Vala and Cate stood in front of the Admiral; Vala at least seemed oblivious to MacGregor's mood.
"Kid, what has gotten into Macara, I know that I've only known him a short while, but usually I'm good at reading people, his attitude nearly had me vent him out the hangar bay!"
Apollo might be. neighbour, and she was not too nice to me and my brother, well she had her reasons I suspect."

"Stuffed if I know dad, I've known him even less time than you have, but he seemed ok when I first met him. This appeared to be a complete turn around even from that brief encounter."

"Alright then Cate, you and Vala carry on, here is my contact in Port Adelaide, she's ex –Navy and a good cop, see her first and she'll get you local clearance. Oh and Vala?"

"Sir?"

Will held out his hand."Gum"

Vala reluctantly spat out the wad she was chewing and handed it to the Admiral, then joined Cate and the two of them left his room and headed for the bridge. Immediately they entered Tom Johnstone asked them. "Where to ladies?"

"Adelaide sir, somewhere near the Local Area Command Police HQ, but not where we're likely to scare the crap out of anyone thanks." Cate replied.

"Ah I know just the place." Tom answered and the familiar beam out occurred.


"Phew what's that stink?" Vala asked as she got her footing in the darkness.

Cate got out her small pocket torch and scanned the immediate area. "Oh great, yeah thanks Tom, real nice that was!" She said as she looked up toward the black sky, some place the

"What, we're are we Cate?"

"Back alley, behind the Police station, in between the garbage skips of the forensic section. I owe that insufferable man. C'mon Vala, we have to find this…" She unfolded the paper her father gave her and shone the torch on it. "Detective Inspector Vivian Dixon….oh this just gets better and better."

"Now what?" Vala asks.

"When I was a kid, my folks lived on base for a while in Victoria, this Dixon was a

"And that would be…?"

"We um, ah, well we used to play a lot of pranks my brother and I, I guess she was on the receiving end a fair bit. Let's go, should be all water under the bridge now I suppose."

Vala takes note of another Earth quotation.

They round the corner in the late evening street lighting, the front entrance of the Port Adelaide Area Command loomed before them, two patrols vans pull into the curb and the young constables disembark and proceed to unload their night cargo, the usual assortment of Saturday night drunks and louts. Cate held Vala up until the entourage is inside the building.

"The old bag will be in her office, I can show my ID, but I have no desire to, cops are a suspicious lot, and that will just invite a plethora of questions, especially if there are young cops in there. There is a public phone across the street, I think we should get her to come out to us."

"Oh I love this cloak and dagger stuff, I've watched so many of your movies, this is so James Bond like." She smiled, having espoused her knowledge of Earth culture.

"Not really Val, I just don't want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves at the moment." Cate said bluntly, which left Vala a little disappointed.

Cate and Vala squeezed themselves into the phone box until Cate turned to Vala and said, "What are you doing?"

"Ah well, keeping close, we don't know who could be watching do we Cate?"

The younger MacGregor just bumped Vala out of the box with her backside, just as she started dialing. Vala took it with good grace and took the opportunity to watch the parade of fine young policemen come and go across the road. It wasn't long before the phone answered and Cate was put through to Detective Dixon, she explained the situation and the older woman agreed to meet them at the local Pizza Hut when she came off shift in about an hour. Time to fill, Cate knew where they had to go, so a little research would help to pass the hour.

Heading across the broad road, Catherine led Vala two blocks away, which brought the restaurant into view, just as she suspected, it was a cop meet place, Dixon obviously was not sure of the call and wanted to be certain she'd have backup if needed, "Why for God's sake Cate wondered. Anyway can't be helped now, we need that clearance." She thought to herself.


The hour past and the two women watched as a unmarked Police car arrived, a heavily set, not over tall woman in her mid fifties got out, she was armed, Cate could see clearly the bulge under the loose jacket. "Time to go Vala, that's her."

They briskly crossed from their location and entered only a bare moment before the heavens opened a downpour, Vala quickly checked back outside to make sure no suspicious characters were following, she indeed had watched too many movies.

Cate saw Mrs. Dixon sitting by a window seat, apparently she had ordered ahead, three medium pizza's sat before her. Vala slid into the soft seat followed by Cate.
"Do you know why we're here Detective?" She asked the older woman.

"Yes, because I owe your father Cate, but I still haven't forgotten about the glue in my car door lock, or the outdoor garden seat that was neatly sawn through on the legs…"

Cate just looked in horror, and thought, "This is not going to go down well." When much to her surprise Detective Dixon gave her the biggest smile.

Almost laughing Vivien said. "My god Cate, you should see your face, don't worry love, my two girls are ten times worse than you and Ben could ever have been. So, what is so important that your dad wants me to get you local clearance for?"


Between Cate and Vala, they filled her in. There were looks of wonder, awe and something bordering on hearing an incredible load of bull. But Vivien had spent too many years in both the Navy and Police force to realise that when an ASIS operative comes knocking, you better believe every word they say. At the end she told them both.

"Alright then, I'll arrange a car for you and co-ordinate some local backup, but I'm curious Cate, why not use your own agency?"

"Because Viv, we're overseas operators and we don't get on too well with ASIO, so the local police is our best option in a lot of cases."

"I see. Very well, meet me hear at seven am tomorrow…wait do you have accommodation yet?"

"No, we just arrived tonight, ah unexpectedly." Cate did her best to cover up.

"Oh well then, seeing as how my two chicks have flown the nest, you two won't mind sharing a room them will you?" The look on Dixon's face told the two younger women they would have no contest here, so after consuming the three pizza's and Vala had to ask for more garlic bread. In fifteen minutes they set off and along the way, Cate filled the detective in a little more. Gateways, alien's, space battles, the older woman had thought she had heard it all in her career, and soon realised she might have left the Navy, a bit too soon.

Right on seven, the car arrived at Dixon's house, she had it re-directed through the night. Cate and Vala had shown Vivien the Zat gun, and from that point she was seriously wanting to be involved. But she knew also it would be extremely dangerous, and after not long ago burying her husband, she was loathe to let her daughters be without a single parent. She wished her guests well, and gave them the radio call signs for immediate backup, Viv told them that the local STG unit would have their backs at a moment's notice, which was reassuring.


At eight am, Cate pulled the police loan car into the Port Adelaide dock facility and went straight to administration, she did not pull any punches this time and flashed her ID, at the same time revealing the 9mm Beretta's the detective had supplied them with.

The clerk pulled the personnel files and in minutes Cate had their target a ex Atlantis SF, French national who had dual passports, was at one time married to an Australian woman, but joined the RAAF after her death in a car accident. He was previously with the French Air force field guards, so he was well trained and deadly. After being repatriated from Atlantis on his supposed rescue, he eventually headed back to Australia and secured a position with ADI at their assembly plant at Edinburgh, just north of the city. They had his last known address, his car plates, everything they needed. Cate thanked the nervous clerk and the two of them set off for his home first. It was not known if he had done a runner, as the clerk told them he bundied on for work as usual yesterday, Friday.

A unit building in a non descript area not far from the Air Base, had about 12 apartments in it. Jean Laverde was in number 10 on the second floor, Cate and Vala came to the door and made sure no other residents were nearby. Cate listened closely at the door and could only hear a television, no telling if the target was inside or not, she looked at Vala for a moment and then…."Ah screw it." She said not too softly and applied foot to door.
The weak timber gave away, and surely the television and Mr. Laverde were inside. But they had not planned on finding what they did. Jean's body, if indeed it was him, was a dried up corpse, fed on by a Wraith, and not too long ago either.

Vala just looked at the body and said nonchalantly. "Now what?"

"We get my father down here asap."


The admiral advised Cate and Vala to get Dixon in, it was after all her turf, but one else from the Police, she had to come alone. In the meantime while they waited for both to arrive, they began their own search of the apartment. Rubber gloves on, they naturally started with the cadaver, went through his pockets, not much there except a paystub from yesterday, and a receipt from Woolworths for groceries. They checked each room methodically, and found not much else, it was quite obvious the wraith had already done so, as their appeared to be letters missing from a folder, the envelopes were torn and postage origins missing, and the contents gone. Cate also managed to hack Jean's computer, which had a very complex password, and whole files were deleted only a few hours ago.Apollo, Detective Dixon almost fainted at the sight that beheld her, the beautiful sphere of Earth some five hundred miles below, she could not believe herself.

Vala was searching the bedroom one more time and she called out. "Cate, what do you make of this"

Cate found Vala in front of a built in wardrobe, the door slid back and she had found what was obviously a false panel at the back, the two of them looked for a lock or mechanism of some kind, and after ten minutes found a small hole that required some cylindrical device to be inserted. They went back to the body and re-searched it, in his wallet, a very small round fluted key was tucked in between layers of the leather. Going back to the wardrobe, Vala inserted the key and the panel slid back. There were weapons of course, M4's, a couple of P90's, hand guns and even three zats. But the most astounding thing was a Goa'uld long range communication sphere.

Neither of them dared touch it for fear of activating it, but there were more implications for them to consider now. Just then they heard voices in the adjoining room, both of them had their zats in hand, ignoring the police issue 9 mils on their belts. They crept to the door, only to see Cate's father and Detective Dixon in a rather heated debate.

"Viv, we called you in out of courtesy, we could have easily disposed of this without you even knowing, all you would have is a missing persons file. So please be reasonable, you cannot call in your forensics for this."

"Will MacGregor, I have a dead man, who somehow was at work yesterday, and now his corpse looks as if it's been here for ten years and you want me to forget about it…Christ no, this is my jurisdiction and my watch, an investigation by the Police must be paramount"

Cate and Vala came in at that moment. "Ah dad, Viv, there is something you both should see."

The older two turned to the interruption, and stopped their dispute for the time being.

"What is it Cate" Will asked.

"Come and see for yourselves" She said.

Viv was visibly shocked by the armoury, much more than she would have expected a lone operator to have acquired. But the goa'uld device intrigued the Admiral more.

"So our boy here was working for two bosses perhaps. We know the Alliance is involved but to what extent. Or maybe Frenchy here was playing both camps for the greater gain. Viv, can you get a check on this guys financial activities for us?"

"Oh so you want my help now, do you?"

"Yes we do, we can do it ourselves but the fewer who know about this the better. Look I won't muck around with this, as hard to believe as it may be, the whole galaxy is in danger of this getting out of hand. Play ball with me, and I give you something very few people on Earth would ever have the chance of having." Will said with all the sincerity he could muster.

"What could you give me that would make me betray my duty Admiral." The last said a little sarcastically.

Will cocked his eyebrow, he knew he was dealing with a skilled negotiator, he should, he trained the woman. "How about a quick trip to Mars and back?" He grinned fiercely.

Viv dropped her jaw. "You're kidding?" She saw his and the face of the two younger women. "Jesus Christ, you're not….alright you have a deal. But how do we dispose of him." She indicated the next room with her thumb.

"Not a problem." Will attached a transmitter onto Viv's coat, and went and did the same for the corpse. "I love this part, beam us up Scotty!"


On the bridge of the

"Now Cate, Vala, I want you to contact all of the team members and warn them of our 'alien visitor', do it in person. Tom we can get a locator on each of our people can't we?"

"Yes of course we can Admiral."

"Do it then. Girls, take some heavy armour with you for yourselves and the others, zats may not be enough. Now Tom I'd like to borrow a 302, may I?"

"Of course sir, one of them is yours anyway, a quick trip sir?"

Will looked at his old friend Viv, and nodded. "Yes Tom, a promise I made just a little while ago." He smiled broadly.