Jonas Quinn sat in his office at the Langaran ministry of unity…a sham of an organization put together in the wake of the Ori withdrawal back to their own galaxy. With most of the planet's infrastructure in disrepair from the initial Ori invasion, and the subsequent lack of Ori supplies and repair units that had begun reshaping the planet according to their designs…what was left of Kelowna, Terrania, and the Andari Federation resembled a junk yard. A few key buildings had been refurbished by the Ori occupation, but the planet's industrial and agricultural powerbase lay wasted. Many people had starved to death during the first 6 months after the Ori withdrawal…and that number would have been considerably higher if the invasion hadn't reduced the population of the planet by 2/3rds. They had fought hard and futilely against the Ori, and without their advanced, nearly magical technology the planet and its remaining inhabitants had been reduced to a daily struggle for self sufficiency.

With the old grudges overridden by the plight of the entire planet, and most of the most ardent holdouts to planetary unification having died during the invasion, the few remaining leaders left in the wake of the Ori's departure had hastily put together a 'global governmental task force' to begin to return the planet to its previous prosperity. Jonas had been unanimously picked to head the organization…which was underfunded, undermanned, and little more than a publicity stunt to instill some measure of order amongst the populace before barbarism and hopelessness gripped the people and destroyed what shreds of civilization remained.

Despite the ludicrous position he had been given, Jonas took the challenge upon himself to make the sham a reality, and used what pathetic resources he was given to start recovering the lost technology that would be necessary to revive the planet's infrastructure. With strict rationing amongst the population, his lunch plate was actually a banquet by current Langaran standards. Two pieces of bread, some vegetables, and a pittance of meat. Most people in the city, or what remained of Kelowna's former capitol, were existing off of communal pots of stew, with what little food they had being stretched to fill as many mouths as possible.

Jonas picked up a small notebook from the shelf behind his desk. He pulled out a pencil and began to tally the morning's results. Two electrical generators had been recovered from the industrial district…both damaged and currently inoperative. A shipment of 7 bags of Iloria beans had been procured from trade with the planet P4S-237 for skilled labor to help dig out a new water well, and had been split between the communal food stores and Jonas's indoor agricultural project that would, if successful, yield crops year round. He had based it off the hydroponic technology he'd studied back on Earth, and so far it was producing a steady, yet small supply of grains and vegetables. Finding structures to house the equipment…and finding/creating the equipment necessary had been and was continuing to be one of his major headaches, but at least he knew his 9 person staff wouldn't starve to death. He couldn't say the same for the rest of the people in the city.

Some chemical supplies had also been salvaged from the city's northern district. Excavation of the ministry of science was ongoing, and was yielding a few essential supplies…as well as radiological, biological, and chemical hazards. Cleanup wasn't possible at the time, so they had to resort to protected search parties searching through the rubble and the lower levels that had escaped total destruction. One container of Goa'uld artifacts had been reclaimed as well, including a hand-held healing device. He hoped that given enough time Kianna might be able to use the device to assist with what was passing for their local hospital these days. He knew she should possess the latent ability to use Goa'uld technology after being host to a symbiot…but he also knew it took a great deal of skill to utilize the device and at best would take weeks if not months of practice to master…but it was something to put in the positive category today.

The list of negatives was much longer. Failed projects, tainted supplies, casualty lists, and a reneged deal with a trading partner offworld who failed to deliver the correct quantities of Benzite…he'd been lacing the compound with fillers, and when confronted with that fact he'd disappeared without sending the final shipment. That'd set Jonas's Gamma 7 project back by months…and he had no idea where he would find another supplier…

He was about halfway through the morning's tally when an explosion rattled the building he was in, kicking up dust from the ceiling cracks that rained down in little waterfalls.

"What the…" Jonas mumbled, standing up as another large explosion shook his balance. He ran over to the window and looked out at the ruins of the city as one of the few intact buildings off to the west was hit by some type of projectile from the sky. The building disintegrated on impact and the concussion wave rocked Jonas back on his heels.

"Not good," he said to himself as he headed for the stairway. He plodded down the wooden planks until he came to the bottom floor three flights below…

"Kianna?" he yelled.

"I have no idea, Jonas."

"Baker?" Jonas asked.

"Nothing…" his primary aide said, cursing under his breath. "Communications are gone."

"There has to be some…." Jonas began saying, then stopped as muffled screams were heard outside.

"I don't like this…" Kianna said ominously.

Jonas looked around, his eyes darting this way and that…then he snapped into action, grabbing a small satchel in his right hand and Kianna with his left. "Let's go."

"Go where?" Baker demanded.

"To the stargate," he said, already half out the door. Outside the screams were more audible, and were rising in volume…along with a decidedly unwelcome sound of weapons fire.

"Jonas," Kianna said, pulling him to a stop. "What are you…"

"We can't handle…whatever this is," he said, exasperated. "I watched too many good people die fighting the Ori hopelessly…not again. Let's go."

He pulled her by the arm and Baker followed a step behind as they jogged through the streets, unsure of what was going on. They made it through two city blocks before a long thin blue beam cut across the street in front of them and impaled the wall to the right. More screams came from the direction the beam originated from around the corner.

"Back…" Jonas warned as they turned around and backtracked.

Not soon after a floating orb moved around the corner and into view on their street. After a moment's hesitation to reorient itself, it shot out its thin cutting beam directly into the back of Baker's torso and exited through his chest, traveling several meters ahead of the trio before it impacted the ground.

Kianna screamed and Jonas's face went white with horror. Pulling Kianna by the arm they sprinted and rounded the corner onto a side street, temporarily out of the line of fire.

"Jo…nas," Kianna said, scared and out of breath.

"Don't stop," he yelled, pulling on her ever more so as his mind raced. He spotted several familiar buildings, noted which of them had their doors open, mentally reviewing the options that cover afforded…if these things had sensor packages then nowhere might be safe to hide…

"Here!" he said, sliding to a stop as Kianna ran into the back of him, almost knocking both of them down. Jonas pulled her inside an open doorway into the bottom half of what used to be a textile factory. His mind focused on the floor plans and he darted off down a side hallway, around two chicanes, and down a ratty flight of stone stairs, half of which were broken.

Kianna didn't say a word, but was panting heavily and quickly behind him when they ran inside a pitch black room. Jonas closed the door behind them and all light was gone. She heard the clank of a barricade lock falling over the door. "Jonas…"

A small handheld light illuminated his face and torso as he closed the lid on his satchel. "This room has the heaviest shielding in the city…hopefully they can't track us here," he said, poking around the room.

"We're hiding?"

"No…we're running," he said as he pulled open a closet and started throwing out the contents.

"What are you doing?" Kianna asked, still panic stricken.

"The city was built with a number of interconnecting tunnels between random buildings, unknown to the general public, to be used in times of invasion to move troops around beneath and behind enemy lines. And this…" he said, pulling up a concealed handle in the corner of the closet, "is one of them."

The back panel slid up revealing a ladder going down a narrow shaft.

Kianna quickly heeded Jonas's hand signal to move inside. He handed her the light and pulled the closet door closed behind them, then nodded.

She pulled the light down by her feet then gingerly started stepping down the metal ladder rungs. Jonas followed just above her.

After several dozen meters she stepped into a shallow puddle of water and moved clear to let Jonas down. The light didn't travel far, but it was clear that they were in some kind of large tunnel, the width of one of their street cars. The puddle they were standing in rippled with another impact tremor.

"Where now?" Kianna asked, her calm barely returning, but Jonas could tell that she had kept her wits about her.

Jonas pointed off to the right. "This way…"