutters among a small number of female staff. As soon as Jonas realised it was his team mate the smile relaxed into a less fixed expression and the look in his eyes softened. The diplomat's smile vanished to be replaced by genuine pleasure in seeing someone he knew and liked.

"General Hammond has given permission for a bit of flat hunting," Sam told him and grinned in response when the smile grew even wider. It was impossible not to respond to that smile. It was totally infectious.

"Really? I can live outside the base?" Jonas felt the boredom suddenly lift.

"I have been given permission to take you to town and show you around, but only if you would like to," Sam added mischievously. Hammond had finally received the clearance necessary to allow Jonas more freedom. The request that Sam take her team mate to find a place suitable and secure to live was Hammond's way of dealing with his favourite workaholic. It got Major Carter out of her laboratory for a while and forced her to take time off the base. Sam produced a bag that contained a few things she knew Jonas would need if he was heading to town. She tossed it to him saying, "these are for you."

Jonas eyed the bag curiously and then dug around inside. He pulled out first a shirt then trousers and a jacket, his grin widened again and Sam wondered if he was going to dislocate his jaw. "You can't wander around town in combat gear," Sam explained. "I will take you to a couple of clothes shops while we're out today." Jonas nodded and fished deeper into the bag. He discovered a bleeper, mobile phone and finally a credit card. He turned the strip of gold plastic over, frowning in concentration. Finally he looked up at Sam with a question in his eyes.

"It's a gold card. You use it instead of money. The General asks that you don't bankrupt the US government," Sam quipped.

Jonas nodded still frowning. "I have not studied how you obtain your necessities," he said.

"That's OK, Sam explained, "we won't desert you, not completely anyway, and not for a little while. You will have a chance to find your feet first."

"Find my feet?" Jonas echoed and looked down. 'Another expression,' At least he could guess the meaning of this one.

Jonas had not been off base except for the trip to see the newly built X302 so he gazed around eagerly when the lift doors opened out at ground level a little later. There were armed soldiers every where he looked and technician in coveralls carrying tools or clip boards. Sam did not even seem to notice them, so he guessed that this amount of activity was normal on this level of the complex. He could immediately see natural daylight through the huge tunnel exit and hurried towards it.

Sam quickly caught up and put a hand on his shoulder to slow him down a little. "Don't be in such a hurry or they will think you're trying to escape," she ribbed him but her smile showed she was kidding.

It was a little past midday as they cleared security. They walked out of the tunnel into the car park of the Cheyenne Mountain complex. The weather was exactly as the broadcast predicted, hot and sunny and Jonas stared at the deep blue sky above his head in amazement. After the years of rapid technological advancement on his world the skies had become a permanent slightly yellow haze. There were new environmental restrictions in force now but his people did not apply any of these restriction to projects deemed essential to security. They still had a long way to go before they would see clear blue skies again. 'That is if my people don't blow themselves apart first.'

The urge to leave the mountain dwindled as he strolled slowly behind Sam across the vehicle compound. The mountainside beyond the wire filled him with an urge to investigate the nearby wilderness. Sam noticed his interest and stopped. "We should go camping sometime," she said. "Then you can have a good look around."

"People are allowed to camp this close to a military base?" Jonas asked a little surprised by the idea.

"There are some restrictions but it's a big area and there are plenty of places people can go," Sam explained. The compound was filled with a wide variety of cars and trucks, many of which he recognised from books and TV programmes. "We will have to get you driving lessons and a licence," Sam commented as she opened her car door.

"A licence?"

"Not everyone is automatically allowed to drive. Even with the training and tests we have a lot of accidents and people are hurt or die," Sam informed him.

"So nothing much changes with humanity then," Jonas murmured.

Is Something Wrong With The Data?

Sam was working with intense concentration and without pause. The Russian who now shared her small laboratory concentrated on his own little project although he did glance at his companion curiously from time to time. Sam sat on a reversed high backed chair leaning forward intently watching the oscillating patterns form as the data from the satellite streamed into the SGC mainframe. Sam's enthusiasm for her work was infectious and the Russian's eyes were repeatedly drawn to her. She was so intent on her work it was fascinating to watch. The Russian smiled and turned back yet again to the recently retrieved artefact he was studying.

Sam contemplated the changes in weather science recently as she watched the data. The first of three satellites had been launched and everything had gone smoothly. The signal from the new weather prediction satellite was clear and strong. The speed, improved focus, and accuracy of the incoming data were everything they had all hoped for. Comments about a new ability to predict weather disasters had filtered through various channels to the press. Sam knew that the world's leaders expected worldwide coverage.

Arching her back to relieve an ache in her lower back she could not help but wonder how people would react if they knew how much alien technology was inside the satellite. 'At least if someone starts that rumour in the press few people will believe it.' She grinned as she thought of all the patient diplomacy and years it had taken to persuade the disgruntled 'weather people' to allow her to study their icon. Backward engineering some of what the inhabitants had considered part of their religion had been a challenged she had relished. With the satellites in place they would not just be able to predict disasters, it was hoped they would be able to prevent some of them. As the oscilloscope continued to scan the data she noticed something strange. After considering the screen for a few moments she called to her companion. "Iakun! Come check this out."

Iakun Tumanova glanced up from his artefact then rose and strolled over to stand behind Sam's chair. Tumanova had insinuated himself into her laboratory weeks before and Sam now considered him part of the furniture. Colonel O'Neill however had viewed him with suspicion. When Sam didn't agree with the Colonel's objections to the Russian's presence there he proceeded to ignore him. Iakun could not decide which was worse, being distrusted by the legendary O'Neill or being dismissed by the arrogant Son of a Bitch as unimportant.

"You have been following the launch of the first weather satellite Iakun, Right?" Sam asked.

"Yes," he nodded leaning forward to peer at the screen. "Is this the initial data?"

"Hmm." Sam acknowledged through her distraction as she adjusted some of the settings.

"Is there something wrong with the data?" Tumanova asked.

"I don't know," Sam replied. "Does that wave pattern look abnormal… out of place…" Iakun stepped from behind her chair and sat down.

He frowned and a brief glance at her face showed that she was frowning too. Tumanova respected Major Carter's instincts. He had been watching her progress with off-world technology since being assigned to the SGC and knew that she worked nothing short of miracles. 'If something is bothering her, then something is not as it should be.' "What is it you can see?" Tumanova prompted.

"I'm not sure Iakun. Look, it's late now," Sam replied yawning. "Could you help me run this data through the computer tomorrow and spilt it down?"

Iakun nodded and was rewarded with a flashing smile. His heart hammered wildly as he walked beside his new friend and co-worker the brilliant Samantha Carter heading for the locker rooms and home for the evening. He glanced at her again thinking, "She's the reason for O'Neill's success. It is just like my country, the scientists do all the work and some military superior steals the credit."

It was late and the complex was very quiet. SGC personnel on duty had trickled down to a skeleton crew and the ever-present guards. Only one soldier passed them in the corridor as they parted. "Night," Sam called as Iakun walked away then she turned towards her locker room. Sam felt a draft tickle the back of her neck and looked around, puzzled. 'Air conditioning needs turning down a touch.' She felt uneasy for a second and then shrugged as she passed into the room. She quickly changed to go meet Janet and Cassandra.

The following morning Iakun was brushing his teeth in his apartment in the small town below Cheyenne Mountain. As he stared at his face in the mirror he admitted if only to himself that he still felt more than a little out of place. 'It is not so different in America,' he tried to convince himself. 'Except the food is different… and the people are different… and the cars… All right,' he decided, 'there were many differences but the people at the SGC were friendly. Well most of them were friendly enough. Not Colonel O'Neill of course but some of the scientists.' He'd made a connection with Jonas Quinn for example. Still even with the other four members of the Russian team there Iakun still felt very alone. Iakun sensed that Jonas was lonely too. They would talk for hours and Jonas always seemed able to grasp even technically sophisticated concepts. Jonas smiled too much but Iakun recognised it as a defence mechanism. Not a Russian's response but then Jonas was not a Russian.

He turned off the apartment lights and unplugged the coffee machine then he stepped into the hallway. As he locked the door to his flat he cursed his failure to adapt to his new professional environment. He was so absorbed that he failed to notice the two figures at the top of the stairwell. If he had not been distracted there might have been a chance for him to defend himself but thoughts of home were all consuming. Suddenly the base of his skull seemed to explode and he fell to his knees. There was a flash of pain and everything went black.

Who's There?

"Jonas," a voice whispered into his mind.

Jonas Quinn came bolt upright in bed. It was not as if he slept very much at the best of times but to have someone wake him when he did drop off was irritating. It was then that he realised where he was, 'new apartment, not on the base. Where is that voice coming from?' "Who's there?" he asked trying to peer through the dark. Jonas threw back the duvet and swung his legs from the bed. He sat on the edge still peering into the darkened room and then reached for the light. A soft sigh of relief greeted the illumination as there was no one in his room but he thought, 'great, now I'm having strange dreams.' He padded bare foot to the kitchen for a drink and nervously flicked on the kitchen light. 'Still expecting to see someone,' he laughed and relaxed for a moment.

"Jonas," the voice whispered at him again, "listen… Just don't freak out on me."

Still alone in the middle of the tiled floor Jonas slowly turned taking in the whole space. "Where are you?"

"I'm inside your mind… hold on a minute I just have to think… There now I have got it." A white shape appeared in front of him and slowly solidified.

"Daniel Jackson?" Jonas asked on a rising note.

"Huh, huh," Daniel responded.

"What are you doing here? I mean, its good to see you but…" Jonas found his voice trailing off in a confused murmur. "Now what's wrong?"

"Hurry… Get dressed," was Daniel's only response.

"Why?" Jonas asked as he responded to the urgency in the apparition's voice. He rushed back into his bedroom and threw open the wardrobe door.

"You are the closest one to help," Daniel explained.

"Help who?" Jonas asked as he slipped on the half pulled trouser leg and slid in the second leg while sat on the floor.

"Tumanova must be helped," Daniel added.

"You mean the scientist on the Russian team. Why, What's happening to him?"

Jonas pulled on a T shirt and grabbed a jacket from the back of a chair, the sleeve caught on the wardrobe door handle as he turned. He realised that Daniel had not replied and looked around at which point he tripped on the rug and fell between the bed and the wardrobe. He took a deep breath and peered over the bed. Daniel was nowhere to be seen and he was tempted to think he had been hallucinating. "No, I would see something a lot more interesting," he muttered to himself, a brief vision of Sam in the tight pink top she had been wearing when they were hunting for his new flat. He grinned as he grabbed his car keys and ran from the apartment. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he stopped.

"What am I doing? I don't know who or where they have taken Captain Tumanova." Standing undecided in the hallway was getting him nowhere so he pushed open the front door. Daniel stood beside his car parked a little down the street. As Jonas slid into the driver's seat and Daniel joined him in the car he shook his head. "I have a bad feeling about this," Jonas muttered.

"I see you have picked up Teal'c's taste in movies," Daniel commented. Daniel sat beside Jonas giving him direction to Tumanova's apartment block. The sun was already up and the streets were beginning to fill with people and cars. Jonas knew he was not dreaming but could not understand why Daniel had chosen him and not one of the other members of SG1. They turned the final corner into the avenue just in time to see the Russian being dragged out and bundled into the back of a car. There was no time for Jonas to reach him, beside which with three assailants he would be outnumbered. A suspicion that they would not be easy to defeat filled him.

"Now what do I do? I need to let Colonel O'Neill know," Jonas muttered as he looked around for a payphone. 'Why did I not pickup my mobile?'

"No time," Daniel responded. "Follow them."

"I will not know where I am," Jonas pointed out. "How can I tell the SGC what I don't know?"

"I will stay with you, they must not succeed," Daniel replied urgently.

"Succeed in doing what?" Jonas asked in a troubled voice.

"You will see," Daniel responded and Jonas stepped on the gas and followed the car. "Don't get too close, you don't want them noticing you," he was told.

"I don't want to lose them," he replied anxiously.

"I will make sure you don't. It won't do Tumanova any good if you get yourself caught as well," Daniel warned.

"Do you know where they're taking him?"

"Perhaps," Daniel faded a little as he spoke.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes. We need to contact Jack soon."

Jonas glanced away from the road to look at Daniel. It was difficult to know what to think about him, 'or what he wants.'

"The car is turning onto a dirt track." Daniel explained and pointed at the junction. It was surrounded by trees and ran up hill, disappearing over a rise beyond. "It is walking distance to the house."

The Kelowan nodded and drove on past, pulling the car over to the side of the road out of sight of the turning. "We should call the SGC, I should have been there by now," Jonas was worried about being missing.

"Jack is already worried about you and they have just learned that Tumanova is also missing," Daniel told him.

"How do you know what is happening there, when you're here." Jonas asked.

"I'm not here," Daniel paused, "and I'm not there."

"That makes a lot of sense," Jonas grumbled and got out of the car. "Let's have a look at what is happening and then go and find a phone." As Daniel did not object he continued to walk away from the car but when he turned back Daniel was missing. "Now I'm talking to myself," he muttered but grinned as he turned into the trees.

An Unexpected Attack

The road looked empty as he walked towards the car, not that Hammond was really paying much attention. The visit to his nieces had been a delight and he smiled to himself as he thought of their latest antics. He noticed himself in the car mirror and stopped to straighten his cap as a shadow fell across the car door. He unlocked the door as some instinct screamed trouble and stepped around the door to create a barrier between himself and what he guessed was a possible attacker. Then a hand grabbed his shoulder and he realised there was more than one of them.

He threw himself into the front seat of the car landing face down and trying to turn over and pull his feet in. A cosh came down catching the door rim and his left arm which went suddenly numb. Hammond kicked out at his assailant and caught him in the stomach. The man pitched backward away from the car grabbing at the door but missing it. The second man grabbed the door and tried to hold it open so Hammond slammed it shut catching the man's fingers. Unfortunately he also heard and felt the sharp crack as something in his leg broke. A wave of sickness hit him as he realised he had caught his ankle in the door. He fought off the dizziness and swung his leg into the car. This time when he slammed the door it shut and locked.

Through a wave of pain Hammond could hear cursing but concentrated on starting the car. Suddenly the side window caved in and he was showered with glass fragments many of which struck his cheek and head. An arm shot in and tried to grab his throat but he jammed his remaining foot down on the accelerator. The arm disappeared as the car accelerated away from immediate danger with Hammond praying there was no one crossing the suburban streets in front of him. He guessed he was breaking every motoring by-law in the book to get away from his attackers. A check in the mirror proved he had no pursuit however so he slowed down and turned the car towards Cheyenne Mountain. He had no intention of stopping until he was safely inside the compound.

By the time he reached the gate shock had given way to real pain, mostly in his ankle. The guards took one look at the General's pale and sweating face covered in little cuts and called for help. Two orderlies appeared with in minutes pushing a stretcher towards the car. Hammond objected that a stretcher was not necessary but found that he was overruled by Janet who quickly appeared beside the car. As Hammond watched the tunnel swallow him and counted the ceiling lights down to the elevator he finally began to wonder who had attacked him and why. It did not seem like an ordinary mugging although they had not continued to chase him. The whole incident made very little sense.

Where is Jonas?

"He's in trouble sir, he has to be. Jonas worked far to hard to become part of SG1 to do anything to jeopardise his position here. He's not going to disappear or go off without telling someone where he wanted to go." Sam nodded in agreement with O'Neill, she was just as certain he was in trouble.

General Hammond lowered himself into his seat using the desk to push himself a little away from it. He settled his injured leg carefully and stared thoughtfully at the members of his premier team. "You think that his disappearance and my 'accident' are connected, don't you."

"They have to be sir. It's too much of a coincidence that both things have happened in the last 24 hours."

"It would appear that the SGC is again under attack from Tauri hostile to this facility," Teal'c commented.

"Well it is not the Russians," Sam stated. "They have too much to lose now to jeopardise this facility." Jack nodded in agreement as a voice interrupted them from the doorway.

"It is good to know that you finally trust us."

"Oh, I would not go that far," O'Neill drawled as he swung towards the intruder.

The Russian Liaison Officer began to scowl but Hammond intervened before another battle of wits started. "What can I do for you?"

"One of our men is missing, he did not report this morning."

O'Neill raised his arm in a flamboyant gesture of welcome. "Come on in and join the party." Then the levity vanished completely. "This does not make any sense sir, I mean taking a Russian, an alien and trying for you too."

"We don't know for certain that anyone has been taken," the General pointed out. "Which of your men is missing?"

"Tumanova"

"Your scientist," Sam commented.

"Meaning…?" O'Neill prompted.

"Well Jonas is a…" Sam started to explain.

"Geek." O'Neill interrupted her.

"That does not explain why they would attempt to take General Hammond," Teal'c pointed out. "General Hammond is not a geek." Hammond's eyes brows rose slightly in response to Teal'c's comment. "And why did they not take you Major Carter."

Sam's face had taken on a distant look as the questions flowed back and forth. O'Neill noticed she was quiet and turned to look at his second in command. He immediately recognised the light of comprehension that suddenly lit her eyes.

"What is it Carter?"

"I stayed at Janet's last night and did not take my normal route in. Came in a couple of hours early as well," she finished and saw O'Neill frown.

"Dumb luck that you haven't disappeared as well."

"Maybe." Sam acknowledged.

"So who are they and what are they after?" Hammond asked looking around at the assembled people.

"And where have they got our people?" O'Neill added and the General nodded.

"I don't see what we can do. Inform the local authorities that two of our people are missing, publicity is the last thing we want," the General commented.

"The NID?" Teal'c suggested.

"I don't see it, not this time. They have been burnt too often to make a play like this. Besides they tend to be a bit more open about their intentions since Simmons." O'Neill had a suspicion that there was a new player in town and was not at all ready to rule out off world interference.

"Whoever it is that has done this we still have to find our people." Hammond leaned forward and picked up the phone. "I will inform the authorities that we have people missing. Get out there and see what you can find."

O'Neill waited until everyone had left the office and then came back to the desk. "Sir, as they tried to snatch you. Don't you think it might be a good idea to protect your family until we know what's going on?"

"I'm way ahead of you Jack, I have already arranged for them to be moved before this meeting started." O'Neill nodded and walked from the office.

An Old Friend

Jack walked swiftly through the corridor intent on catching his team before they left the locker room. He was wondering if they would find anything at Jonas's apartment to give them a clue as to where he had gone. An alarm began to echo through the corridors of the SGC and Jack stopped at the nearest intercom. "Colonel O'Neill here. Where's the problem?"

"The storeroom adjacent to your office, sir," a voice from the Control Room replied. Jack spun on his heels and headed back to the stairs taking them two at a time. By the time he arrived at the scene an armed guard was preparing to enter the storeroom. They waited for the Colonel to confirm to give the go ahead.

"Colonel. There's something in the storeroom sir." A soldier explained a worried look on his face.

"What were you doing in there? This room is off limits and is supposed to be locked!" Jack snapped, he had other things to worry about.

"I had an order to collect equipment for one of the laboratories, sir," the soldier explained.

Jack took the order out of his hands and looked at it. "You picked the wrong storeroom soldier."

"Yes sir, but there is something in there," the soldier replied.

Jack looked at him for a moment. "It was moving?"

"It chased me," the soldier replied and a look of fear quickly buried crossed his face.

Jack stared at the door for a moment then glanced at Sam and Teal'c as they joined him.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"I'm about to find out. Have you got…?" Jack began.

Sam handed him a Zat gun and grinned briefly. "Well they did say which room so I stopped and collected it just in case." Jack nodded and then opened the door and slipped inside the room.

"Lower your weapons," Sam told the men. "You won't need them, Colonel O'Neill will take care of it."

"What is it Major?" one of them ventured to ask but Sam did not respond.

Jack walked cautiously through the racking to the far dark corner of the storeroom. Hanging from the top corner of the walls was a large white torn sack. He reached up and pulled it open checking inside for contents. He wrinkled his nose at the musty smell of the wet inner lining and let go.

"OK, where have you tucked yourself?" he asked aloud. Silence greeted his comment and he walked back through the racking towards the door. "Come on now, you can't want to stay locked in here if you're awake." A movement above him on the top of the racking made him spin around but he was too late to save himself. A large dark object sprang from its hiding place and landed on his chest sending him crashing onto his back. Jack looked up into a pair of glistening multifaceted eyes and yelled. "Its me, its me Zzzig!"

The creature lifted away from his face and a rattling sound vibrated through its body. Then it backed to sit on his legs. "Sssorry Jack, I forget I am here."

Jack swallowed a little nervously, "that's OK Zzzig just as long as you remember now. You're not supposed to be awake yet."

"Hungry… alive... I ssshould not wake… never wake," Zzzig rattled confused.

"Why?"

"Time for offssspring, not sssurvive offssspring," the spider explained.

Jack felt sudden relief that Zzzig had not produced more of herself, it was something that had not occurred to them when they had brought her back to the SGC. "Wait here, I will raid the Mess Hall for something for you to eat. Don't leave this room, we have people here who have never seen you before and you will make them nervous."

"I not hurt your friendsss," she responded in a hurt tone.

"I know Zzzig just calm down. Zzzig will you get off of me!" The last comment was much louder than he intended.

The men outside stared at one another as the shout penetrated the door and made to enter the room. "No!" Sam ordered and then grinned despite herself. "The Colonel is fine."

They looked at one another uncertainly, their time at the SGC had thrown some strange situations their way but leaving an officer in distress went against the grain. They did not have to worry for long however as the Colonel emerged quickly after the shout. He was apparently no more than a little dusty from his encounter with the occupant of the room. They wondered who he had been talking to as very few people had known of Zzzig's presence in the storeroom.

"She's Ok," he told Sam. "Go check out Jonas's apartment while I sort her out."

"Where will you put her O'Neill," Teal'c asked.

"In my office I guess. For the time being anyway but not until after I have fed her. Not something I want to watch." Jack hurried off towards the Mess Hall conscious of eight sets of eyes following.

"Put a guard on this room until the Colonel returns," Sam ordered the soldiers. "No one is to enter it except the Colonel." Then Sam and Teal'c headed for the lift as they still had Jonas to find.

Jack hurried into the Mess Hall during a busy time. Soldiers filled the seating and a subdued noise permeated the room. He called the chef to one side and took him by the shoulder. Leaning forward to keep his voice low as he made his unusual request. "I need meat quickly," he bit his lip as he considered the request, "uncooked."

The man responded quite reasonably from his point of view with a question. "You want an uncooked steak sir?"

"No, more, bigger, much bigger," the Colonel responded.

"How much bigger?" enquired the now curious man.

"Do you have a whole animal?" Jack asked.

"A whole…" he repeated looking slightly stunned. "What do you want with a…" His voice had begun to rise slightly by this time and attracted several pairs of startled eyes in their direction.

"Keep it down," Jack paused and considered his words carefully. "I don't want to eat it, I need it… I need it for an experiment."

"Yes sir," the chef responded, "but I have to account for…"

"I will sign whatever you need signing, only do it quickly," Jack snapped his patience being tried.

"Sir?"

"I need it now or something is going to get very hungry and may start hunting its own," Jack explained.

"Yes sir, of course sir, but I don't have an animal for you. Our meat is not that fresh." The sarcastic edge to the comment brought the Colonel's piercing eyes level with his own and he swallowed, hard.

"You have a freezer?" Jack pursued trying to remain patient.

"Yes, but the largest piece of frozen meat we have is a side of beef."

"Then give me it."

"Now sir?"

"Yes, now sir," Jack repeated exasperated.

The chef disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a kitchen assistant carrying a side of beef over his shoulder. He plonked it on Jack's right shoulder making him stagger slightly. By this time Jack had acquired an unwanted audience. "And no one has duties to perform?" he enquired mildly. The room emptied of everyone who was no longer eating and Jack turned towards the door carrying his load.

"But what is he going to do with it?" the kitchen assistant wanted to know. The chef shrugged his shoulders and returned to his previous work, he had worked at the SGC long enough not to enquire any closer.

One Missing, One Found

An hour later Teal'c and Sam arrived outside the apartment. They parked up and Sam led the way up the three flights of stairs and rang the bell but no one answered. Sam tried the handle and found the apartment door was locked so she did not hesitate. Pulling a set of lock picks from her coat pocket Sam set to letting herself in. Teal'c watched curiously as the fine instruments slid into the lock and lifted the tumblers. As she stepped through the doorway Sam noticed the lights were still on and she turned to see Teal'c gazing anxiously around the room. "There are no signs of a struggle," he commented and headed for the kitchen. A moment later he called back, "The refrigerator door is open." She joined him in time to see him closing the door. He had a puzzled look on his face. A clean glass and carton of fruit juice sat on the table but otherwise everything else in the kitchen looked perfectly normal.

"I checked the bedroom and the wardrobe doors are open," Sam reported," and I don't see his car keys anywhere." They wandered back into the living room and Sam picked up Jonas's mobile phone. Her heart sank as she gazed at it and then looked at Teal'c.

"He was told to carry the phone at all times I believe he left in a hurry but there are no signs of a struggle," Teal'c commented.

Sam just nodded and headed back out of the apartment. 'Whatever the reason Jonas is missing it does not look like he was taken by force.' "I don't know where we are going to look for him Teal'c," she said. "There are not many places he knows." Sam closed and relocked the apartment door and followed Teal'c down to their car. Teal'c drove as they headed back towards Cheyenne Mountain and Sam phoned in to the SGC to let them know.

On arrival back at the SGC they both headed straight from the lift to the storeroom as they were anxious to discover how Jack was dealing with his awakened friend. When they arrived two nervous guards hovered near the door. "Is Colonel O'Neill in there?" Sam enquired.

"No Mam. We're waiting for him now," the guard replied.

"What're you so nervous about?" Sam asked.

Teal'c peered in the small window in the door. "There is no sign of Zzzig," he pointed out.

"Well she's there somewhere," Sam responded as she noticed him freeze briefly and then move slightly away from the door. "Everything OK Teal'c?" She knew him well enough to know that was the closest they were going to get to a surprised reaction out of him.

"She is indeed. She is larger than I remember her," he answered as the four of them caught sight of a large black eye peering back at them out of the room.

Zzzig was bored and lonely as she peered out into the corridor and saw the She. 'Perhaps I can come out now,' she thought and wrapped a 'foot' around the door handle. Jack strolled into the corridor just as she began to open the door. The guards swung to face the movement and backed a little up the corridor raising their weapons warily. One of the guards had been in the Gate room when Colonel O'Neill had brought back a 'pet' from another world. He knew what was in the room and that it was not unfriendly to SG1, he was not so sure about himself. The other guard had joined the SGC after Zzzig had hibernated and knew nothing of her. The eye at the window had basically freaked him out. Jack told the men to stand down as he did not want one of them shooting her. They moved to the end of the corridor but stayed in sight mostly from the fatal curiosity that so many of us suffer. The door swung open and a long, thin hairy leg floated out into the corridor. The foot came to rest on the floor in the corridor and then another leg followed it out of the room. A rustling ensued and a hissing sound carried into the corridor.

"Got a problem Zzzig?" Jack asked from outside.

"Hole isss sssmaller," the spider hissed in frustration bringing a smile to her friend's face.

"Our doors don't shrink," Jack drawled back.

After a moment a bulbous head with large black eyes peered cautiously into the corridor. There was a new shiny dark green sheen to Zzzig who had grown during her hibernation. The result of the growth was a body that was not shaped conveniently for negotiating the small storeroom doorway. She tilted her body upwards and slid from the room sideways, dropping her new body into the light of the corridor. She was pleased to find plenty of room and stretched upwards. Her renewed body was now as big as a Shetland pony, but with the addition of very long legs. Sam stroked her between the eyes and grinned. "Good to see you up and about."

"I ssshould not be, I ssshould be dead but no offssspring ssso I wake up."

"You OK Zzzig," Jack asked, "you're hissing a lot?"

"Ssstill hungry," she replied her eyes straying to the two soldiers watching from the end of the corridor. The guards suddenly decided that they were no longer required and made a rapid departure.

Teal'c watched and a smile hovered around his mouth. "You appear to have distressed the men left to protect you," he told her and Jack grinned.

"Infirmary for you first. Dr Frazier is waiting to check you out," Jack said, "however she intends to do that. Then your next meal should have arrived." Jack motioned for Zzzig to follow him and strolled towards the elevator. "Lucky the elevator has double doors."

Sam watched the spider skitter after Jack and frowned. 'What are we going to do with you? How are we going to keep them from treating you like a lab rat?'

Instant Trust

The coffee shop was crowded as everyone went about their business and ignored the general hubbub. Beverley sat by a window finishing her coffee and watching the world go by. Her break was almost over and the office was looking less and less inviting.

A man walked toward her table, 'wonder who the little redhead is,' he thought as he tried to catch her eye. Beverley stared at the dregs in her coffee cup and sighed as she pushed it away. Her admirer went unnoticed as her eyes fixed on another man who had just entered the cafe. Her preoccupation discouraged the unseen admirer and he moved on to a table behind her to sit down.

The object of her attention scanned the room nervously as if looking for someone and he barely spared her a glance. 'Good looking and in trouble' was her instant appraisal. She had no idea why she should think so as the guy looked no different from anyone else. Still, she recognised that feeling she used to get when her younger brother entered the room after some escapade. She watched the guy cross to the back of the shop and join a queue waiting to use the public telephone. 'Time to leave,' she thought and picked up her bag, but her intention to leave vanished when two tough looking individuals walked through the door. Her instinct for trouble went into overdrive, 'You're not nice people,' she thought as she watched them search the room with their eyes. As one turned her way her sharp eyes noticed the bulge under his arm. 'Gun?' she wondered even as she stood and walked toward the telephone.

Her head told her to leave but her feet kept moving in the opposite direction. Why she did it she would never know but she walked up to the stranger in the phone queue and grabbed his arm saying, "John we really have to leave or the boss is going to go ballistic." Jonas glanced around at the woman and recognised a warning in her face. He glanced over her shoulder at the room and saw the reason.

"There's a back door," Beverley told him quietly.

Jonas hesitated for a second. "I need a phone."

"Use mine. I work in an office across the street. You do want to avoid them?" she asked pointedly.

"Yes, but I can't explain."

"Why does that not surprise me," she murmured as she pulled Jonas towards the rear door of the coffee shop. "I really am going to have to find another job," she continued as she showed him to her office, "before I get myself into something I can't handle."

Jonas found her attractive and too much of a diversion under the circumstances. To be polite he made a stab at small talk. "Your work is boring?" he guessed.

"Does it show?" she answered with a quick grin. "In here," she ordered as she opened the door.

Once inside Jonas moved the door blind and scanned the road for signs of the two men, but there was none. "How did you know?" Jonas asked curiously.

Beverley shrugged her shoulders, "I normally have an uncanny ability to avoid trouble having two brothers developed it when I was quite young. I should have just left."

"Thank you for not doing that," Jonas replied and the grin lit up his eyes and he flashed a row of neat white teeth.

'Oh, oh. There should be a warning sign above your head. Nice eyes too.' "Help yourself to the phone." Beverley motioned him to the desk and opened the blinds enough to see into the street without moving them. The two men had left the coffee shop and were standing in the street clearly undecided where to go. After a conversation one went back to their car and drove off and the other walked slowly down the street. "They are not giving up looking for you," she told him.

"They are not sure who I am or if I'm a threat. I need to keep it that way," Jonas replied. The woman sat at her desk and started to shuffle papers as she listened to a conversation that seemed to get stranger by the minute.

"Put me through to General Hammond…" After a minute or so she was listening to one half of a conversation. "No, I don't know where I am." Jonas eyes widened as he looked at Beverley. "What's this place called?"

"Manitou Springs," she answered.

"Man…" Jonas started to answer and was clearly interrupted.

"I don't know who she is. She helped me…. In an office called Bentley Accountancy… Colonel O…. No I haven't told her anything but one of the Russians…. Because Daniel told me…. Because I was the closest… No I don't know where he's gone. He told me to follow and then vanished… I mean evaporated, one minute he was there, the next he was… Outside of town, about five minutes drive… south of… a big house lots of ground. No, it's the only one surrounded by trees. OK… OK… Stay out of sight, yes I underst…" Jonas pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it in a bewildered manner. Then put it carefully back in place. "They're coming to get me," he told Beverley.

"Friends?"

"Yes… well, sort of…" he abortively explained.

"General, Colonel? You're military?" Jonas shrugged his shoulders. "You have been told not to tell me anything?" This time the shrug was apologetic.

"It was good of you to help me but why did you?" Jonas asked.

This time Beverley shrugged and they stared at each other and then both grinned. "Would you like some coffee?"

"I have been told not to move," Jonas responded.

"Well, you stand just there and I will make us some coffee," the redhead responded.

"That's not what I…"

"Don't you ever finish a sentence?" she asked cheekily as she walked across to the percolator.

"Why do you go out to get coffee?" Jonas asked as he saw her office supply.

"I'm here on my own most of the day. I like the noise and the bustle. It breaks the day up," she explained.

"My name's Jonas," he told her as he slid a book off the nearest shelf and started to leaf through it.

"Oh, so you're allowed to tell me your name, rank and serial number then?" she asked.

Jonas frowned, "serial number?"

Then it was her turn to look puzzled. "You know, your ID, never mind. I'm Beverley."

"Pleased to meet you," Jonas replied and held out his hand as he saw her face change. 'Concern, fear?' He turned quickly and saw the man that had been left in the street walking towards the door.

"Hide," Beverley told him.

"They saw me with you in the café," Jonas immediately responded.

She pushed him into the seat by the second desk. "Look busy!"

Jonas opened the book and began reading. Beverley put a cup of coffee down for him and moved back to her desk with the remaining cup. She reached her seat as the door was pushed open. The man looked briefly at Beverley then ignored her and approached Jonas's desk. Jonas glanced up from the book and smiled. "Can I help you?"

"You work here?" he asked brusquely.

Jonas hesitated and then thought of O'Neill. "No, I sit here for my health," he responded.

"John!" Beverley called out sharply. "Please excuse my colleague he's having a bad day. Perhaps I can help you." The man continued to stare at Jonas uncertainly for a moment and then turned and walked out of the office.

"Have you lost your mind?" Beverley asked in disbelief.

"No, I just followed someone's lead," Jonas commented.

"How do you mean?"

"The best form of defence is attack."

The red hair bounced as she shook her head in dismay, her large dark eyes staring at him. Jonas stared at her as if hypnotized and he began to think of how long he had been on earth and how in all that time he had felt alien. She was a new experience for him, with Beverley he did not feel different and he smiled at her.

The smile irritated her, 'how does he manage to stay out of trouble?'

Jonas moved to the window and carefully glanced out. "Well, he is not going anywhere so he's still suspicious. We will have to wait for reinforcements." Then he glanced around the room and his curiosity got the better of him. "What do you do here?"

Jonas had settled by the window to watch out for Colonel O'Neill. Beverley found herself talking about her family particularly her brothers and their antics. An impression formed for her of a lonely man with no family and probably few friends. It seemed such a shame to her that this should be so, after all he was not bad looking. 'In fact, when he was not smiling nervously he was very good looking,' she thought as she watched him. Suddenly as he glanced out of the window for the umpteenth time he stiffened and rose from his perch on the edge of her desk.

"What's wrong?" Beverley asked anxiously.

"Someone has just joined our watcher and it is not good news for me," Jonas replied as he continued to stare at the unfolding scene.

Beverley joined him at the window. "Who is it?"

"Someone who will recognise me and they are discussing this office. I think they will come back in here. Is there a back door?" he asked hopefully but Beverley shook her head.

"There is a window and a small alleyway beyond it," she told him. "The window's quite high but big enough to get through."

"I think we should leave," he responded immediately grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the storeroom behind the office.

"They don't want me," Beverley informed him quite firmly and began to pull away.

"Look you helped me. They don't know why you did that or who you are. They may well kill you just to be thorough. You have to come with me now."

Beverley looked fearfully back at the door and stopped resisting. What Jonas had said made sense to her and she pushed ahead to show him the window. It was a storeroom window and positioned far up the wall. They pulled a chair underneath the window on which to climb. Unfortunately the redhead's tight, below the knee skirt was not helpful when she tried to climb. After managing to step up to the chair she leaned against the wall and bent. Gripping the bottom of her skirt she tore a side seam leaving room for her legs to move. As she levered herself onto the window ledge her hips, then legs drifted past Jonas line of sight and drove the memory of Sam's little pink top completely from his mind. As he followed her through the window a loud knock sounded on the office door.

"We don't have a lot of time," he told her as he dropped into the alleyway. "We need to be where we can see my people arrive." Beverley nodded and headed down the alley and away from her office.

"How much longer are they likely to be?" she asked anxiously.

"Should be here now, Colonel O'Neill would not be slow arriving." As if to confirm his belief the sound of a helicopter became noticeable over the street traffic. "I hope that's them."

They peered cautiously out onto the street to watch the helicopter land. Beverley saw a tall grey haired man in fatigues jump out of the passenger seat followed by another man and a woman. She felt rather than saw Jonas lean beyond the alley edge to attract their attention. He motioned madly at her office down the street and the new arrivals seemed to understand what he was trying to tell them. They moved towards the office drawing guns as they went. 'Oh my goodness,' she thought, 'now we're going to have a gun battle on the street.'

The two men had broken into her office and were caught inside. They had heard the helicopter and were undecided what to do. It was then that Beverley noticed Jonas had disappeared back down the alleyway. She followed him cautiously not wanting to put herself or him in danger by rushing after him. A head and shoulders had appeared through the window as one of the men attempted to escape. Jonas was below the window and reached up, dragging him out and allowing him to drop in an untidy heap. As the second face appeared he jumped and hit it, the second man disappeared back inside to the sound of a chair falling over and various storeroom items being knocked across the room. The sound of a brief struggle ensued and Beverley guessed that Jonas's friends had caught that one inside.

Meanwhile Jonas had sat on the first man pinning him face down on the ground and pushing his arms high up his back. The man continued to struggle until he felt the muzzle of a gun being pressed against the side of his head. The woman had shimmied through the window and dropped beside them. "Hello Sam," Jonas greeted her, "good to see you."

"Are you OK?" the tall blonde asked with a trace of anxiety.

"Yes but what about…"

"The assault team arrived the same time we did here. They will get him back," Sam told him.

"So… What's going on?" Jonas asked a touch plaintively as he pulled his captive upright.

"Lieutenant Berringer," Sam rapped as she recognised the soldier from the SGC. "Now what would you be doing here? General Hammond is going to be very interested in what you have to say."

The Lieutenant flashed a dirty look at her but did not respond. Teal'c arrived and took control of him as the sound of several trucks pulling up penetrated the alleyway.

"The cavalry has arrived," Sam muttered and turned towards the redhead standing several feet down the alley. "Jonas?"

"This is Beverley, she helped me," Jonas explained and beckoned her to them.

As Beverley walked slowly towards her new friend the woman he had called Sam asked one question. "Why?"

"Do you have brothers?" Beverley responded.

"One," Sam replied. "I take it yours were trouble."

"You could say that," Beverley answered and grinned at some memory she chose not to share. "I don't suppose I am ever going to know what I have been involved in?"

"Just that you helped save two peoples lives," a voice behind her answered. Beverley swung round a little startled as she had not even heard the man approach. He was tall with grey hair and had large dark brown eyes that looked relieved. "They have him and he is safe and unharmed, except for a bump on the head. I think that until we know what is going on we had better take…?" the man's expression was a question.

"Beverley, Beverley Hawker," she supplied.

"Beverley somewhere safe. Jonas, take your friend to the trucks."

"Yes sir," Jonas responded with a grin.

The Interrogation

The grey walled cell contained four people, two were guards who watched the proceedings in silence. The other men faced each other across the desk placed next to the cell bunks. One injured General showing suppressed anger in every inch of his body and one prisoner leaning back in his chair smiling in an irritating fashion.

Hammond eyed the prisoner with a mixture of disgust and anger. This man had betrayed the SGC and the people he worked with and now met the attempted interrogation with silence. A total lack of concern for his future seemed to emanate from him. His refusal to talk to them was expected but his demeanour since being brought back made no sense. In fact, he appeared smug and that was worrying more than anything else. It was as if he expected to be released or rescued. He appeared certain that something was to happen that would save him from the charge of treason he now faced. His attitude was causing Hammond grave concern as they were no closer to knowing what was going on.

Jack peered through the cell window and tapped on the door to attract his Superior's attention. Catching sight of him was a relief for Hammond. He pushed himself up from the chair and grabbed the crutches leaning against the bunks. As he left the cell door swung closed a little harder than he'd intended it to a clear indication of his annoyance. "Not going well?" Jack asked as Hammond's eyes fell on Jack´s companion.

"Hello, Zzzig." Hammond greeted after a moments pause.

"Hello, General Hammondsss." Zzzig responded bouncing slowly on her spindly legs. Jack looked down at Zzzig a small smile playing on his face.

"If you have any ideas about how to loosen his tongue, I'm listening," Hammond told his old friend. He knew Jack well enough to know he had something in mind.

"Berringer has never seen Zzzig and knows very little about her. Most people are nervous around her and there has not been time for her to make friends yet. Most of them just think that I brought back an animal, a pet," Jack explained.

"I don't see how that helps us," Hammond commented puzzled but listening.

"Zzzig is hungry," Jack told him.

"We can't give her the man to eat," Hammond responded an immediately satisfying thought occurring to him.

"Do you think Berringer would be so sure if we left him with her?" Jack asked with an expressionless face but a gleam had entered his eyes.

An answering gleam lit Hammond's and he chuckled. "Zzzig do you understand we want you to frighten this man, not eat him?" Hammond asked liking the idea but a little unsure of whether to trust the spider.

Zzzig shifted her stance as she watched the two men in front of her. It seemed that they wanted her to play with this man they did not like. She liked the idea of playing as it would mean no boredom for a while. A broken hiss sounded from her belly and Jack realised she was trying to imitate Hammond's chuckle and grinned. "I think she likes the idea General."

Hammond nodded and they turned to go into the cell. "Stay out here for a minute," Jack told the spider, "I will let you in when we're ready for you." They re-entered the room as if half way through a conversation. Hammond took his lead from Jack as it was his idea and let him play it out assuming a supporting role. "If he's not talking then he is no use to us," Jack commented sparing the prisoner barely a glance.

"Then I might as well hand him over for transport to the prison facilities to await trial. We don't have room for him here," Hammond responded.

"Don't see the point in that," Jack replied. "Could get messy, very messy. Remember all the problems we had dealing with Makepeace and company."

"I don't see what else we can do, regulations state…"

"He does not need to leave the facilities. Now Zzzig's awake we can just get rid of him and report him missing in action. At least he can be useful," the grin that accompanied this comment wiped the smile from the soldier's face. "No one here is going to be concerned with his disappearance."

"Jack we can't do that…"

"I am sick to death of having one hand tied behind our backs all the time. If we are going to deal with these people on their own terms we're going to have to get our hands dirty," Jack stated. Jack had a momentary memory flash of Maybourne with a hotdog stuffed in his mouth and grimaced. He reached for the door and opened it glancing at two guards who were looking a little concerned and motioned them to leave. As the first guard walked into the corridor he jumped visibly. He had heard that the spider had woken up but had not expected it to be running free in the SGC corridors. He backed towards the cell door.

"Colonel!" he called uneasily.

"Zzzig! Leave that one alone and come in here," Jack called. The guard looked back and caught the wink the Colonel threw at him. The prisoner did not find the relieved look that came over the guards face comforting. A large body blocked the light from the corridor. "General, Zzzig as gotten a little bigger now and the door is a bit of a squeeze. I think we should leave her to it. She's been complaining of being hungry for the last two hours." Jack pushed the second guard out as he spoke and told Zzzig to let them out.

"What are you doing?" Berringer asked as he slowly rose.

Jack shrugged indifferently, "giving you a room mate. We actually don't have anywhere for this alien at the moment. Here is as good a place as any." Zzzig turned and rose on her back legs to slide into the room. She settled across the door and watched as the soldier tipped over his chair in a rush to get to the other side of the table. "Hope you like spiders," Jack commented. "Zzzig here she likes us fine. Liked Jaffa better but beggars can't be choosers can they Zzzig." Zzzig responded with a long hiss and began to advance on the soldier.

"You won't leave me here… You can't…" he began nervously and a silken thread shot over the table and lassoed him. Jack turned and left the room as the soldier screamed and scrambled into the corner between the bunks and the wall. He closed the cell door and looked at Hammond and the two guards waiting outside.

"Are you sure she won't eat him sir?" one of them asked nervously.

Jack grinned but then lost the smile. "Now it depends on who he is more afraid of Zzzig or the people he has been working for."

Zzzig had allowed the soldier to crawl under the bunk before she began to reel him in. As he felt himself sliding towards her he let out a scream. A hiss rattled in her throat, "Jack isss friend. Now he gives good meat, not hard meat. He not like you… to bad for you…" Another silken cord shot out and Zzzig reached for the soldier and flipped him over.

The silken cord began to wrap and tighten around him and he began to scream in earnest out of the screams came a rush of words. "I will tell you anything… tell you… get me out of here!" One of the guards moved to open the door but the Colonel raised a finger to indicate he wait for a moment. "I swear! It's the satellite! The weather satellite!"

Then Jack nodded and they opened the cell door. Zzzig looked up as they entered a faint red glow emanating from the green body. It was the first time Jack had seen this particular glow. "What's the red light?" he asked her.

"It happens when I eat," Zzzig explained, "I thought maybe I would eat him a little now?" The question in her voice brought a smile to Jack's face.

"OK, put it down and I will find you something else," Jack ordered.

"Sssomething asss tasssty?" Zzzig asked wistfully and released the body that was now firmly wrapped in a silken web.

The guards moved the prisoner away from the spider and tried to cut him loose. "Sir this stuff is strong and he is not breathing very well."

"Zzzig you wrapped him too tight," Jack chided.

"But he would have gotten away," Zzzig responded plaintively and Hammond choked on a laugh.

"Take the prisoner down to the infirmary and get him cleaned up," Hammond ordered.

As Berringer was being moved from the cell Jack stopped the trolley he was laid out on. "Just remember we can always give you back to her," he told him. The look Berringer threw him was pure hatred.

The Weather Satellite Data

Jonas arrived in a briefing room to find it already filled with people. Down one side of the table sat most of the Russian team and on the other two members of SG1. Restlessness pervaded the room as and everyone seemed less than happy. Then he noticed a set of large black eyes peering from under the spiral staircase. Up to this point no one had bothered to introduce him to Zzzig. He moved around the stairs and stared at the apparition. The apparition stared back and hissed gently. The late arrival backed away and slid into a seat next to Teal'c with a wide nervous smile. Everyone looked at him and he swallowed and stared up the table at an impatient Hammond.

"Sorry I'm late General Hammond," he apologised and shuffled the papers he had brought with him.

"That's OK Jonas, we are still waiting for Major Carter and Captain Tumanova," Hammond responded as his fingers set up a drumming on the conference table, echoing the noise emanating from Colonel O'Neill's fingers. They looked at each other and both stopped. Jack glanced away to check under the staircase to reassure himself that his new shadow had settled down out of the way.

On his return to the SGC he had discovered Zzzig happily setting up home in his office. She had decorated the walls with large iridescent cobwebs. One cobweb completely obscured the far corner of his room. As pretty as they were even under fluorescent lighting it was not what he had wanted to see in his office. He had explained patiently for him, that she could not just weave webs wherever she felt inclined too. Zzzig had sulked for a while climbing into the corner web and refusing to come out. Jack had sent for the cleaners.

Despite her displeasure at the prohibition Zzzig had followed Jack when he left the office. He had dropped into the cellblock to see how the interrogation was going. The subsequent game with the 'bad one' had brought Zzzig's chirpy nature back to the surface. Now she nestled under the staircase with her legs tucked under her body as a cushion. She peered through the staircase with interest sensing distrust in the room but could see no one who was not Jack's 'friends'. 'Humans are so very complicated,' she thought. Then she heard footsteps in the corridor and the She and Iakun entered the room. Several pairs of eyes that had been staring nervously at Zzzig turned towards the later comers.

"Well Major Carter… Captain, we're waiting to hear what you have discovered," Hammond stated. He leaned forward in anticipation of some light being shed on recent events. Sam passed out the papers she was holding to the assembled men. Although their findings were vague, the results mapped out on the papers could have worldwide implications. A suspicion crossed her mind that someone had decided to use the SGC as scapegoats if anything went wrong with whatever they were planning. If this were the case it would explain why Hammond and the Russian had been targeted.

Jack glanced through the paperwork and then round the table wondering how many actually understood even half of what was in front of them. He certainly did not. Jonas was studying the papers avidly he noticed and shook his head, 'did the guy ever give it a break. At least he was not grinning.' Something prodded his arm and he looked round to find that Zzzig had sidled up to the desk.

"Does that creature have to be in here," the Russian Colonel asked warily.

Jonas' head rose from the papers to take in the complainant. Then he looked at Colonel O'Neill as did everyone in the room except Hammond.

"Zzzig stays with Colonel O'Neill until we have assigned her to someone else," Hammond replied. "Her presence here is not an issue. Major Carter, would you explain your findings."

The Russian shifted uncomfortably. There had been nothing in any reports referring to an alien presence on the base beyond the Jaffa and Kelowan. He wondered why it had not been handed over to Area 51. It seemed an improbable 'pet'. He felt the Colonel's eyes on him and found that irritating half smile had appeared. 'That man seems to read my mind,' he thought annoyed.

"This goes back to the evening before last as far as Iakun and I can tell. We had noticed an anomaly in the reading from the first weather satellite to be launched. It was late and we decided to look into it yesterday." Iakun nodded agreement with what was being said.

"There were not many people around as it was late," he added, "but Major Carter and I did see Lieutenant Berringer in the corridor outside the laboratory."

"We did not think anything of it at the time, no reason to question his presence," Sam confirmed.

"You think he was checking you out?" Jack asked.

"It was common knowledge on the base that I was involved in the project. Maybe he'd been told to keep an eye on me," Sam affirmed.

"Then why did they take Iakun and not you?" the Russian Team Leader questioned.

"I would think that they had arranged to make a play for both," Jack interrupted. "Having a Russian going missing and both the General and Carter would make it look like your people had something to do with the disappearances," Jack replied showing Sam that they had been thinking along the same lines. "What better way to divert us from whatever they're up to than have us fighting among ourselves. By the way Carter what are they up too?"

"Not certain sir. All we definitely know is that the first satellite launch is now broadcasting a signal in code, to recipients unknown, reason unknown. We have not yet been able to decode it, have no idea how it was incorporated into the satellite or what their intentions may be," Sam told the group.

"In fact we don't know anything at all," Jack added dropping the lighter tone of voice.

"There are people going over the other three satellites to ensure nothing else is launched that we don't know about. In the meantime we need to know what has been done and if it poses a threat to anyone," Hammond looked at the Russian Liaison Officer thoughtfully. "It's not probable that any of your people would be involved in this, however it would not hurt for you make to make some enquiries of your own. We need to keep each other informed of any findings. The fact that they took one of your people makes it unlikely there will be anything for you to find, however..."

"It would not be prudent to leave a stone unturned," the Russian supplied for him and Hammond nodded pleased with the apparent improvement in relations with the Russians.

Jack was frowning and Hammond felt uneasy, "Colonel?"

"Taking Tumanova may have just been because he and Carter had found something that would warn us there's something going on. If that's the case, they just missed Carter," Jack stared at Hammond, "you were the only one they were really after. Are we even talking about the same set of people here?"

"It's a good point Colonel but we do not have any answers as yet and I am still uncertain were to start," Hammond responded. "There have been people watching my family's home since they were moved. No one has turned up there."

"Not interested or knew they had missed the opportunity," Jack questioned and Hammond shrugged.

The General looked around the table at the assembled people and wondered at the changes taking place in the SGC. The mixture of former enemies and aliens within his command would cause bewilderment and concern within some sections of the military. He wondered again, as he had a lot over the last two days if the danger came from within military ranks. The NID was not the only organisation with the ability to threaten the continuance of the SGC. 'I think its time I looked up an old friend.'

Jonas Makes a Friend

The corridor outside Jack O'Neill's office had one occupant. Jonas was stood at the office door trying to decide whether or not to enter. Not a difficult choice you would have thought but he knew the Colonel was not there. Finally he grabbed the door handle and pushed it open. The room looked very clean, much cleaner and tidier than the last time he had reason to seek out Colonel O'Neill. No piles of paper on the desk, all books neatly stowed in the bookcase in the corner. The only thing that looked out of place was the large white sheet hanging in the corner of the room. It took him a second to realise it was not a sheet but a large dense fluorescing web that appeared to be moving.

Zzzig pushed her forward legs out of the nest and climbed out of the web. She had noticed the door open and that the replacement for Jack's young one had come into the room. As she settled on the floor he moved nervously near the door and she wondered if he would leave. Several soldiers had put their heads into the room over the last few hours but none had come to talk, just to look.

"Hello," Jonas ventured and took a step closer.

"Hello," Zzzig responded without the hiss that had been troubling her and she found the correct sound satisfying.

"So you can talk," Jonas observed and his smile reasserted itself.

"Yes," she confirmed clipping the sound short and hiding her hiss. She sidled closer, "you like this room?"

"This room?" Jonas asked. "It is a good office I suppose."

"I clean it. Jack was angry and took my webs down so I clean now just put bed in corner."

"You have cleaned it very well," Jonas told her, "but what have you done with the things on the desk?"

"Jack do not like the things on the desk, so I hide them."

Jonas' grin got larger. "He might not like them but he will like it less if he can't find them."

"Ohhh? Ohhh!" Zzzig scuttled back into her web and emerged with a bundle wrapped in cobwebs and deposited in on the desk. Jonas sat in Jack's chair and began to remove the silken threads from around the pile of paperwork. Zzzig settled beside the desk to watch him. "You want to see Jack?"

"No I came to see you," Jonas responded absently as he tried to scrape a sticky residue off his hands. The top and bottom sheet were definitely ruined but he thought he could save the rest of the work.

"I have a visitor, yes?" Zzzig sounded pleased.

"Yes you have a visitor." Jonas felt like he was talking to a small child but already had more than a suspicion that Zzzig was a lot more intelligent than she appeared. "I'm told you woke up earlier than expected," Jonas stated looking at the large black eyes concentrated on him before turning back to straightening out the paperwork.

"They expected me to wake eventually, but I did not expect to wake."

Jonas was curious about that but something else was bothering him, something no one else seemed to be thinking about. "Why did you wake when you did?"

"The young one woke me." Zzzig explained.

"The young one? What young one?" was his puzzled response.

"Jack's young one, Daniel."

"Daniel… I see." Jonas did not see very much except that Daniel had been busy and he wondered where he was. He also wondered why he considered that this alien should be of help. "Did he tell you why he woke you up?"

"I must help Jack. This I like to do."

"Help him how?"

"He said I would know… not explain well, just told me not to eat anyone."

"Would you have eaten someone?"

"I was very hungry," Zzzig replied and Jonas could have sworn that her eyes twinkled when she said it.

'This is a strange place,' Jonas thought and not for the first time. 'Enemies work together and peoples and creatures from other planets come and go. Everyone co-operates to protect. And yet there are people on this planet who would jeopardise this. If only my world had a little of this co-operation perhaps it would survive…has survived.'

The door opened to admit Jack O'Neill and he stopped in surprise to find Jonas sat at his desk. "I have the wrong office?" he enquired mildly.

"I was just talking to your friend," Jonas explained as he stood up.

Jack took in the rearranged papers on his desk. "You find what you were looking for?"

"Your friend…"

"Zzzig." Jack interrupted as he leaned against the door watching the latest addition to his team.

"Zzzig tidied the office for you," Jonas explained.

"It looks very nice Zzzig," Jack responded.

"But she tidied your desk as well. I have just put everything back. Except these," Jonas explained as he lifted the two sticky sheets of paper. He noticed the small quiver in Jack's lips as he tried not a smile and felt relieved. For a moment he thought Jack believed he'd been snooping.

Jack jerked away from the door and stepped across to his desk. The paper was covered in sticky web and the first page of the report was illegible. The other paper was a set of doodles he had descended to when he had become bored with the report and he dropped it in the bin with a sigh.

"You must not tidy my desk Zzzig," Jack explained calmly.

"You not like…"

"I know, but I have to do it anyway," then Jack grinned. "Well the reports already late and now I have an excuse. What have the two of you been talking about anyway?"

"Daniel Jackson," Jonas told him, "and why he woke both Zzzig and me up."

"And what is he up to at the moment. Yes, that has been exercising my mind as well," Jack admitted.

"It has?" Jonas asked in vague surprise although when he thought about it he could not think why he was. The Colonel was another one who was a lot brighter than he chose to appear.

Zzzig's Surprise

Sam fed the separated data into her computer again and reset the program. She had been at it for several hours and was no nearer decoding the signal than at the start. Frustration rode her fingertips as she began the process again from another angle. Concentration on the task was so tight that she did not notice him come into the room. He stood watching her work as he often did marvelling at her single-minded determination, but he knew it was time she had a break. Considering his options he decided the direct approach was more appropriate this time.

"Carter, take a break," he called. "Banging your head against a door won't open it any quicker."

Sam's fingers stopped tapping at the keyboard. "It's a PC sir and I need to crack this code."

"There are others working on it besides you, come and get something to eat. You have been at it for hours." A stubborn look appeared on her face so he added. "It's an order Carter."

Sam sighed as she stood up. He had a way of being right at the most inconvenient moments. A rumble from her stomach reinforced the sensible suggestion and Sam followed her CO towards the elevator. She caught up as he was waiting for the doors to open. "Where's Zzzig?"

Jack grinned and a twinkle appearing in his eyes. "She's taken a liking to Jonas so he is telling her all about his world and why he's at the SGC. That should keep them both out of mischief for a while."

Sam grinned in response. "Is she tiring you out sir?"

"Zzzig has too many questions," he responded as the doors opened. "It's like dealing with a child."

"I thought you liked kids' sir."

"Sure I do but preferably with two legs."

As the doors closed Sam began chuckling, Zzzig had certainly added a new dimension to the team's life. "What are we going to do with her sir?"

"Don't know Carter, I think Saya was probably right about us bringing her back here but what were we supposed to do?"

Sam shot a furtive look at Jack when he mentioned the Tok'ra's name but he seemed preoccupied with the problem of Zzzig. The memory of Saya no longer appeared to bother him. 'Not that any of us could tell if it did.' The rye thought faded as her thoughts returned to the spider.

"Zzzig's not stupid sir," Sam told him quietly as the elevator disgorged them and the smell of hot food hit her nose. The betraying rumble happened again and Jack laughed at her embarrassment.

"Serves you right for neglecting it for so long," Jack teased.

Sam grinned and speeded up, 'food was such a good idea,' she thought as she started to leave her CO behind.

Teal'c and Jonas had already found seats in the corner of the cafeteria. The reason for their choice was quickly apparent. Zzzig squatted in the corner behind the table working her way through a plate of raw meat. Jack's eyebrows crept up in surprise. "She was not going to eat," Jonas told him by way of greeting. "Just wanted to see where we ate."

"The cook brought her the food," Teal'c added. "He seemed most curious about his guest."

In fact as Jack looked around he realised that most of the room's occupants were ignoring her presence. The ones that were not ignoring her seemed more curious than bothered. 'I guess we get used to the unusual,' Jack mused.

Sam arrived with a plate of food and plonked herself down in the chair nearest to Zzzig. She reached down and stroked her eye ridge before diving into her lunch. Jack wandered away and picked up his own plate before returning to draw up another chair on the opposite side between Zzzig and Teal'c. He glanced down at Zzzig's meal, which she was delicately picking up one small piece at a time and feeding into her mouth.

"That is not much food," he commented.

"Zzzig like to eat with you…" she began.

"I… it's I," Jonas pointed out.

"No it is not," the spider responded, "it is Zzzig."

"Zzzig is your name, we use I when we refer to ourselves," Jonas explained. "My name is Jonas, but I use I when I refer to me."

"Are you sure you are helping?" Jack enquired with a smirk.

Zzzig's hissing chuckle followed the comment. "Jonas helps and I speak better."

Jack shook his head in bemusement as he heard the sniggers from nearby tables from which the occupants were listening to the conversation. Zzzig seemed to have a knack of making friends and allies without even trying. No one seemed afraid of her anymore even though her game with the traitor had become common knowledge. What she was going to do was a question running through his mind with more urgency now. Hammond had received a communiqué from area 51 asking about reports of a large spider wandering the corridors of the SGC. It had also requested a report on the way the alien had been used to extract information. Jack was not altogether sure how they were going to protect her.

"Sir?" Sam's voice penetrated Jack's preoccupied thoughts. "I should get back to my work."

"Can I sssee?" Zzzig asked.

Sam and Jack exchanged looks and he grinned at her. "Why not," he responded to Zzzig. "I think it's probably your turn to baby-sit," he told Sam.

Jonas looked at his watch and then around the table his eyes finally settling on Teal'c. "Can you teach me to do that meditation thing?"

"It is not a simple discipline, it will take time," Teal'c responded.

"I have no where to go until our next mission," Jonas more than half sighed and attracted Jack's attention away from his second in command.

"Bored Jonas? Or is there somewhere you'd rather be?" Jack queried with a slight smile. He had noticed Jonas phase out more than once since their return from Manitou Springs.

"Not exactly. More frustrated as there is nothing I can do to help look for the people who tried to take General Hammond. As long as they're… out there," he waved his hands generally upwards, "Beverley can't get on with her life."

"Don't worry Jonas, we will find them and stop them. When we have figured out what's to stop," Jack told him and threw Teal'c a look that said keep an eye on him. Teal'c nodded imperceptibly.

The group broke up and Zzzig drifted after Sam to see where she worked. There wasn't a lot of room in the laboratory so Sam grabbed a couple of airmen to help move the central bench to one side and allow Zzzig to enter the room. Then she cleared one end so that Zzzig could lift her front onto it.

The spider settled where she was directed glistening eyes surveying Sam's domain as her latest companion settled back to work. There was so much for her to look at that for over an hour she studied individual items, picking up flasks and instruments. When she finished with them they were put carefully back in place. The bottles and flasks were quickly dismissed as uninteresting unless they had contents.

Eventually Zzzig reached for the bookcase that she decided required some considerable study. 'These things are important to my friends,' she thought, and lifted a large encyclopaedia from the bottom and laid it on the bench. She began to carefully turn the pages making sure she left no web between the sheets. Zzzig had quickly realised that sticking paper together annoyed everyone.

Apart from noticing Zzzig's interest in the books Sam ignored her as she concentrated on the data streaming across her computer screen. A frustrated grunt was the only sound to be heard every few minutes as a run ended.

Zzzig spent a long time studying the shapes on the pages. Although the pictures were interesting and she was particularly taken with the ones that looked like food sources, the multitude of small shapes took her main attention. She noticed how often they were repeated, that they were grouped in small sets and these were also often repeated. The sequence of the book pages registered first and Zzzig recognised that the pages were being counted and looked around for more instances of the shapes within the room. She moved to the door carrying the book and disturbing Sam's concentration.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked distractedly.

"Ssee something in corridor," Zzzig responded, "I not go anywhere."

Sam turned back to the computer and reset the last run. Zzzig peered along the corridor. What she was looking for was immediately apparent. Two of the symbols on the bottom of the pages were also painted on the corridor wall. Zzzig needed someone to tell her how to make the sound but staring at the She did not cause a reaction, her mind was too busy to feel it. She moved back to her place and quickly turned the pages until she found the same shapes remembering how many pages it had taken to reach it. The corridors of her new home had numbers and she wondered what they meant, 'I will have to ask Jack.'

The flickering light from the computer screen intruded into her exploration of the book and she placed it on the bench and stared at the screen. After remaining motionless for a while she tried to move closer and tipped the bench. "Zzzig! Be careful!" Sam responded and jumped up. "What are you trying to do?"

"Light marchesss like booksss," Zzzig told her excitedly.

"What?" Then Sam looked at the screen. "You mean this?" she asked pointing at the screen.

"Yesss"

"What is it you can see?"

"It goesss on and off," Zzzig tried to explain.

"You mean it flickers that's the information I am looking at," Sam explained.

"Yesss," Zzzig responded.

"I don't understand you Zzzig," Sam responded exasperated and then took a deep breath. "OK try again, what do you mean."

Zzzig thought for a moment and responded, "many marchesss."

"Zzzig I don't have time for this…" Sam began and Zzzig lifted the book.

She flitted to a page and then laid a copy of the symbols in web on the desk. "It hasss thisss many marchesss."

Sam looked down at the web and realised she was looking at the number 3. She stared at the screen wondering what Zzzig was seeing. She picked up the VDU screen and keyboard and carefully deposited them on the bench. After so many unprofitable hours she was willing to try anything to solve the puzzle of the additional data stream. She reset the data again and began to run it. Suddenly a spider's leg shot forward and Zzzig tapped the keyboard, holding the leg still over it and then repeating the tap. Then a second leg joined the first and she speeded up. The digital data began to disintegrate and Sam leaned forward intent on stopping Zzzig, when a high-pitched whine began to emanate from the oscilloscope. The single data stream had split. Sam pushed Zzzig's legs aside and began typing rapidly as three separate sets of data appeared on the screen.

Zzzig moved away from the computer and watched the She as her fingers poked away at the buttons with what seemed to her incredible speed. 'I think I would like lots of… fingers on my legs,' she thought.

It only took Sam a short while to resolve the remaining problems and print out the results. She grinned at Zzzig as she headed for the door. "Come on. We need to let General Hammond know what we have found." Zzzig slid through the door after her and followed the She down to the elevator. When they reached Hammond's office it was quiet and appeared to be deserted. Major Carter rushed in impetuously and stopped in surprise. Zzzig sidled in behind her and could see the General's feet under the desk. As this did not puzzle her at all she was surprised by the She's first action.

"General Hammond?" Sam spun on her heels and stared around the small office. She knew he should be there as his injury made him considerably less mobile. Hammond's head popped up from behind the desk. A hand appeared wielding a long thin stick. He looked sheepish, not an expression Sam was accustomed to seeing on his face. She looked at the stick and a grin began to appear on her face. "Have an itch Sir?" she asked a touch mischievously.

"Don't tell Frazier. My leg's itching and it's driving me nuts," he acknowledged apprehensively.

"I know it can Sir, but you really should not slide stuff into the cast."

"How else can I reach it," Hammond responded but his face reflected the Major's grin. "Don't you knock on a Superior's door before entering?"

"Sorry Sir," Sam responded and forged on into what had brought her to him. "I know what the additional data stream contains. Zzzig saw it first and then I managed to decode it. There are three closely-knit signals, not one. I suspect that they are broadcasting to the other satellites that are to be sent up."

"What are they telling them to do?" Hammond asked. "Can you tell that?"

"An educated guess would be two signals to the other satellites and one to Earth. The signal does not contain any information."

"I don't understand," Hammond responded. "Why send a signal that does not contain information?"

"Well Sir, I think the signals from all three satellites are supposed to combine."

"That seems a complicated way of controlling something," Hammond commented. "Well now we know what to look for on the other satellites we should be able to remove it. The one already in orbit is another matter."

"It may not be that simple Sir," Sam explained.

"How so Major?"

"If the signals don't sequence as they have been designed Sir. Well, they could have been designed with a failsafe to trigger if interfered with."

"What do you suggest we do Major?" Hammond demanded. "We can't just leave it."

"No Sir, we need to find the source and shut it all down."

"Well now we recognise the signals and know what we're looking for in the other satellites, can we trace its origin?"

"The signals are broadcasting, not aimed at a specific target," Sam told him.

"Then we trace the parts that have been tampered with and see where they lead," Hammond decided.

"Sir, I should warn you that we should not interrupt the signals until we have the whole story."

"Why would that be Major?"

"I'm not sure Sir, it's just a gut feeling but I would hate for us to set something off accidentally."

Hammond dismissed Sam as he reached for the phone. At least now he had something to do. More than any of them he wanted to know who had tried to grab him and how he was going to ensure his family's safety.

The leak

Jonas lay on the bed of a guest room staring at the ceiling. Beverley was now a resident of Cheyenne Mountain for her own protection. They had given her the best room they had available and made her comfortable. He could not show her what she had become involved in, could not explain why she was a prisoner of her own people. A sense of guilt for allowing her to become involved kept him from sleep. Until they found these people it was possible that she was in danger and they could not let her go. They had to find them soon and let her go back to her life. At least she was not locked in her room and could go to the Mess Hall to eat, 'accompanied by a guard of course. Perhaps I should go keep her company for a while.'

The thought was immediately chased away by the sound of the alarm. Springing from the bed he tore open the door and scanned the corridor. Two soldiers at the junction dived his way, one falling as a bullet took him in the shoulder.

'We're under attack!' Jonas thought as he ran to help the injured soldier. "Beverley!" He suddenly realised the bullets came from the area of her room and leapt past the soldiers to the corner.

"Sir!" The injured soldier called and threw his weapon to him. Jonas nodded and joined the soldier at the junction as more men ran to join them.

"What's happening?" Jonas asked.

"Prisoner escaped from the infirmary and he's armed," one of the soldiers responded as running feet sounded down the corridor towards them.

"I think we have noticed that," a voice Jonas recognised butted in. He turned as a heavily armed O'Neill passed him to peer round the corner

"Beverley," Jonas stated and watched O'Neill nod as he considered the situation.

"She will be OK if she does not come out of the room. He can't know she's there," O'Neill responded and signalled the men to move forward. Suddenly silence descended and Jonas peered carefully round the corner. The corridor was empty and he glanced at O'Neill anxiously. Jack's face revealed nothing of what he was thinking, but Jonas felt his shoulder grabbed as he was pulled out of the way. O'Neill pointed at him and the spot where he was now stood and Jonas knew he was being ordered to stay put. A scream rang out followed by language Jonas was still unfamiliar with, but recognised the voice.

"Beverley!" he gasped and only O'Neill's swift action stopped him from rushing towards the sound. As O'Neill hauled him to a halt a shout was heard.

"O'Neill! "I know you're there O'Neill. Anyone gets too close and I will kill her! I want out of here. Now!"

O'Neill slammed himself back against the wall frustration written clear on his face. "He had to have help to get this far. He is not working alone!" Jonas heard him growl.

A radio crackled to life and Sam's message took any decisions out of their hands. "Colonel! Zzzig's flipped, we can't hold her!"

Jonas and O'Neill stared at each other as the message sunk in and turned together. Jack darted into the corridor with Jonas right behind him and came to a skidding halt. The escaping prisoner held Beverley as a shield. The gun thrust under her lower jaw did not waver. His other arm wrapped around her body pinned her arms to her sides. Jack saw the brief flicker of fear in his eyes disappear as he and Jonas pulled up. A harsh laugh erupted from Berringer as he backed to the wall and glanced behind to make sure no threat existed there.

Beverley was not struggling. The bruise already visible on her cheek stood out against her pale skin and she looked a little dazed. Then Jack saw her brief nod and noted anger not fear in her eyes. 'Good girl,' he thought as he realised she would not panic.

"Get out of my way!" Berringer yelled at them and forced Beverley to walk towards them while keeping his back to the wall. It was then that Jack saw Zzzig, but what happened was too quick for him to do anything but watch. She whipped around the far end of the corridor shooting out a length of web, which caught both Berringer's hand and the gun. The impact forced the weapon away from Beverley's chin in an unstoppable jerking motion. The gun fired on reflex, but far too late to cause her injury. The bullet hammered harmlessly into the ceiling as both hand and gun were glued to the wall.

Beverley tore herself away from her panicking captor and tripped, falling on her stomach. She looked up and a fearful scream ripped from her. Zzzig however had not stopped. She sprung over Beverley, trapping Berringer firmly against the wall. Out of the corner of his eye Jack saw Jonas reach Beverley and pull her away. Teal'c and Carter arrived from the same direction as Zzzig and slowed as they approached. Jack was conscious that Beverley had become a severe problem but there was no time to think of it at that moment. "Zzzig! Don't kill him!"

"He hurtsss Jonasss mate," Zzzig hissed vehemently. "I eat him now."

"We need him alive Zzzig, there are things he can tell us."

"He no tellsss anythingssss, I kill!"

"I'll tell! I'll tell you anything you want," the trapped man screamed.

"Zzzig!" Jack hollered in his best martinet voice. "Put him down now!"

Whether Zzzig was going to obey him became a mute point. A single gunshot rang out from behind the Colonel. The bullet cut through Zzzig's leg and entered the man's temple. Jack spun round to find the three soldiers also turning to look back. The four men ran back along the corridor but only found another group of four coming towards them.

"Did you pass anyone in the corridor?" Jack demanded.

"No sir."

"Search all the rooms on this level, find who fired that shot!" The men spread out and began searching for the missing gunman. Jack carefully threw open a door, swinging away quickly to avoid any hidden hazard. After checking he entered the room to make a thorough search. Sam and Teal'c came in behind him causing him to start. Jack's annoyed expression elicited a mouthed 'sorry' from Sam and a raised eyebrow from Teal'c. It only took moments to check the room was clear and they turned to leave.

"Berringer's dead and Zzzig's hurt," Sam told him as they re-entered the corridor.

"Jonas's friend?" Jack enquired as he eyed the next door.

"Storeroom," Teal'c commented and reached for the handle.

"Just shaken up. Suffering from one shock too many. Zzzig was a little more than she was ready for," Sam commented as she took position to one side of the door. "Jonas has gone with them to the infirmary although I'm not sure what Janet can do for Zzzig's leg. It's shattered." The storeroom was little more than a closet and they shut the door.

"What does Zzzig say about it?" Jack asked with a frown.

"Zzzig says she must eat and sssleep again. She would appear to be in a bad mood, there is a red glow." A ghost of a smile appeared as Teal'c made the soft hissing sound and Jack grinned briefly as the mood lightened. Then the smile disappeared as they approached another door.

"I know this is a bit of a warren but how can someone just disappear? We have to find who shot Berringer." A silence fell between them as they continued the search.

The Infirmary

Two frustrating hours later Jack made his way down to the infirmary after an urgent call to attend came from Doctor Frazier. 'How can someone just disappear… nothing from the search, nothing on camera… I am sick of boxing shadows on this one." As he entered the normally well-ordered confines of Janet's world his preoccupation fled. He stopped in the doorway a grin spreading across his face despite all attempts to suppress it. Beverley was seated on one of the beds with Jonas beside her. Both wore identical grins as they watched the pantomime at the other end of the room. Jack could see that their 'problem' had recovered her equilibrium but further thoughts about what to do with Beverley fled again as he took in the scene. Further down two beds had been upturned to make room for a bad tempered arachnid. Zzzig had started to wrap herself in silk and Janet was trying to prevent the substance from sticking to the infirmary walls.

"You cannot build a cocoon in here!" The normally cool doctor shouted at Zzzig, who was ignoring her. Every time Janet got too close, Zzzig would pick her up and deposit her on the other side of the upturned bed. Then Zzzig continued to spin silk ignoring the anxious and frustrated doctor until she threatened her web again. Jack could not resist just watching the performance until Janet caught sight of him. "Colonel! You have to stop this."

"She seems intent on settling in here," Jack responded with a smirk.

"Here for sssick and damagesss. I ssstay here," Zzzig informed Jack.

"Here is for sick and damages," Jack told Janet with a straight face. "The silk is medicinal you know, it's what they wrapped me in when I was injured. Stitched me up good they did." The straight face didn't hold and a gleeful expression took its place. He approached Zzzig cautiously as she was hissing with pain as she started to wrap her injured leg. A brief look of concern crossed his face but disappeared quickly. "You have been here for two hours, have you been causing trouble all this time?" Jack asked with a chuckle.

"I not trouble, I make ssself better. No more needlessss!" She bent a baleful eye on Janet who was not the least bit worried by her aggressiveness.

At the mention of needles Jack's winced in sympathy. "She been sticking needles in you?"

"Private room," Janet told Jack. "Get her to move to one of the cells. I can watch over her there."

Jack glanced round at the audience that had appeared. They were obviously waiting to see if he could handle Zzzig in a temper.

"You can't settle here, we need this area for emergencies. We have a nice room just down the hall you can have all to yourself," Jack told her. "Can you still move on your own?"

"Not enough legsss to move now. Must ssstay here," Zzzig told him petulantly.

"We will move you. Just don't wrap anything else yet," Jack instructed and much to everyone surprise Zzzig stopped spinning the cocoon and settled patiently to wait.

"She listened to him." Jack heard the whispered comment from Beverley.

"He is her friend," Jonas whispered back.

Jack turned away from Zzig as he began issuing the orders that would get her moved. "Bring a stores trolley in here, the infirmary trolleys won't hold her. Don't take too long or she will be here till she heals, Doc won't like that," he added.

The comment sent two medics scuttling out of the room. They returned shortly with a trolley that was still a little small for Zzzig. It took several minutes to push, pull and twist Zzzig into a precarious balance upon the trolley. Jack rubbed his sticky hands on his trousers promising himself a shower as soon as the spider was settled. Two of the medics looked even stickier than him, their hands sticking to the trolley as they pushed it out of the infirmary. Janet followed picking up a bottle of solvent and gauze on her way.

Jack strolled across to Jonas and Beverley as the group disappeared out of the door. "How're you feeling?" he asked their guest.

Beverley grinned in response and shrugged. "Like I have joined a mad house. I'm still not sure I believe what I'm seeing, but that creature did save my life."

"Yes she did," he responded. "What has Jonas told you about Zzzig?"

"Nothing … except that she is a friend. She is huge." Beverley looked at him thoughtfully, "genetic experiment?"

"I'm sorry, but its…"

"Classified," Beverley finished for him. "What's worrying me is what will happen to me now?"

"I guess you will have a debriefing and a few papers to sign. We will have you out of here as soon as we can. I'm sorry we can't explain what's happening."

"If I'm here much longer I don't think there will be a lot left for you to explain," Beverley chuckled and then shivered as her smile fled. "He would have killed me." Jonas put a protective arm around his new friend's shoulder and asked Jack a question with his eyes. Jack knew he was worried for her but there was little he could do. What happened now depended on General Hammond and what information they could discover on this whole sorry mess.

Jack touched her shoulder lightly. "Don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you." As he left them he hoped they would be able to keep that promise. His progress was halted by the appearance of the General.

"We have found no trace of the gunman Colonel. Until we do I think we should keep Jonas's friend in the infirmary. However, we do have a break on the satellite parts. They are tracing back to a common source and we should have an address for the buyers before the day is out."

"We could do with some good news sir," Jack responded and he turned to follow Hammond as he hobbled back to his office.

What Are You Doing?

As the evening wore on the events of the afternoon left Beverley with the feeling that the infirmary was unnaturally quiet. Janet settled her in a screened off area in one corner. Beverley had been reluctant to go to the Commissary to eat so a meal had been brought down. Now Janet shooed a reluctant Jonas away. "You need rest. Come back in the morning, late. Beverley also needs to rest."

Jonas looked as if he might actually argue with her but then hunched his shoulders and left the infirmary. Janet grinned at his back as she watched him leave. When all her patients where settled and staff appraised of their tasks for the night, Janet turned down the lights and left. A single angle-poise lamp shone where the night nurse sat reading. Janet stopped by the room assigned to Zzzig and looked in on the large cocoon that now hung in the corner. 'Well my life is never dull in the SGC.' Janet disappeared down the corridor towards home, the events of the day giving way in her mind to seeing her daughter.

Jack entered the corridor just in time to see the Doctor disappear. He stuck his head around the door of the infirmary and found the night nurse sat at the desk. "Everything OK?" he whispered and the man nodded. As he backed out of the door he bumped into Sam. "She's OK," he told her.

"I was just going to check on Zzzig," Sam replied and they both moved on down the corridor.

Jack noticed the light flickering in the room as he reached for the door. "What the…?" Stood beside the cocoon was Daniel, he appeared to be stroking the outer casing. "Daniel?" Jack made the name a question. "What are you doing?"

"Just checking on an old friend," he responded. "How're you doing?"

"Better than the last time," he responded with a wry grin. "Staying long?"

"Can't stay. Hi Sam."

"Hello Daniel," Sam responded and walked over to him. She put out a hand hesitantly and it passed through him.

"Sorry," Daniel murmured, and then he vanished.

"Well…" Sam drawled. "That could get to be annoying."

"Tell me about it," Jack responded and they quietly closed the door and walked off down the corridor. A few moments later the cocoon began to split. Slowly at first, rocking slightly with the struggle within. Then the small initial rent flew open, ripping down the length of the cocoon. The flaps spread apart depositing Zzzig on the floor. She stood motionless one leg held in the air. Moisture dripped from her limbs as she hissed quietly to herself and took in her surroundings. Then slowly she began stretching her leg and checking it. The leg showed no sign of its recent injury and she settled it on the floor to take her weight. She turned slowly studying the room and then raised herself to peer out through the small window in the door. No one was in the corridor so she went back to the cocoon and repaired the rent. Leaving the room exactly as it was she slid into the corridor and made her way to the nearest airshaft. Climbing inside the shaft was a squeeze but she pulled the door closed behind her and began to climb towards the surface. Just below the manhole cover she built a nest and settled to wait. The young one would tell her when it was time to move.

Night settled around the mountain as Jack made his way across the compound to his car. He noticed Sam stood with Jonas and diverted to the group.

"We were just going for a drink Colonel," Jonas told him. "Care to join us?"

"Well…" Jack began.

"We were just about to ring Teal'c and ask him if he wanted to come," Sam explained and Jonas's eyes widened slightly. It was clear to Jack that this was news to Jonas and he hid the smile that threatened.

"Well if Teal'c is coming," he responded. Sam noticed the twinkle that appeared in his eyes in response to the carrot and grinned as she dialled her mobile. Within a couple of minutes Teal'c had joined them and they moved off to spend the evening together. In the shadows just outside the compound a soldier was joined by two others.

They watched the cars disappear down the mountain rode. "I don't understand why we have to get him. He has no control over the launches and we need the satellites launched," one muttered morosely.

"Without him SG1 will collapse, he is their centre and they are a continual hindrance. If necessary we are to kill all of them, including the stubborn General," the soldier responded. "We will try again tomorrow. As long as they can't trace who we are then we have time to get rid of them."

"Surely there are others within the SGC who could be problematic?"

"Of course but without Hammond they will be impotent. We can shut it down and acquire the Stargate."

"The boss has that much power?"

"He has money, it's all we need. Besides, once the weapon is deployed they will have to do anything we want them to," the soldier finished and walked away from them. The shadows faded back into the trees and disappeared.

Where is Colonel O'Neill?

This morning Jack really needed his sunglasses and wondered how Carter's head felt after rather more alcohol than they usually downed. Jonas had fallen asleep on them rather early, showing about as much resistance to the demon drink as Daniel. Jack grinned at the comparison and then grimaced as he felt the skin on his face stretch uncomfortably, 'boy am I dehydrated.' He locked the door of his truck and turned to cross the compound when he felt pain in his neck. For a moment he thought he had been stung and then his legs gave way. He felt rather than saw the shadows fall across his prone body and then descended into darkness.

In her nest at the top of the airshaft Zzzig moved. Jack was in danger and she was to follow and rescue him. The young one had said that Jack must not die and she also did not want him to die. The cover resisted and groaned as the clamps twisted and broke. Zzzig scuttled into the shade of the mountainside and followed her instincts. A helicopter was preparing to lift at the edge of the compound and she scuttled beneath and wrapped her legs around the skis as it took off. The aircraft hung for a second and then continued climbing, no one inside noticed the additional weight. Inside the helicopter an unconscious Colonel lay between two men and an SGC airman sat at the controls.

"We're to take him way out and kill him and dump his body. No witnesses, boss wants him missing, not confirmed dead." The helicopter moved rapidly away from Cheyenne Mountain.

Sam got out of her car and glanced in the direction of the helicopter. It was still close enough to make her head throb in rhythm and she turned and hurried into the mountain. 'Food… Must eat. Wonder how the others are feeling.' In her present state the Commissary was definitely her first stop before finding a computer terminal. This search for the people responsible for tampering with the Satellites was taking too long. She had an idea and thought that maybe Beverley with her financial knowledge might be able to help. It occurred to her that someone might be slowing the investigation down. 'Very suspicious minded of you Sam,' she thought and then grinned, 'I guess a certain Colonel is rubbing off on me.'

The elevator door was not easy to negotiate loaded down with a tray of cereal and coffee, especially with a large individual trying to get in while you're leaving.

"Sorry Mam, Sir, Major…" the soldier stammered and the faintest hint of colour began to rise up his face.

Sam stared at an unfamiliar face. "New here marine?"

"Two weeks," he responded briefly.

"Don't worry about it," Sam responded as she manoeuvred past him. A shy vulnerable and if Sam admitted to herself, appealing look crossed his face. She had seen it before and refrained from sighing. 'What is it with men?' As the elevator door closed on the marine Sam made a mental note to avoid the latest infatuated recruit. A short walk brought her to the infirmary where she discovered Jonas already in situ. Her tray joined two others and she grinned cheerfully at Beverley. "How're you feeling today?"

"OK," Beverley responded with an echoing grin. "Thank you for thinking of me."

"I had an ulterior motive," Sam confessed and Jonas dropped his spoon onto a tray.

"What?"

"Beverley may be able to help us trace some people," Sam explained.

"She does not have clearance," Jonas pointed out.

"For this she won't need it, she could just help me as I'm not familiar with the process and only have a vague idea of what to try," added ingeniously.

"What is it you want?" Beverley asked curiously.

"I want to find the people who paid for some scientific equipment. We can follow the money to its source can't we?" There was a query in the question but Sam was certain it would not be that simple.

"That depends," Beverley replied.

"On what?" Jonas asked.

"There are ways of hiding a money trail and it depends on how clever they have been. You can use dummy accounts or companies, cash transactions, even pay someone else to buy it for you. That person may have no idea who you are. Then you give the completed equipment to someone else again. The trail can be very complicated. To be honest I know what can be done, but I have never tried to follow one. Don't have access to private banking information for a start and I'm not into the money laundering line. Until now my friends and neighbours have all been open books. Well, as far as I know."

"Well we don't have that problem here, any information we want can be accessed through the computers. Do you want to give it a go?" Sam asked and Beverley nodded.

"If it will help get me out of here… not that I'm not enjoying your company, but I would like to go home." So a short time later the two SG team member took Beverley off to see if they could do what appeared to be taking the authorities a great deal of time to achieve. About an hour later General Hammond interrupted them as he limped into the office on a new cast. A rocker had been applied to the heel and he was limping along without his stick.

"General," a reproving note entered Sam's voice. "Where's your stick?"

"Forgot it," he responded innocently and then the twinkle disappeared from his blue eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to trace who bought the parts." Hammond looked pointedly at Beverley and Sam explained rapidly. "Beverley is suggesting ideas of how we might follow the money trail."

"I would not have authorised her further involvement in this Major," Hammond commented reprovingly.

"Sorry sir, but as she is here I thought it would give her something to do and she has been helpful. We have even managed to trace beyond a person that received cash to the probable account it was taken from."

"How?" Hammond asked, intrigued despite his annoyance.

"The person who gave the cash was from the same town. The amounts taken from accounts in the preceding four days only had three matches and only one of those had an outgoing amount that also matched," Beverley explained. "A little cleverer and we would have lost it there."

"How?" he asked again.

"If they had brought the money in from outside, or met in another town, state, from two separate places, we would not have stood a chance of following the trail. Country wide there would have been too much data," Sam explained for her.

"So you think you will be able to find them?" Hammond asked brightening visibly at the good sounding news.

"It depends on how paranoid they are and how long the trail is," Sam responded. "I think we have got them sir," Sam suddenly blurted as she studied the screen.

Hammond moved forward to look over her shoulder. "What have you got?"

"A Washington account Sir."

A smile of triumph appeared on his face. "This is good news. Where is Colonel O'Neill, has anyone seen him this morning?" There was no response so Hammond moved to the intercom and called for Colonel O'Neill to join him in his office. Half an hour later after a call to the gate they realised he was missing. During this time a trip by Janet to check on Zzzig caused further concern. She decided to check the cocoon for changes, curious about the medicinal qualities referred to by O'Neill. The extensive check revealed that the cocoon was empty and she made her way to Hammond's office.

By the time she knocked on the door Janet already knew Colonel O'Neill was also missing. "Sorry to cause you more concern, sir but Zzzig is gone."

"What do you mean, gone. A spider that size can't just disappear," Hammond rapped.

"The cocoon is empty. Either it has been repaired so that we would not notice she had left it or she has ascended like Daniel. There is no trace of her left in there."

"Ascended!" Hammond yelled and Janet winced slightly.

"Sorry sir that was meant to be a joke," Janet apologised.

The dire look he gave her informed her it was no joking matter and he ordered another complete search of the facility. Eventually the broken airshaft cover was found along with the web just inside. This was the only clue that showed at least one of the missing had left the facility. A widening search of the surrounding area turned up no sign of the missing spider. There was no clue to the whereabouts of Colonel O'Neill. With recent events in mind Hammond feared the worst and gave orders for a force to be assembled in Washington. If they could get to these people they might be able to recover his 2IC.

It was sometime later that the assault team gathered around their target just outside Washington. The high wall surrounding the house and gardens loomed out of the darkness. The group had been briefed on the general layout beyond and walls. Through the large wrought iron gates several yards away Sam looked over a garden of shrubs and hedges breaking up a long rise to the front entrance. Sam had misgivings as she looked over the area they had to cross. Their attack force would be vulnerable if discovered too early with the grounds so open. 'There is no way we're going to get in without discovery. If they have the Colonel in there…'

"They will see us coming," Teal'c commented as if reading her thoughts.

"We will have to be as fast as possible," she responded as she flicked the switch on her radio. "All set?" The echo of her comment lasted a moment or two as the various sections acknowledged they were in place. "Go." The one word initiated the scaling of walls and the removal of the two guards at the gate. Everything went quietly and soldiers glided across the grounds to reach the house without any sign of an alarm.

However, the quiet outside was not reflected within the building. "Intruders in the grounds!" The guard ran out of the security room yelling at the top of his voice. Behind him several screens showed dark figures creeping along the outside walls of the house. A crescendo of breaking timber and glass echoed through the building. Confusion reigned on the lower floor as SG personnel poured through windows and doors. A round up of the occupants began quickly but not without incident.

Sam entered through the front door to the sound of gunfire from the back of the house. Teal'c followed behind and led several soldiers down towards the basement. Jonas headed through the hall towards the sound of the gunfire with the team assigned to him. A gun shot from upstairs prompted Sam to take the stairs two at a time and her back up followed close behind. Checking the rooms for occupants brought them to a body. A quick inspection revealed the self-inflicted head wound. Someone had clearly not wished to be taken into custody. One suicide was more than enough for Sam, the fact that they only found two more individuals upstairs and they gave up was a relief. 'Not a sign of Jack or his body thankfully…but where is he?' She put thoughts of the Colonel away to concentrate on the job in hand. Then as the search of the upper floor ended Sam's radio kicked in.

"Major Carter," Teal'c sounded muffled and static broke up the transmission.

"What is it Teal'c?" Sam asked as she left the prisoners to be brought down by her squad.

"I think you need to see what we have found quickly. There appears to be a countdown on this equipment," Teal'c explained. "Jonas is checking it out but is uncertain of its purpose."

"I'm on my way," Sam told him and broke into a run. 'Now what? Something in the basement that Teal'c does not like the look of.' Sam burst into a room filled with banks of equipment. Lots of different coloured indicator lights were flashing but her eyes immediately alighted on a digital clock counting backwards on the far wall. 20.35.46… 20.35.45… 20.35.44. The message was clear and her reaction immediate. "What have you found Jonas?"

"Can't turn it off. I have tried but it denies access to everything I do." Jonas slid out of the chair to give Sam room to work. "Only the one active console, the others are all locked out."

"Teal'c, see if you can find someone who knows what's going on. Don't move anyone from the premises, if this place is going to blow up they are going with it," Sam told him.

A nod of understanding from Teal'c and he disappeared from the room bounding up the stairs from the cellar. "Where are the prisoners?" he asked a soldier at the top of the stairwell.

"In the lobby," was the immediate response and Teal'c made his way there.

Twenty-three men where being escorted into the foyer, some wounded. Their hands where fastened behind their backs and their faces reflected varying degrees of sullenness and fear. A tall man sat on the floor caught his eye and he moved around the group to reach him. He stood above him and glanced down, then let his eyes roam over the assembled group. He watched as several bodies where removed from the premises and turned to the nearest guard. "Do we have any casualties?"

"Lieutenant Bourne bought it and we have a couple of injuries, not serious."

Teal'c nodded confirmation of the information and turned back to the group of prisoners being assembled. "There is a countdown in progress," he announced. "If this is to result in these premises being destroyed it would be wise to tell us now." When no one responded he continued to the guards around them. "We keep them here until we know what is happening. If this building is destroyed they will also be destroyed." Faint grins appeared on one or two of the soldiers faces as they hustled the remaining captives to the floor.

Jonas appeared beside him. "Has anyone said anything about the timer?" Jonas asked.

"Nothing," Teal'c responded briefly.

"Then whatever it controls is not in this building," Jonas stated, "otherwise someone would talk."

"That is not necessarily true Jonas," Teal'c replied.

"But probable," Jonas persisted and Teal'c nodded agreement. "Then we have twenty hours to find and stop whatever is happening."

To Lose a Colonel

Jack was in a jungle he realised, could smell and feel it. There was heat on his back and sweat running down his face. Shadows flickered on his eyelids and the chung, chung, chung of chopper blades sang in his ears. He did not know this place or how he got there but he knew how to survive. As he struggled through the clinging vegetation and sound of the chopper got closer. He could not see it, did not know if they were friends or enemies. 'I'm trapped in Apocalypse Now,' he thought, 'that will teach me to watch old films.' Slowly he realised that he was dreaming but became aware that the sound of the chopper blades were real. Chung, chung, chung, the sound was penetrating his skull and forcing him to wake up. Jack heard a moan and realised it had come from him.

"He's coming round," a loud voice penetrated the confusion in his mind.

"OK, get him out," another voice commanded.

Jack felt himself dragged over a ridge and thudded to the ground. He tried to open his eyes and straighten himself out but barely moved. A second attempt rolled him onto his stomach. His limbs felt heavy but his mind had begun to function properly. 'I have been drugged… how?' Then he remembered the compound and something stinging him in the neck. 'Damn, now what?' He finally opened his eyes and turned his head. A pair of fatigue-clad legs appeared just short of his eyes but moved away as soon as he focused on them. Pushing himself up on his elbows gave him more stability. He looked up at a familiar face but no name came to mind.

"I know you," Jack stated and dropped his forehead to the ground closing his eyes and gathering his wits. 'I'm in deep shit,' he realised. The handgun pointed down at him clarified his mind amazingly. If he did not move he was going to die, he knew it and tensed muscles trying to assess his returning strength, 'still too weak' he thought. He rolled slowly over and sat up groggily shaking his head.

"Don't get up Colonel, there really is little point." Jack took in the two civilians stood a few feet behind the soldier and the helicopter in the background. The blades were still rotating.

"Not staying long are we?" he asked.

"You are not going anywhere," the man replied. "You have interfered for the last time. I'm sure you will be missed… by some." Then the man grinned and Jack did not like what he saw. "Of course they won't know you're dead. You will be hunted. A shame we can't let you run, it would be fun watching you trying to prove you are not responsible but we're not taking any more risks. I just wanted you to know you have lost."

He raised the gun and Jack jerked backwards from his sitting position but not far enough. He felt the bullet enter his chest and his body flipped full length in the dirt and he let out an involuntary scream. Then a dark blur appear from beyond the helicopter and he heard a familiar hissing. 'Zzzig?' As his vision faded he heard a scream and knew it was not his own. He smiled with satisfaction, 'does not look like I'm going alone. See you in hell Sho'va…' He chuckled at his choice of name for the man who had shot him, but the chuckle died as pain overwhelmed the initial numbing shock of the bullet. The chuckle became a choking cough and Jack reached a hand to his mouth and touched frothy blood. 'Punctured lung,' the thought drifted into his mind as his life began to ebb. Blood pumped from the chest wound and his vision darkened. The sound of the helicopter blades faded and Jack knew that at least one of his killers had escaped.

A shadow fell across his dimming vision. "Jack, you mussst not go," a voice hissed in his ear.

"Sorry Zzzig, can't help it," he whispered as he felt himself being lifted. The musty smell of his friend enveloped him and he realised she was moving him. A pointless exercise this far from medical help. "Zzzig I'm losing to much blood…" His voice faded and oblivion claimed him.

Later Jack felt cold, in fact he felt very cold. 'They got it wrong…' he thought in mild surprise. 'Hell is not warm… it's freezing here. No pain… No light…No Hell?' Then he realised he was not lying down. At least it did not feel like he was lying down and a slow comforting rocking motion became apparent. 'That's a relief, maybe I made it to heaven after all…' Consciousness drifted away for a while and when it returned Jack became immediately aware of being wrapped tightly. 'Déja vu… Not dead…' A memory of the same feeling and having to fight free of bindings came. Followed by the knowledge that the friend he made that day had rescued him again. He could still feel movement and wondered where he was going. 'Zzzig old girl, where are you taking me?'

'Sssleep Jack,' the sibilant hiss invaded his head. 'I care… you heal.'

'Argue or not,' he thought as he felt her presence.

'Not…' A deep sleep claimed Jack, encouraged by the gentle power of his friend's mind.

The sun slowly lit up the trees in a reddening glow that held the promise of a warm dry day on the morrow. An evening breeze rose through the trees and swirled gently around the small clearing. Zzzig had draped a large cobweb across the grassy area and tried to settle for the night. The translucent lace glistened pinkly in the setting sun giving the area a ghostly appearance. From a high branch overhanging the area two large cocoons rocked gently. One glistened white, but the other had a darker hue and a more shrivelled appearance.

She felt really close to Jack now, feeling the rhythm of his sleep and dreams, sensing him gaining strength. She shifted restlessly on her web, 'he is too vulnerable and they are not kind to him'. She ran nimbly across the web and touched the bright cocoon. 'All good… Tomorrow he will be strong enough for me to remove bullet, tomorrow he will heal quickly'. It was obvious to Zzzig that she needed to take him home but it was a long way and she knew he would not survive the journey. 'Tomorrow I unwrap and then we go home.' Then thoughts of the SGC and her other friends made her wonder, 'I cannot reach the She to tell her he is safe… Why can I not reach the She?' A final glance around the clearing assured her everything was safe. Zzzig settled under the cocoons giving the darker one a thoughtful look. 'Eat? No tomorrow I eat.' Her mind slipped into rest but her eyes kept watch as night fell.

In the dark cocoon a man struggled immobilised in his tightly wrapped nightmare. There was plenty of time for him to think about how he came to be paralysed and trapped like a mummy in a tomb. He was certain he had killed the Colonel. There was no one to control the apparition that attacked him. 'How had it found us?' A dreadful certainty as to his ultimate fate filled him. If he had thought of Zzzig as an intelligent being it might have occurred to him that so far she had not killed him, despite what he had done to her friend. Unfortunately he was too busy silently screaming, a state that lasted for sometime until exhaustion closed down his mind.

The early sunlight filtered through the trees setting the dew drenched web sparkling. Zzzig stirred and stretched her legs sending a show of droplets dancing in the gentle breeze. A short reach brought her to the nearest cocoon, still glistening white in the early morning moisture. Lifting it carefully with her front legs Zzzig detached it from the branch and lowered it to the ground.

She eyed the second cocoon thoughtfully and then also moved that to the leaf litter at the foot of the tree. As it met the ground a muffled sound came from within and she turned it over to check that it was still intact. Prompted by a curiosity as to how her prisoner was faring she shredded the cocoon silk around his head and stepped back.

He had gone beyond terrified. Zzzig watched the pale, immobile face and the large black eyes staring back at her. The cocoon lay on its side and the head hung awkwardly. She tried to straighten him up and propped him against the tree. After scuttling away to check O'Neill's cocoon she came back with a bundle of greens that she squeezed over his mouth, allowing water to dribble onto his parched lips. The ferocious anger of the day before was gone as had her wish to punish him. Even so, there was no reason for her to release her prisoner. 'Jack will decide what is to be done with him.'

She lifted the white cocoon and moved it further away from the tree and began to unwrap her friend. A set of enlarged black eyes watched her movements but Zzzig worked untroubled by the hatred and fear emanating from the prisoner. As his whole attention was focused on her Zzzig was not concerned. She believed he could do her no harm so the change in his emotional level went unnoticed. Carefully removing her patient from the healing cocoon took all her concentration.

In the abandoned dark cocoon a hand twitched slowly. Dark eyes slid down and then returned to watching the spider. With a tingling sensation heralding the returning feeling in his limbs, he realised that escape lay close. O'Neill's repulsive pet would pay for doing this to him. Then he saw O'Neill's head appear from the cocoon it was juggling. 'That man has more lives than a cat!' he thought angrily. His frustration intensified and the strong emotion accelerated the return of feeling in his limbs. The tingling in his toes began a slow crawl up his legs. A crafty gleam appeared in his eyes and he concentrated on his returning ability to move.

The world slowly began to register for Jack. Light, pain and confusion all vied for prominence as he awoke. Jack's felt his body moving and turning of its own volition. The sense of disorientation increased as he tried to remember why he was in pain. 'Where the hell am I?' The light turned to greens and browns. Images sharpened to reveal trees and large sheets of cobwebs. A large dark shape appeared to be moving him but with his back to it he could not tell what it was. He sensed danger and began to struggle. Whatever was restricting his movement began to loosen and fall away. Then his shoulder felt wet and he raised a hand to the sudden increased point of pain. Bright red colour coated the hand and cleared his mind. 'Blood. I'm injured.' His movements rolled him away from the shadowy shape behind him and he looked up into a pair of large multifaceted eyes.

"Jack you must lie ssstill. I must take bullet from hole."

A huge spider was talking to him. There was no way there a huge spider was here, 'not on Earth… It's talking and I have flipped.' He tried to crawl away but could not lift his body.

"Jack it isss me. Zzzig. I am your friend, he isss your enemy. I help now."

"Who's he?" Jack asked weakly. "Where's my team?"

The spider picked him up and turned him so he could see the second cocoon. "He hurt you. You don't remember," Zzzig stated with concern.

"No," Jack replied as he looked at the familiar face.

"He tried to kill you," Zzzig explained. "Now I must stop blood and heal you." She turned him back over and lay him down gently.

"Friend?" Jack asked faintly. He knew he was losing consciousness again and began to move feebly. A light appeared beside him and a shadow fell across his face. A familiar face drifted down through the enclosing fog and into focus.

"Jack don't fight Zzzig, she can help you."

"Daniel?"

"Yes Jack. Now relax and let her fix you up."

"Where are we Daniel?" Jack knew he sounded plaintive, but he was unable to steady his voice.

"Safe," Daniel replied. "You will remember when you wake up, I promise." Daniel's face faded and Jack slipped back into darkness.

"That isss good, now he will not feel when I remove bullet," Zzzig told Daniel as his figure began to shimmer.

"Your prisoner has gone," Daniel called softly as he drifted away from them.

Fatal Error

Sam was still in the basement tapping away at the first accessible keyboard she had found but she no longer worked alone. It did not make her feel any easier as the specialists that had joined her were no nearer solving the problem. The air pulsed with a silent desperation as the countdown continued. They were now certain that something was being triggered remotely but not desperate enough to cut the link and probably trigger a violent response.

The tension in the air crawled up her spine and she unconsciously stretched, arching her back where she sat. A face had begun to intrude on her efforts breaking her desperately needed concentration. 'Where's the Colonel?' The thought that these people may have killed him would not go away. Frustration brought her fists down on either side of the keyboard drawing several pairs of eyes to her corner of the room. "I'm an Astrophysicist not a computer wizard!" she barked fiercely at the screen. Breaking into computer programs seemed to have become another of her talents but she was beginning to feel out of her depth. Give her alien technology anytime over this frustration. 'Alien technology? I wonder…'

Teal'c touched her shoulder calling her attention from the screen. "You require a break. You have been sat here for six hours. Others are here now."

"In a minute Teal'c, I have an idea."

"Then tell someone else and let them assist. O'Neill would not allow you to continue without a break." A pair of tired blue eyes stared up at him and Teal'c saw the fear hidden in their depths. It was a fear reflected in his own heart for the safety of O'Neill. "In the kitchen I have found a supply of cake. They have boxes of a sweet called 'Jaffa Cakes'," Teal'c told her thoughtfully. "I am told these are popular with the English. I think I will like a people who named a cake Jaffa," he continued with a straight face. The comment elicited a small smile from Sam lighting up her eyes. Teal'c was satisfied. He had lightened her mind for a moment as O'Neill would have. "I will bring you some of these and a drink and you will tell someone your thought and take a break," he made it sound like an order and turned to leave before she could object.

An hour later as Sam descended the stairs feeling tired but refreshed all hell broke loose in the basement area. She rushed into the room to find it buzzing with recriminations. A silence fell as she looked around her eyes settling on a clock which now read 00.00.00. "What's happened?" she snapped.

"My consul froze and I reset. The countered flipped to zero," a worried technician explained. "We have done it with several of the consuls and nothing happened. Nothing has exploded," he added hopefully.

"Not here," Sam responded ominously and wondered where and how bad it was.

A massive explosion rocked the evening quiet of Cape Canaveral. A spectacular fireball blew out the doors and windows of a large storage depot, sending security teams of the 45th Space Wing into disaster recovery mode. The base personnel were greeted by utter devastation as they arrived on the scene. The satellites had been kept under guard but only two of the guards were within the building at the time so only two actual fatalities. Several people outside or near the building lay about the tarmac suffering from varying degrees of burns, injuries from flying masonry and shock. The guards who had just left the storage office as the explosion occurred were the most severely burned.

Luckily for the majority of personnel the Commander of the 45th had the foresight to remove the suspicious materials put under his control. He had ordered it stored away from anything remotely important so the un-launched weather satellites were some distance from the main buildings and launch site.

In close orbit around the planet the only established satellite began manoeuvring swinging itself into a higher orbit. It was the first indication that NASA had lost control. In Peking, London and Damascus three hidden devices hummed onto standby. Each carefully sized to take control of ten square miles of the centre of each city. Many people noticed the flickering of lights and temporary glitches in machinery but it lasted a few seconds and did not repeat. Only the power companies thought seriously about it and they found nothing to concern them.

Beverley

The infirmary was quiet in the gloom of the night-lights. Three long days had passed since Beverley's attempted abduction. This night her bed was the only occupied one in the infirmary. A male nurse sat reading by the light of an angle poised lamp near the infirmary door. He glanced up as the sound of a whimper came from behind curtains pulled around Beverley's bed and he rose to investigate. As he approached the sound increased and he could hear her beginning to move restlessly in her sleep. He pulled back the curtains as she let out a scream.

Beverley came bolt upright beside her bed in one fluid move. Her eyes were wide with fear until they focused on her surroundings. She let out a small sigh and dropped to sit on her bed and leaned forward with her hands on her face. "You OK?" the nurse questioned as he dropped a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The shoulder shook under his hand but she looked up and nodded. "You have been through a lot. It's not surprising that you're having nightmares."

"Have they found the Colonel or Zzzig yet?" Beverley asked as she slid back to sit on top of the bed.

"No, but we expect everyone to be back tomorrow. That was clever of you to trace those people." The nurse watched his patient wondering about her present state of mind. She had coped really well with all the different shocks thrown at her by the SGC particularly the spider.

Beverley sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I would like some fresh air. This place is closing in on me." The past few days were taking there toll. Being alone for so long was not the normal state of her life. A shudder shook her and the nurse looked on sympathetically.

"I will ask if I can take you up into the compound. It can't hurt you to get some air. I'm afraid it's night time, only stars."

"Stars?" Beverley echoed with a wistful lilt to her voice.

The nurse grinned at her and turned to leave. "I won't be long but I need to check that it's OK to take you up." Beverley smiled her appreciation and he disappeared. The guard in the corridor looked in every few minutes while she was alone. Although she knew they were keeping an eye on her for her own safety it was becoming irritating.

Half an hour later the nurse returned, bringing with him a jacket and trousers. "It's a little cold up there and this will be warmer than your own gear. General Hammond was still in his office." He grinned, "the old man never seems to go home. He said I could take you up top for a short while."

Beverley grabbed the gear and pushed the nurse beyond the curtain pulling it across. "I won't be a moment."

A couple of minutes later Beverley was headed for the elevator ahead of her saviour. She noticed that the guard was missing from his post in the corridor and wondered. "Where's the guard?"

"Dunno, a call of nature I guess. He knows we will be gone a while."

"Ohh," Beverley replied as she entered the elevator. "Am I no longer at risk?"

"Well, I guess they think they have all the people they're looking for. They will probably let you go home when everyone's back."

"That would be nice," Beverley grinned. "Not that I haven't enjoyed your hospitality.

The nurse laughed as the elevator began its ascent. "You know we have a lot of wildlife up there it comes right into the compound at night. If you're interested I know this cute little family but we need to creep up on them."

"Family of what?" Beverley asked intrigued.

"Wait and see." As they walked away from the tunnel Beverley stared up into the star field above her.

"You don't realise how beautiful something is until you start to miss seeing it," she murmured and then looked at her companion. "Where is this family?"

"Over here," he answered and began walking towards the car pound. "They have tucked themselves into a hole just inside the fencing. You find them raiding the trash sometimes but they have become something of a resident feature so no one bothers them."

"What are they?" Beverley asked as he pointed to a spot by the fence.

"Just have a look," replied with a grin.

Beverley moved forward and crouched down to peer in the hole. The grin disappeared from the nurse's face, replaced by an ugly glint in his eyes as he brought a small cosh down on her head. She dropped unconscious to the ground and he glanced quickly around the compound to ensure no one had seen. The boot of his car just a couple of feet away was quickly opened and Beverley was bundled unceremoniously into it.

"You won't be helping them find any more of our people. In fact you will make excellent bait to remove the remaining annoyances." The boot lid slammed down and Beverley was driven from the base and disappeared along with the last SGC infiltrator. Half an hour later a guard change over was due but they could not find the infirmary guard. A search was instigated and his body was discovered in a storeroom. A few minutes later General Hammond woke to the sound of his bleeper ringing urgently in his ear. He picked up the phone and dialled the base. "There had better be a good reason for this call soldier," growled a tired man.

"There has been a security breach Sir. The woman, Miss Hawker is missing and Sergeant Robinson has been found dead. The duty nurse is also missing."

"What do you know?"

"The Nurse left the base an hour ago. Although the woman was with him when he went through the checkout, she did not appear to be in his car as it left base." The soldier was not stupid enough to say she was not in it.

"Was the car searched?" Hammond asked.

"The guard had no reason to Sir, the man was well known to him."

"Who authorised the nurse to take Miss Hawker out of the mountain?"

"Security says the pass had your signature on it Sir."

"I did not sign any such pass!" Hammond growled as he began pulling on clothes with one hand. "Contact the authorities and have them apprehended. I don't believe she would have left the base willingly."

"She seemed willing enough Sir. Apparently they were talking about some animals the nurse had seen in the parking lot."

"Then whatever happened, it happened after he got her outside. I'm coming in." Hammond dropped the phone back on its hook and finished dressing. He arrived back at base as the SGC teams arrived back from Washington. His first thought was Jonas, 'how am I going to explain this to him?'

Jonas sat in his room staring at a grey wall, a position he had been in for over an hour. The teams had returned to find the SGC in turmoil several hours before. One soldier was dead and another missing. Most important of all, to him, Beverley was gone. It seemed to him that in some respects this world was worse than his own. 'At least on Kelowna I knew who the enemy were. Here they're invisible, I can't tell friend from foe. Where have they taken Beverley, why? What possible use could she be to them?' She has nothing to do with the SGC… except that she helped me.'

A knock on the door brought him out of his brooding. He turned to see Sam poke her head around the door. "You OK Jonas?" Sam asked with concern.

"No. How about you?" Jonas responded.

"We have taken out two cells of saboteurs and they're still coming out of the woodwork," Sam hissed frustrated that her anger had no outlet. "The explosions did not cause to much damage at NASA but we lost the rest of the weather satellites."

"It could have been worse," Jonas agreed, "but some people did die."

Sam nodded as she perched herself on his desk. "Why Beverley?" She said.

"Why the Colonel? I guess taking out Colonel O'Neill might have some reasonable explanation but the only help Beverley gave us was with the trace," Sam mused. "They must have been afraid we'd find something else by back tracking the money and equipment trails."

"Then we should keep looking," Jonas swung around to face his computer screen. "All we have to do is follow the process she showed us and look for another trail."

Sam was not sure it would do any good but she had no better idea. She leaned across and began working. Another knock came at the door a short while later. "Sorry to disturb you major but you have a visitor who is quite insistent about seeing you. General Hammond had him escorted to the briefing room."

"Who is it?" Sam asked as she stood up.

"An Agent Barrett from the NID Major. He asked particularly for you."

"Go find Teal'c and wait for me in my lab. I won't be long," Sam told Jonas.

Retribution

A rocking sensation woke Jack. He felt warm, comfortable and unconcerned at first, but the rocking turned into a wider swinging motion. The rocking pressed him against his back and then on his side. It sent him in wider and wider arcs and was making him dizzy. He knew a cocoon surrounded him again and that he felt better than he had in a while, 'but what is Zzzig doing now?' Then he heard a soft growl. 'That's not Zzzig.' The sense of safety and comfort evaporated. A slow spin brought his head around to face the cause of the motion. Through the thinner fibres of this cocoon he saw the latest problem. 'Oh hell!' he thought. Stretched on hind legs and far more curious than Jack wanted was a full grown brown bear. An instant later it managed to dislodge the cocoon. Jack and his thin veil of protection crashed to the ground and rolled a few feet. The bear sauntered after the rolling lump of silk. Jack saw massive paws heading his way and an oversized head that rocked back and forth as it drew closer. The bear's thick, curved claws seemed unbelievably long, at least six inches each. Its teeth looked even longer when the bear shoved its muzzle into the silk directly in front of Jack's face and snorted. "Whoof!" Then it batted at the cocoon. It was playing Jack knew, but only for the moment.

"Zzzig!" Jack yelled as he struggled to break free of the cocoon. "Zzzig!" His frantic yells startled the bear and it reared up on its hind feet and growled. Then it dropped back to all fours and approached again, prowling in slowly tightening circles around Jack and moving in and out of his field of vision. The growling increased as it sidled closer. Bears are attracted by the scent of human fear,' Jack reasoned wishing he could turn off his emotions.

"Zzzig!" Jack roared as he struggled desperately to free himself from the thick bands of spider silk. Then a shadow fell across him. One of Zzzig's legs glided across his vision. The spider stood between Jack and the bear. The frustrated bear gave a roar of rage and charged. Jack suddenly felt the cocoon sail through the air. Zzzig had flicked the cocoon to the edge of the clearing and out of danger as easily as Jack would toss a coin. When he landed Jack let out a short bark of pain. The fall had forced air from his freshly healed chest. "Crap!" he winced, but a moment later Jack opened his eyes and realized that the hard fall had also cracked the dried cocoon wall.

The crack lined up perfectly with his left eye and Jack had a clear sight of Zzzig. She was on the bear with her legs were wrapped tightly around it. The bear reared trying to fling her off, but it overbalanced. The bear fell backwards and the two combatants rolled away. Jack worked fiercely as he watched. The bear and Zzzig seemed about equally matched and at any moment she might need his help. He groaned as he forced his injured chest muscles to tighten against the silk. He wormed and squirmed and finally freed one hand. He slipped it up in front of his body to shoulder height and grasped the edge of the torn cocoon. He jerked down hard and felt the silk rending. As he worked Zzzig wrapped a leg around the bear's neck. Jack pulled harder and felt the entire side of the cocoon give way just as a loud crack reverberated in the clearing. Zzzig had broken the bear's neck and it went down like an oversized sack of potatoes.

Jack sighed with relief as the bear's head dropped at a strange angle and the body went limp. Zzzig never hesitated. She immediately began to wrap her latest victim in silk. 'Broke a bear's neck… I'm SO glad you're a friend girl.' Jack thought as he fell back amid the shredded cocoon. With her latest meal quickly secured Zzzig ambled across to check on her friend. She inspected the crack in the cocoon but decided it no longer required repair. Carefully rolling it over so that Jack was looking up at her through the breach she hissed gently.

"You are almost well Jack," she whispered at the cocoon. "Soon we go home." Jack opened his mouth to reply as a shot sounded. Zzzig flipped onto her back by the force of the hit letting out a thin high-pitched scream of distress. Blood oozed from a hole in her carapace, as a man Jack did not recognise ran towards them raising his weapon to fire again. Trapped temporarily on her back Zzzig lashed out with the only weapon she had. A thin ribbon of silk flew across the glade and caught the gun and hand in its sticky end. She tugged on the line to flip herself upright and charged her attacker.

Another man appeared from the trees much closer to them. Jack immediately recognised the soldier who had shot him. Zzzig's escaped prisoner raised a P90 with the clear intent of finishing his companion's job for him.

"Son of a bitch!" Jack snarled as he threw the cocoon into a roll. Although the soldier saw it coming he had no time to turn. The cocoon caught him in the back of his legs. The force sent him sprawling. He loosened his grip on the weapon as he fell. Jack immediately punched his raised hands forward through the weakened cocoon wall. It disintegrated and Jack reached out and grabbed the man's head. Without having to think he grasped the chin and the back of the head and twisted sharply. He felt the neck shatter under the sudden pressure and his opponent went limp. Jack let him go and tore at the remnants of the cocoon as he heard the second attacker scream but the next instant the scream was chopped short. Zzzig had silenced him.

Jack crawled out of the shredded cocoon cradling his chest. When he reached Zzzig she'd sagged to the ground hissing in pain. The second gunman was next to her dead. Zzzig hissed softly to herself. "How bad are you hurt Zzzig?" Jack asked softly.

"Not ssso bad. Sssmall hole, hurt inssside. Take out bullet and I heal quickly. And you?"

"I should be dead," Jack responded with a wry grin. "I owe you… again."

"I will owe you too when you take this out," Zzzig responded. "Where he get weapon and other man?"

"A good question Zzzig. We will check out the P90s and ammo and see if we can find where they came from," Jack responded. He paused and grimaced. "So, did I get you right? You want me to take that bullet out?"

"I take your'sss, you take mine," Zzzig explained simply.

"OK, but I'm telling you now I can't spin silk," Jack quipped as he worked. Jack tried to distract Zzzig a little from what he was doing. "Could you track them?" he asked as his fingers slipped into the whole and began to feel for the bullet with the hope that it had not penetrated too deeply. Small pieces of the carapace began to appear.

"A little perhapsss… you track them?" Zzzig rattled.

"A little," Jack repeated.

"Then we do it together and find way home?" Zzzig asked and Jack nodded.

"Found it Zzzig. I'm afraid this is going to hurt more," Jack told her as he forced his hand inside to grip the bullet and then withdraw. Zzzig let out a squeal and kicked out at him in reflex, sending Jack sliding several feet on his butt.

A bright welt immediately appeared on the side of his face and he shook his head to clear the sudden blackness that threatened to descend. "You pack some punch Zzzig."

"Sssorry Jack," Zzzig wheezed back, "but it hurt much."

Jack moved back beside her and rested a hand beside her eye ridge. "It's OK Zzzig, I know you did not mean it. How do we seal up this gaping hole?"

"I make web, you stick it to hole?" Zzzig explained as she prepared a patch.

"You're determined to get me into this web making thing," Jack griped and Zzzig let out a bubbling hiss that Jack knew was a giggle. He grinned at her, "come on then, hand over the goods." Zzzig extruded more sticky silk and dropped the end into Jack's hand. "Yuck! I won't get stuck on you will I?"

"Not if work quickly," Zzzig replied.

Co-operation

Agent Barrett stood looking down from the Briefing Room window to the room below. The artefact at the top of the ramp filled him, not with the sense of wonder he had been expecting but with disappointment. He had been expecting something more dramatic than a huge metal ring. What he was expecting he was not sure, but this thing had generated so much thirst for power and greed in people who knew of its existence he had expected to be awed. 'It's just an over-ornate doorway, all this trouble for control of that.' He did not notice the footsteps in the corridor outside or the figure that stopped just inside the room.

Sam stepped into the Briefing Room doorway as a Stargate sequence began dialling. She glanced at her watch, 'SG8 on time.' The figure of Agent Barrett took her attention and she stood watching his reaction to the events in the Gate Room. When the wormhole formed his shoulders stiffened slightly possibly from surprise, otherwise there was no reaction to what faced him. Her footsteps as she crossed the room brought his attention to her and he smiled in greeting. "Major Carter," he uttered with a slight drawl.

"Agent Barrett," Sam responded in kind with a slight echoing smile. Impressed?" she asked pointing at the shimmering event horizon.

At that moment SG8 walked through the wall of energy. They strolled down the ramp chatting calmly and began divesting themselves of packs, weapons and several odd bundles. Hammond stood at the bottom of the ramp ready to greet them. He glanced up at the window and nodded briefly. "Not a lot going on. Seems… normal," Barrett responded.

"We do not have a drama with every planet we visit. Sure there are times but a lot have no population or ones that welcomes us with open arms," Sam explained.

"And the welcome stays that way?" his smile widening as he recalled one or two of the papers that had crossed his desk from the SGC.

"If we don't antagonise them by taking things that are not offered," Sam responded. "What can we do for you?" she motioned for him to take a seat.

"I'm hoping I can do something for you," he responded and pulled the briefcase lying on the table towards them. "Two of the prisoners you took in the Washington raid were NID."

An expression of surprise flitted across Sam's face. Not that there had been NID there but that it was being admitted. "Well as we have uncovered two here that makes us even," she responded grimly.

"Three," Barrett contradicted.

"What?" Sam snapped.

"You have three bad apples. There was Berringer who you were already aware of. Timms, the nurse who apparently tried to help him escape then killed him when he did not make it. Then there is Major Stern," Barrett informed her.

"Stern?" Sam queried.

"I think you will find he is missing. The reluctant informant was not even sure if he is still alive."

"How do you know this?" Sam demanded a little brusquely.

"The informant Agent Timms, yes the names are not a coincidence, they are cousins. Timms was with the group that snatched Colonel O'Neill. Apparently they wanted him out of the way and had intended on blaming him and General Hammond for the chaos they were about to create."

"How do you know this son?" The voice came from the doorway and brought both faces up to look at the newcomer.

"Agent Timms was… inclined to tell us the truth," Barrett explained to General Hammond as he joined them.

"Scopolamine?" Sam queried. From their short association she did not believing for a second that Barrett would be inclined to physical torture.

"Well, we have something a little more effective than that." Sam would have asked more but Barrett shook his head. "It's classified. Just be grateful we have it."

"What did he tell you," Hammond asked pushing the conversation on quickly as the how was less important to him at this point than the where.

"Three of them snatched the Colonel from under your noses in the compound car park to be precise. They put him in a copter and took him deep into National Park land with the intention of killing him and dumping the body."

"Intention?" Hammond immediately caught the word.

"Something went wrong?" Sam responded as well her pulse rate quickening along with the sudden hope the word had generated.

"It appears they were attacked," he explained. "Timms said the Colonel was shot in the chest. Sorry…" Barrett murmured as two people he had learned to respect reacted to the news, "it's unlikely that he would have survived from what we have been told."

"They were attacked?" Hammond queried as Sam sat staring at the desk the dread tying knots in her belly.

"A large spider… according to Timms took Stern out as he fired and then attacked Burns. Not NID or SGC by the way we still need to find out how Burns's fits in. Timms believed he was lucky to get to the copter and away." Barrett noticed a sudden look of hope on their faces, but did not understand as the NID had been carefully denied access to information about Zzzig. "He was more than a little peeved to find himself caught up in your sweep after having got away."

"Does he know where they dumped the Colonel," Sam asked quietly.

"Not exactly, but if the bullet did not kill him it sounds like that creature would have." The smiles that appeared on the two faces were not what he was expecting.

"If the bullet did not kill him," Sam began.

"Then that creature will probably save him." Hammond finished.

"What don't I know?" Barrett asked.

"It's classified," Sam responded mischievously. "You still haven't answered the question."

"Timms knew where their third base of operation is. Apparently they dumped the Colonel about ten miles from it."

"Where?" Hammond asked and Barrett spread out the map he had been unfolding and pointed out the location.

"They may have taken Beverley there if she's still alive," Sam muttered as she scanned the map. We need to…"

"We have an additional problem," Barrett interrupted. Two pairs of blue eyes looked up from the map and he coughed nervously. "We had someone working on the paper trail for this group for a while but we were not getting anywhere."

"And?" Sam prompted.

"When Timms was brought in… Well he'd disappeared by the time we had been told about him…"

"So this base is likely empty or at least prepared for an assault," Hammond commented. "You both should know that we have also been informed that NASA cannot regain control of the satellite. Major Carter…" Hammond nodded towards the door and Sam grabbed the map and left to prepare for the assault. "Let's hope this place is the last piece in the puzzle."

"I would like to assist," Agent Barrett framed the offer carefully aware of the mistrust that had existed between his department and the SGC.

"Of course," Hammond responded. "We are grateful for your assistance. It's easier to work with the NID than fight it. I hope we won't have to in the future."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Barrett responded and then grinned, "I hoped you would feel that way. A few of our agents are waiting for orders to take this place out. I just thought you might like to join the party."

"Where?" Hammond asked.

"No where near the target area they are awaiting instructions."

"Get them up top so that we can kit them out. Would not do for our people to start shooting at each other," Hammond commented as he rose to his feet.

What Is That Noise?

"You sure that hole is still sealed properly?" The question was thrown back at Zzzig as Jack studied the ground in front of him. They had been following the trail for some hours but a light rain the previous night had made the going less than easy.

"I do not leak and the pain isss lessss… is lesss." The hiss turned into a rattle of annoyance. "How do you keep the sound short?" Her irritation at not eradicating the hiss from the ends of her words made Jack smile.

"Your vocal cords are different to mine, at least I guess that has something to do with it. Damn! I lost the trail, I wish Teal'c was here." Jack muttered fiercely.

"I see, I show," Zzzig moved ahead of him.

"What can you see?" Jack responded hopefully.

"They leave marks, I see marks."

"Well my eyes can't see them," Jack muttered. "There's something else you can do that I can't." Zzzig hissed quietly and continued to move forward.

"You sure you're alright Zzzig?"

"I also hear something different," Zzzig ignored the question. "A machine sound, not a mother sound."

Jack listened intently for a moment before he could hear the faint hum. "It's a generator noise. Maybe we have found what we are looking for," 'whatever that is,' he finished in thought. "Let's get on but be careful. We don't want them to see us coming, not till we know what we're faced with and maybe not even then. Surprise is such a useful tool." Zzzig rumbled a little and moved on through undergrowth so tall it almost hid even her bulk. Several minutes later they heard the sound of voices carried to them on the light breeze.

"Sound angry," Zzzig commented.

"Do don't they," Jack responded in the same clipped manner. "Wonder what they're arguing about?"

Jack moved around Zzzig and crept towards the voices, motioning for Zzzig to stay behind. Zzzig settled to the ground to wait but as soon as Jack moved out of sight became concerned. Lifting herself a little she crept forward until she could see him then she settled again. The pair carried on in this manner for a short distance until Jack ducked down and backed towards her rapidly motioning for her to remain where she was. "Beverley is here, I saw them taking her inside a small compound," Jack grinned. "She was kicking hell out of their legs." Then the smile vanished. "How did they get their hands on her?"

"We must rescue her," Zzzig whispered back and began to rise. Jack grabbed a leg and tugged downward.

"Hold your horses!" he growled. "You're too big a target to go barging in. There are at least two guards to take out first maybe cameras… I could not see for sure. There's the generator too… it's quite a size and all that power must be for something. There's also a large mast, much taller than the surrounding trees. We did not see it earlier from higher up so I guess it's retractable. Whatever they have in there it's powerful and some of it must be underground. This match is so not even." Jack rubbed a hand across his head, eyes narrowing as he thought of their options.

"We save Beverley now," Zzzig demanded.

"Yes we will but I go in. You distract the guards," Jack ordered.

Zzzig bobbed agreement, "as long asss we save Beverley."

Intent now on rescuing the woman they closed up on their unsuspecting quarry. Jack hoped to finally find out what these people were up to. 'And stop them,' was his grim thought. The combined NID and SGC personnel moved in behind them through the wilderness both parties still unaware of each other. Zzzig snuck up to the edge of the tangled plant life of the area and gazed intently into the compound. Suddenly she shot a single thread across the open ground and caught the nearest guard in the mouth, stifling a possible outcry. The force of the attack knocked him over and she dragged the surprised man to her. As he slid across the ground the struggle to release his face only succeeded in welding his hands fast to the thread. As that was the only guard visible Jack ducked past Zzzig in through the gate before another guard appeared. Some distance away a radio cracked into life.

"Major Carter, its Sergeant Raines."

"Yes," Sam responded as she stooped to rest momentarily beside Agent Barrett. She pointed to the aerial that had appeared a few moments before and Barrett nodded.

"Major, we have found a car at the end of a dirt track back here. Has a Cheyenne Compound Pass in the window. There's a jacket in the boot, blood stained."

"OK," Sam responded. "Disable the car and move on in."

"Some of your missing personnel?" Barrett speculated.

"I'll give them missing if they have hurt Beverley," Jonas growled from Barrett's other side as he joined them. "What's that noise?" Everyone could hear an increasing hum, it had slowly impinged on their consciousness. "Seems to be coming through the ground I can feel it in my feet."

"I think we had better hurry," Sam commented as she moved forward again.

"Why?" Barrett asked curiously.

"Because I don't know what the hell that is but I am betting it is not good news for us," she replied.

"Agent Barrett, this is Martins," Barrett's radio kicked into life.

"What is it? This radio chatter is likely to give us away."

"Sir, you are not going to believe what I can see, it's…" the communication died in a hiss of static.

Sam and Jonas barely looked at each other as they heard the muffled shout to their right. They darted towards the sound with the NID agent in pursuit. Sam found her sight shifting and colours changing as she ran and knew that Zzzig was close and excited enough to be emitting raw emotion. She shook her head to clear it as she ran and hoped she reached Zzzig before she caused serious harm to the unfortunate man.

Barrett pulled up short as they reached the scene and his jaw dropped. No fear entered his mind, he was too surprised for it to surface. In front of him Martins hung from a tree revolving slowly on the end of a rope at least it looked like a rope. The unlucky man's arms were pinned to his side and his mouth covered in a sticky substance. Holding the other end of the rope was a massive spider, the biggest he had ever seen or would want to. Barrett raised his gun to shoot it and found his arm restrained by Jonas.

"Don't! She's a friend!" Jonas barked before releasing his arm.

Major Carter, he noticed had continued towards the spider calling out as she ran. "Zzzig! Zzzig! He's a friend, don't harm him."

To Barrett's surprise the spider lowered the man to the ground and snapped the binding.

"He not smell like SGC. His colour is wrong," Zzzig grumbled.

"It talks!" Barrett gasped in surprise.

Jonas grinned at his response to Zzzig although he could not blame him. "She. Zzzig is a she," Jonas told him as he walked forward. "Where's the Colonel, Zzzig?"

"He'sss gone to ressscue Beverley," Zzzig hissed excitedly.

"We thought he'd been shot," Barrett responded with a slightly bewildered look on his face. 'I'm talking to a spider?'

"Jack better now," Zzzig explained. "I repair him."

"And yourself," Sam responded touching the patch she had just noticed on her carapace.

"Jack repaired me," Zzzig replied with a chuckle, "but he not happy."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"He sssay, 'for crying out loud,' and rub handsss on tree. Does not like ssssticky handssss," the chuckle increased. "We go help him now?"

"Yes Zzzig, we help him," Sam replied a grin of relief tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Can you take that patch off Martins mouth?"

"Not yet," Zzzig replied. "Sidesss, He talksss too much."

"She already knows you Martins, perceptive… individual is she not," Barrett responded a slight smile appearing. "How come no NID records cover this? How many other secrets does the SGC have?" Barrett found himself ignored as the compound came into view. Scattered around the undergrowth surrounding the area were three or four large brown cocoons. "Those yours?" He asked the spider that now moved alongside them.

"I not kill anyone here yet," Zzzig responded.

"Not here?" he asked as he noted the subtle admission.

"Zzzig," Sam interrupted, "is there any way in apart from the front?"

"We not find one. Jack went in here."

"OK," Sam acknowledged and signalled for the men to move in. The vibration through the ground had increased dramatically and a fine dust was rising within the compound. A rumble like distant thunder rolled over them as they penetrated the building. "We're always one step behind," Sam muttered to herself.

Rescue

As Jack slipped inside the entrance he could hear voices drifting up the short corridor that appeared in front of him. The only other sound was the increasing hum now accompanied by an unsettling vibration. It had begun to raise dust around the entrance but not further along. He cautiously moved towards the voices and the vibration began to set his teeth on edge. Gritting his teeth to reduce the effect and shaking his head did not clear the unsettling resonance beginning there. There was a strange smell about the place and Jack recognised the excitement and fear in the air. Whatever they were up to had started and anticipation was high. He could hear it in the excited voices down the corridor and feel it in the air that slid past him from the air conditioning ducts.

Another thing that was getting louder was an angry female voice. Jack grinned as he realised that Beverley was keeping her captors occupied. He hoped they did not decide to get rid of their difficult captive before he could reach her. 'My, but she's a pain in the butt,' he thought and grinned as he moved forward, following the sound of the colourful language that drifted towards him. A thud, followed by an ominous silence speeded him up. He hoped he was not too late.

A cautious look into the room revealed Beverley's crumpled form beside a table and one very angry and vaguely familiar face. "Damn woman bit me!"

"Serves you right. You should have killed and dumped her. Why bring her here?"

Jack lowered the P90 and slid two knives from his belt. He glided into the room with one knife flying straight at the throat of the man facing him. The traitorous nurse's eyes widened as his mouth dropped open. Only a gurgling sound emerged as the knife embedded in his throat. He grasped the knife as he sank to his knees and slowly toppled. The second man spun round bringing himself straight into the second knife, which sliced an arc round his neck. The nurse still struggled on the floor and tried to draw the knife from his throat. Blood began to spurt in earnest from the widening wound and Jack sent a vicious kick into the side of his head. The man stopped struggling and lay still.

A quick step took Jack back to the P90 and he drew it inside and closed the door. He briefly checked the men as blood pooled around their heads making sure they would be no further trouble. Certain they were dead he reached for Beverley. He carefully lifted her shoulders and slid her towards the door. His chest responded with a stabbing pain, warning him not to put to much strain on the wound. Guessing at Beverley's probable temper as she recovered, he backed off a little as she stirred. Her eyes flickered open and she stared up into a pair of familiar dark eyes. "Colonel O'Neill?" she whispered in a puzzled manner as her hand drifted to the dark patch appearing on the side of her face.

"Hi," Jack responded. "I suppose you could not refuse the invitation to this party."

"You know how it is," she responded as she struggled to sit up. Then she noticed the bodies and shuddered. "Your handiwork I presume."

"I needed to do it quietly," Jack explained and she nodded not at all surprised or frightened it seemed. "You feel OK?"

"Well let's see," Beverley responded as she carefully climbed to her feet. "Chased by men with guns… ruined best skirt climbing through a high window. Kidnapped and used as shield... saved by giant spider! Kidnapped again and banged on the head… twice. Yes I seem to be having an ordinary life at the moment. I have a sore head and a need to kick someone."

"Good girl," Jack responded, "Jonas would be proud of you."

Beverley face turned a red to match her fiery hair. "How do we get out of here?" she stuttered.

"We don't until we stop what's going on." Jack shoved a small automatic into her hand, "do you know how to use this?"

"Safety off, point and pull the trigger," she answered. Jack turned towards the door. "Excuse me," she tapped him on the shoulder and he turned back. "Where's the safety?"

In the hiding places in Peking, London and Damascus three devices began to emit small electromagnetic waves. The size and range of the waves increased exponentially, and within the local districts interference with electronic equipment began to cause failures. The local power authorities began to receive increasing numbers of complaints before an ominous quiet began to spread. In Washington and Cheyenne Mountain a backup system hastily installed after their earlier losses triggered two devices. These were being controlled directly from the wilderness site. The EM waves began to cause major disruption in and around the Whitehouse and Cheyenne military facility.

Deep under the wilderness site a tall elegant individual watched the electronic map of the planet. Things had not gone to plan. A further five devices situated in the major cities of Moscow, Berlin, Johannesburg, Cairo and Melbourne would not function. The destruction of the satellites had been unfortunate now the total disruption of the planet's communications would not happen. 'These Tauri are certainly resourceful but it won't matter for much longer. He will arrive soon and they will accept him or die.'

The man's eyes glowed softly for a moment and he glanced round to see if any of his greedy companions had noticed. A small superior smile hovered as he considered how easy it had been to control these fools. Now what was that interesting saying I read in the Tauri literature, oh yes. Power corrupts… absolute power corrupts absolutely. For the chance of power these fools betray their own people. It was satisfying to discover not all Tauri are like the cursed SG1.'

General Hammond watched the disruption with growing concern. "Close the iris!"

"It won't respond sir!" An anxious pair of eyes glanced up at him even as the operator continued to try to initiate their first line of defence.

He turned to Sergeant Siler who had just entered the control room. "Find the source of the disruption and destroy it!"

"Yes, sir!" The Sergeant glanced nervously at the still open Stargate and ran from the room gathering up people to help him as he went.

Thwarted

Jonas ran down the corridor in front of him kicking in the first door he found. Lying in the middle of the room were two men, one was the nurse he had been looking for with vengeance in his heart. They were both dead and he stared wildly around relieved that there was no sign of Beverley. He ran back out as gunfire started over the irritating vibration running through the facility. He caught up with Sam and Teal'c at a barrier blocking the corridor. One of Barrett's men knelt beside the door and affixed explosives as everyone retreated several feet, he then moved back to join them.

"I know it's a shaped charge but I have a gut feeling that we need to give it a little more space." Following his instincts they retreated into a room off the corridor and he triggered the explosion. The backwash from the blasted hurtled along the corridor sucking out doors at it went. Closest to the door the NJD man was tugged back into the corridor where he lay still for a moment. "Why don't I listen to myself," he groaned as he climbed groggily to his feet.

Jonas dived into him from the doorway and took him back to the floor as weapons fire passed over their heads. "Don't think they appreciated the way you asked to come in," Jonas muttered as he crawled for cover.

"Thanks," the agent responded crawling after him while Sam and Teal'c gave covering fire. From above their heads a dull rumble sounded and several cracks appeared in the corridor walls.

"That's the aerial taken care of," Jonas heard Sam mutter. "Now let's find the rest of it. Increased fire rained down the hallway as others joined them and they pushed deeper into the facility.

Just outside the central core, Jack and Beverley had climbed into an air-conditioning duct to scout out the area. The sound of gunfire drifted along the ducting. "That's gunfire," Beverley informed him.

"You don't say," Jack responded and grinned to soften the sarcasm. "It seems that reinforcements have arrived. Let's not get shot by our own people." A rumble reached them and he recognised the sound of muffled explosions. The duct they were lying in shifted and then steadied. He gazed down into the control room from behind the grill high in the wall just in time to see the glow flicker in the ringleader's eyes. "What the hell!" he whispered fiercely.

"What's wrong?" Beverley whispered back.

Jack did not answer as he considered his options. 'I bet shooting the son of a bitch will get me nowhere. How did you get here?' He motioned for Beverley to move back down the duct to the partition wall and stay put. It was in the vague hope that she at least would do as she was told. They did not have long to wait as the sound of gunfire reached just outside the control room area almost immediately. The gunfire stopped and the sound of Goa'uld cursing reached his ears. He'd obviously not expected to be found and appeared to be trying to reactivate the consol in front of him. Several of the men in the room stared at him in disbelief as his eyes glowed in his rage. One man suddenly broke away and ran for the door. It was clear from the look on his face that he knew what the glowing eyes meant. He was trying to either get away or let the attackers in. He did not achieve either as the Goa'uld looked up briefly and shot him in the back. Nobody else within the room moved.

Jack wondered, 'no hand device…no shield?' and kicked open the grill as the exit door blew in.

The Goa'uld saw Jack drop into the room from the corner of his eye. Recognition was instant and he dived across the room to the main desk. Jack fired at him as the screen flickered into being and the bullet ricocheted away, catching one of the control room operatives in the legs and bringing him down. Through the smoke a large familiar figure appeared and Jack yelled over the confusion. "Teal'c!" as Teal'c looked at him he pointed. "Goa'uld!"

Both he and Teal'c descended on the Goa'uld from both sides of the room and he backed into a corner looking a lot less self-possessed than before. A compartment slid open beside his head and both Jack and Teal'c guessed at its contents. They both fired into the opening and were rewarded by a bright flash and smoke. Bereft of his weapon the Goa'uld attacked Jack as the weakest of his assailants. This Goa'uld reached through his shield at him and Jack immediately realised that he wore the older style Goa'uld shielding. Jack allowed the Goa'uld to grab him and slid a knife through the shielding and into his stomach in an upward motion in search of the heart. Agony and an expression of surprise warred on his face and then he crumpled unmoving to the ground. Several people were frantically throwing off switches all over the room and the equipment began to power down.

"Mam," a soldier called.

"What is it soldier?" Sam called back as she studied the blinking lights in front of her.

"I can't reach the SGC."

"Major Carter, I can't reach Washington. There seems to be a blackout," Barrett continued as he reached her side.

Sam thought frantically, 'we have destroyed everything or shut it down. Why is there still interference…' "They need to blow up the satellite."

"They won't do it without authority," Barrett explained.

Sam grabbed a radio and flicked a switch. "Patch me through to Colonel Haimer at the 45th, NASA, priority one."

"The interference is increasing Mam, you don't' have long," was the warning as she was given her line.

"Colonel Haimer, this is Major Carter. We spoke a couple of days ago about the satellite sabotage."

"Yes Major, what can I do for you?"

"We have a foothold situation, do you understand?"

"Completely Major. What can I do?"

"Destroy the satellite we have lost control of. Do it now!"

There was silence for a moment and a deep breath even she could hear down the line. "OK Major, but… had … right…"

The line faded and Sam could only hope that the Colonel would be able to carry out the request.

In the corridor Jonas was watching the corridor for any unpleasant surprises when he heard a voice. "Jonas!"

"Beverley! Where are you?" Jonas called looking around him.

"Up here, where the Colonel left me."

He looked up at the air-conditioning grill and ripped it off the wall. He raised a hand andhelped her down holding her tightly as she righted herself.

"I'm on my feet now," Beverley commented. "It's safe to let go."

Jonas brushed a swift kiss across her forehead. "Another time, another place," he commented and pushed her against the wall behind him. "Watch the corridor for me."

Beverley nodded as he turned and peered carefully into the chaos in the Control Room area. Realising that everything was now under control he turned back to Beverley and swept her back into his arms.

"What are you doing?" Beverley asked a little playfully.

"Something I have wanted to do since we met." Beverley found herself being thoroughly kissed.

Zzzig passed the couple in the corridor noting that Beverley was alive and that mating would probably happen soon. Zzzig chuckled and Jonas looked around at the retreating bulk of his latest unusual friend. Inside the large room smoke still drifted as the air did not appear to be moving. Several people backed away from her in horror and were manhandled from the room.

"Jack!" Zzzig hissed loudly when she could not locate him. "Jack!"

"I'm here Zzzig," and he appeared by her side.

"We stopped bad men?" she questioned.

"We stopped them." Jack assured her.

"The young one will be pleased," Zzzig commented contentedly.

"You never can tell," Jack responded with a small smile and rested his arm across her body. "Gawd, I'm tired."

Epilogue

Colonel Haimer rushed out of his office and across the hallway. In the NASA control room the frustrated atmosphere was still heightened as their inability to regain control of the satellite wore down nerves.

"Destroy the satellite… Do it now!" he yelled as they hesitated. His old friend stared at him for a moment and he learnt forward and whispered one word "foothold."

The Director of Operations eyes widened and he yelled three words "do it now!" A fireball appeared in the sky over the Atlantic and out of sight of all but a few ships. "We will need a cover story," he noted conversationally as the two left the room.

"That's if it's contained," Colonel Haimer responded.

The Stargate came to life as someone began to dial in. The iris would still not respond and the base stood open and vulnerable. Hammond flicked on the intercom, "Code 9, Code 9, this is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill!" The intercom crackled and died but the order had been issued. In the Gate room defenders gathered to face what all suspected would be their last fight. The seventh symbol locked and energy flowed out into the room like a huge horizontal water fountain. As it settled in place tension climbed to greater heights as the defender's awaited their fate. Sergeant Silar entered the Control Room with the remains of a small device.

"This was emitting a high frequency EM pulse. Its harmless now but the damage it has done will take time to…"

Suddenly the computers began to reboot. "Get the iris closed!"

"Trying sir… Sir it won't…" then suddenly it did.

"Yes!" Hammond shouted and a few smiles appeared at the unusual display of exuberance. A cheer came up from the Gate Room and everyone began to relax a little but were stilled by the sounds of heavy objects colliding with the iris wall.

"That was a close call," a soldier commented to no one in particular.

"Too bloody close," someone else agreed.

Finale

At the debriefing several unusual people filled chairs that were often empty. Agent Barrett of the NID had taken the seat opposite Sam and Colonel Haimer had chosen to sit beside her. Zzzig rested under the window with her legs tucked neatly away beneath her and not even the Russians seemed uncomfortable with her presence. Colonel Haimer gave her the odd curious glance but had been introduced to the 'talking spider' earlier in the day. Hammond looked around the group of people who had stopped this particular attempt on their world. It had been good to watch old adversaries, from home and foreign soil working together. 'This is how it should be,' he thought and a smile of satisfaction appeared.

The Goa'uld were making a determined effort to take the planet and it would seem the Protected Planets Treaty had been ignored. "This Goa'uld found his way past our defences," Hammond agreed to a comment made by Barrett. "Small single craft and individual infiltrators are not so easy to stop. It's a tactic well known to our home grown terrorists. Obviously the Tok'ra use a similar tactic when dealing with the Goa'uld. A universal concept it would seem. We are even more vulnerable than we believed. We need to keep a much closer eye on the skies."