An hour later, the voice of Colonel Samantha Carter coming through John's radio caught him by surprise. "Colonel Sheppard, you need you in the infirmary now."

John turned on his mic and replied, "On my way." He went down a hall, followed by his curious team. "What's the problem, Colonel?"

"There's something wrong with Major Lorne and his team," Colonel Carter whispered. "They're in the infirmary, holding the doctors hostage. It's like watching a group of madmen."

"That doesn't sound like Lorne," John said, looking back at his team with a worried expression. Their grim countenances told John that they had heard the conversation as well. "You're whispering, Colonel. Are you in there too, ma'am?"

"Yes. Their attention's elsewhere at the moment, but that won't last."

"We're on our way, Colonel."

"Hurry, Colonel. Things look like they're going to get very ugly."

John ran into the transport, half a step behind Ronon's long legs. "Hold the fort for a few more minutes, ma'am, we'll be right there."

...

Kathy was trying to stay calm.

It was not an easy thing to do, what with four men waving guns around, four men who worked with her. If possible, the captors seemed more afraid than their captives.

"Major, we are not your enemies," Kathy's new boss, Colonel Carter, was trying to talk to the men. Kathy had noticed her whispering into her radio a moment ago, and hoped that reinforcements weren't far off. Situations like this always ended badly if allowed to drag on.

Major Lorne whirled around just then, staring at his captives with a panicked expression. As his wild-eyed gaze met hers, Kathy saw something small and frightened, and altogether out of place in the face of a military man.

That was when Kathy started to look closer. Lorne was shaking, only slight tremors, but still shaking. He was sweating, and his eyes kept darting about like living things. Of course, she hadn't thought anything of it before, but now she was beginning to wonder…

When Major Lorne and his team had come through, they had dropped unconscious. They'd been out cold when Kathy had dashed into the infirmary. About ten minutes ago they had leaped up and overpowered the military folk who'd been visiting and taken their sidearms, then proceeded to set this whole thing up like a scenario from a classic bank robbery. Except they weren't stealing anything.

Kathy had met Major Lorne a few times before, and he'd seemed nice enough, a bit stand-offish, but then most military types were toward civilians. She had figured that if they got to know each other, he'd turn out to be a pretty cool guy, but right now she didn't have much knowledge of the man to work with.

She couldn't remember what his first name was. Something with an I or an E. Ewan? Igor? No, it couldn't be Igor, his parents would have to be psychos to name him that. Ingram? Edgar? Isaac? Isaiah? Ezekiel? Ethan?

Ethan… hmm. Not quite right, but still…

"Evan! That's it!" she exclaimed, snapping her fingers. Instantly she was blinking at the barrel of a gun pointed in her face, and she swallowed. "I, ah, was just trying to remember your name," she said.

"Shut up!" Major Lorne snapped, finger slipping onto the trigger.

"O-okay, Major, okay," Kathy said placatingly, unable to keep her voice from shaking. "I'm-I'm sorry."

"I said shut up!"

Kathy nodded, watching the gun as her heart throbbed, wondering if he was going to pull the trigger. Lucky for her, Colonel Carter yelled out "Major, leave her alone!" and the man whipped around and switched his focus onto her.

"Whoa, whoa, Major, what's going on?" John stepped into the doorway. "Put the gun down."

Major Lorne pointed his gun at John. "Stay back!" he shouted, sweat-slick face quivering. "I-I'll shoot you!"

John lifted his own sidearm and calmly replied, "Yeah, well, two can play at that game, Major. Put the gun down."

The Major hesitated, eyes darting about frantically as his breath heaved.

"Put the gun down, Lorne," John ordered.

"No!" Lorne exclaimed. "Nonono, you put the gun down."

"I don't think so, Major."

Lorne pointed his gun at Colonel Carter. "I'll kill her," he said.

"No, you won't," Kathy broke in. "You'll put the gun down, Evan."

Major Lorne blinked, pointed the gun at her. "Why should I listen to you?" he demanded.

"Because, Evan, you're dying," Kathy told him. "There's something wrong with your blood, there's poison in it. That poison is killing you right now. I'd say… ten seconds before you drop. I can save you, and your men, but I will not until all of you put your guns down."

"Ten," John started the countdown from the doorway.

"You're lying," Lorne rasped, panic evident on his sweaty face.

"Nine."

"No, I'm not, Evan," Kathy said. "I'm a doctor, I know these things."

"Eight."

"Put the gun down, Evan, I can help you."

"Seven."

"Shut up!" Major Lorne shouted at John, pointing his gun at him.

"Six," Kathy said. Lorne whirled back to her, and John resumed the count.

"Five."

Major Lorne's eyes became more and more wild as he looked from Kathy to John, trembling in his place as his head spun first in one direction, then another. Kathy felt guilty for terrifying him so.

"Four."

"Your men will die, too, Evan, do you want that?" Kathy asked. Lorne's men exchanged fearful looks.

"Three."

Lorne swallowed, looked down at the gun in his shaking hand. "Evan, we don't want you or your men to die," Kathy said fervently.

"Two."

"All right!" Lorne screamed, he and his men flinging their guns away. "Please don't let me die," Lorne pleaded. "Please!"

"No one's going to die, Major," John said, watching Lorne's team with his firearm raised as the hostages confiscated their captors' weapons.

Lorne blinked. "You… you lied?"

Kathy frowned. "No," she said. "I was exaggerating. You've been exposed to some kind of chemical or drug that's making you behave this way, but I may be right about the collapse. Your body is not designed to operate this way." She looked over at Jennifer. "We should put them into isolation, for safety's safe."

Jennifer nodded, and some of the very men Lorne's team had overpowered just a short while ago escorted Lorne's team out of the room. "The test results will be coming in soon, so it shouldn't be long before we know what just happened here."

"See to it, Doctor," John said. "I have had more than enough of possessed coworkers."

Colonel Carter nodded in agreement. "That I can understand," she said.

Kathy looked over at the door through which Lorne's bewildered and frightened team had just been led. "I'm very glad that worked," she said. "A bunch of numbers would've made terrible last words." Of course, she was just saying that to fool herself as well as everyone else that what she had just seen wasn't as jarring for her as it was. She shook her head. "Dang. Surviving hostage situations was not something I wanted to add to my résumé."

Jennifer nodded sympathetically. "I'm starting to get used to it by now," she said.

"Don't downsize yourself, Doctor," Colonel Carter slipped into their conversation as John went around in the background making sure everyone was okay. "Both of you. But you in particular, Doctor…?"

"Sanders, Colonel," Kathy introduced herself. "Dr. Katherine Sanders." She didn't have the strength to smile. "I thought you were supposed to know everybody."

"Well, I've only been in charge here for a few weeks, Dr. Sanders," Colonel Carter replied. "I'm still getting a feel for this place." She looked around. "It certainly isn't the SGC."

"Yeah, I guess there's a bit of a difference between an underground base and a floating city," Kathy said. She turned to leave. "Well, I'm gonna go. Dr. Matthews got some muscles torn in his shoulder, so I'm going to see how he's doing with that."

Colonel Carter and Jennifer both nodded, and Kathy walked away. John passed her as he went to join up with the two, and he paused a moment to ask if she was alright.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Kathy replied. "Can't say the same for Dr. Matthews, though."

"I don't think you'll have to worry. He's already attracted a swarm of doctors." John started to go, but then he paused and said, "By the way, that was a nice trick back there, distracting Major Lorne. It was good instincts."

Kathy nodded, though she really didn't want to hear anything about it anymore. "Thanks."

John nodded and walked over to Colonel Carter and Jennifer. Jennifer noticed the colonel heading towards them and turned to look at him. Coming up to them he said, "Now, what the heck just happened?"

"Major Lorne and his team returned from a mission offworld an hour ago, about fifty minutes overdue," Colonel Carter explained. "They collapsed the moment they stepped through the 'Gate, and were rushed up to the infirmary. A few minutes ago they woke up, and you know the rest."

"I thought the planet they were heading to was friendly," Colonel Sheppard said, and Jennifer could see an oh boy, here we go again look on his face.

"That's just it: it is," Colonel Carter replied. "Lorne's team didn't dial back in from the planet they had gone to, they came in from another world."

"So they were moved." Colonel Sheppard frowned. "That's not good."

"We should be able to get a clearer idea of what happened once the test results come in, and whenever Lorne and his men get back to normal," Jennifer put in. "Until then, we can only guess."

"I'll have Rodney look up whatever data we've got on the planet they dialed in from," Colonel Sheppard said. "We'll see if we find anything."

He turned and walked back out of the room, stepping around scattered objects cast throughout the room. Jennifer looked at Colonel Carter. "Now you know why I don't like being the chief medical," she said.

Carter smiled back kindly. "You'll get used to it."

"Says the woman who's a Colonel."

"And lived and breathed military her whole life." Colonel Carter shrugged. "All right, I admit that I'm not the best person to go to for sympathy."

She watched as people began to slowly relax, quietly returning to their work or helping clean up. Looking back over at Jennifer, she asked, "Dr. Sanders. Do you know her well?"

"She's a good friend of mine," Jennifer replied. "Why do you ask?"

"She handled the situation very nicely. Tell her to come up to my office later, I'd like to talk to her."

"I'll let her know," Jennifer promised.

Colonel Carter nodded and went out the same way Colonel Sheppard had. Jennifer turned and joined the people clearing up the mess Major Lorne and his men had created. Quietly, still baffled by the authority her timid voice suddenly had, Jennifer instructed the various helpers with what to do even as her own hands were full. After everything was placed back into order, she was able to snag Kathy just before she left the infirmary.

"Looks good, doesn't it?" Kathy asked, nodding to the tidied room. "Wouldn't think it was a mess just a few minutes ago. Though," she gestured to her grimy clothes, "I think we need to start dusting behind the cabinets."

"Well then, I'll let you go change," Jennifer said. "But before you leave, Colonel Carter wanted me to tell you to stop by her office later, she wants to talk to you."

"Uh-oh, sounds like I'm in trouble," Kathy joked, a slight smile drifting across her face. "Thanks for the memo. I'll swing in right after I change, and try to make my hair look more like hair instead of a bush."

"That's your hair?" Jennifer asked. "I thought it was a hat."

Kathy rolled her eyes, and Jennifer giggled. There were not many people she could say stuff like that to, and it was refreshing that she could do it with Kathy.

"You're hilarious, Jen," Kathy said, and Jennifer couldn't detect a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Yet another reason she loved her friend. Kathy turned to leave the infirmary a second time, but Jennifer found herself catching the woman by the arm again. "Kathy?"

Kathy looked over at her, an eyebrow quirked in question. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Jennifer asked. "After what just happened…? I mean, I know it must have made you think of… you know."

Kathy's expression was grave. "I think I'll be okay," she replied slowly. "But I won't deny, that was one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me. I honestly thought he was going to kill me, Jennifer. Going from that to helping John confuse him enough to drop his gun… I dunno. I think the stress levels just went way up for me." Kathy gave an awkward shrug, accompanied by a nervous smile. "You'd think that after three years I'd be used to this. But apparently not."

"You gonna be alright?" Jennifer asked softly.

Kathy paused, then nodded. "I think so," she answered. "This wasn't the first time I've been held at gunpoint… but it is the first time that the gun belonged to somebody I work with. I think that's the part that's really freaking me out." She shuddered. "If all it takes is some chemicals to turn one of your own on you, then…" She stopped, shaking her head. "Okay, I really don't need to go there."

She turned her gaze back onto Jennifer, eyes clear. "Right. So, I'll go change, and then stop into Colonel Carter's office. See you later, Jen." She turned to go, and looked over her shoulder to smile at Jennifer, but Jennifer could see the smile was weak.

Jennifer smiled back, hoping that hers was a little more strong. "Thanks. And you, too."

Kathy nodded and she went out the door. Jennifer turned back to look at the now-spotless infirmary, bearing no signs of the fiasco only a few minutes ago.

Right, she told herself, gotta go check on Lorne's team.

She turned and headed for the isolation area.