CHAPTER 50

Ford was currently sleeping in their on the room base. Jack had came in a few hours ago after having him working on some project, to which he was having trouble remembering at the moment seeing as it wasn't important anymore. Jack told him to get some sleep seeing as he was about to fall asleep on his keyboard. He didn't want him groggy in case he was suddenly needed. Ford had no idea and still hadn't figured out why he suddenly got tired quickly. What Jack had him doing must have been real boring for him to fall asleep at ten in the morning. Carter had brought him a cup of coffee, un-expectantly for some reason thinking he needed it. It didn't help though. He awoke to hearing the alarm going off and jumped out of bed quickly grabbing his coat and guns. Walter was calling over the intercom a base intrusion code. Someone had made it into the base through the gate. His call was cut short suddenly from the sound of staff weapons in the background.

"Damn it Jack! I knew I shouldn't have gone to sleep!" he said running down the corridor to the gate room.

He had both guns out and ready as he came to the corridor to the gate room hearing gun fire. Rounding the corner he found Daniel firing at the gate room.

"What the hell is going on?!" Ford yelled.

"Anubis's warriors have made it on the base. I don't…" Daniel said as he stepped back. Several rounds hit the wall near him making him duck.

"Where's Jack?" he growled putting his guns up.

"I don't know. He was in the gate room." Daniel said looking out and firing the PC-90.

"Everyone hold your fire!" Ford yelled stepping out.

He brought a gloved hand up as the warrior walked toward him with firing. Ford blocked every shot that came at him. The drone walked up and took a swing at Ford who still had his left hand out at him. Ford grabbed it, twisted it until there was a crunching noise and swung around with his right slicing the warrior in half with his sword.

"Where did you…." Daniel said coming out.

"Later Daniel. Airmen get all your people up to level twenty five and get the Kull disrupters that kill these bastards. Anyone else you come across you are to take with you. Cover all entry ways to that level. If the door or whatever it is that leads to that level opens and you see nothing and hear even less after yelling for identification, open fire. Understood?" he said quickly as he heard other fire in the base.

"Yes Major."

"Good. Throw those weapons at the enemy since bullets can't hurt them if you run into them. Get out of here. Daniel come on." he said quickly going into the gate control room.

They entered and Ford shoved Daniel back as several blast came at him. He blocked them but a shot hit his raised collar burning his neck. Ford kicked a chair sending it into the drone's knees. He then crossed the room quickly and grabbed the head of the drone and slammed it into the wall. The drone broke free and tried to spin around to hit him. Ford ducked quickly and then came up and behead the drone before it could defend itself.

"Daniel shut the Iris!"

Daniel rushed up and put his hand on the panel, but nothing happened.

"Oh no." he said looking through the window.

"Stay here and order the lockdown!" he said rushing out.

He entered the gate room itself to see over a dozen dead soldiers. The gate was not active thankfully. Ford started crossing the room to the manual override when he saw Jack lying near the other doorway in.

"Jack?" he said rushing over and kneeling down. "Come on Jack, don't die on me."

"Get out of here. There's to many…." he said then suddenly slumped.

Ford reached up through tears and felt his pulse. Jack was gone. He took five to six hits in the sternum. He grabbed his sword off the floor and stood up slowly. Daniel was ordering the lockdown as he heard a scuff behind him. He ducked as several blast went over where he was just standing. Spinning around and knocking the hand aimed at him out of the way, he brought the sword up into the drone's skull. He shoved him into the wall and left him hanging there. Grabbing the switch and activated it, it closed the Iris as two more drone's decloaked themselves. He ducked and rolled as they fired at him. Coming up below one he brought his blade out and sliced the drone's face in half along with the mask. He pulled the dead drone around and used him as a shield quickly as the other drone quit firing and rushed up to him. Ford threw the body aside and ducked the swing with ease and gutted him with a quick swing. Grabbing his sword from the hanging guy he rushed up into the control room hearing Daniel yell.

"Daniel!" he yelled running up the stairs.

There was a drone trying to attach a device to the computer system where they dialed out. The drone looked at him and fired knocking the sword out of his hand. Ford blocked the other shots and kicked another chair into him. He grabbed another chair and smacked the drone across the head with the legged part. The chair bent and broke as Ford smashed it into the head of the fallen drone several times over and over again. He dropped the mangled chair as Daniel walked in holding his left arm.

"How many of these damned things are in here?!"

"I don't know. The gate was open for a few…" he said through pain as his eyes widen in fright.

Ford spun around with his left hitting something. He kept swinging a few times hitting the drone before he was pushed back. He grabbed the hand and spun the warrior around and slammed it's head into the console. It cracked and smoked from the impact and caught fire as a few more impacts caused more damage. The drone tried to swing out with its other hand, but he caught it and broke it, then snapped his neck with a quick jerk.

"The next one…." he started saying as his back took several hits.

He grabbed the damaged chair and tossed it down the stairs into the drone's face. He then grabbed his sword off the floor as the drone started getting back to its feet. Ford sliced his head off and walked back up the stairs before the body could hit the ground. Several armed personal entered the room with Teal'c as he looked around. They at least all had those special attachments to their weapons for using on drones.

"What had transpired?" Teal'c asked.

"Ba'al was somehow able to get, god only knows amount of Kull warriors onto the base! Teal'c you and these men go get all of the naquada generators and bring them to the self destruct room. Daniel you're coming with me." he said grabbing the emergency medical kit from the room.

Ford was able to get Daniel fixed up on their way to the self destruct room. By the time they got there and Ford had completely shut off the self destruct. Teal'c and the dozen or more soldiers with him arrived with the three generators.

"This all that's on the base right now?" he said setting them on the floor.

"Indeed. What is your plan?"

"Did you find any other drones?"

"We managed to kill two more we came across." a Captain said watching out the room doorway.

"Damn it! I….got to think. Give me a moment here."

Fine minutes later he had completely disarmed the Naquada generators. They couldn't be used for anything and strapping C-4 to them would probably be the only way to make them do anything destructive short of anything more powerful in the explosive category. He hide them behind the now semi worthless self destruct bomb.

"Give me that." Ford said to one of the airmen. The man handed over his CB unit.

"This is Major Carter to all anyone out there. I need to know the highest ranking officer out there right now and where Colonel Carter is?"

He waited and listened as he held a finger up at Daniel who was trying to say something. It took a few moments, but other than him, there was one Colonel on the base that was team leader of SG-8. Other than that, everyone else was an airmen or below him. A couple were Major's, but he had seniority.

"No one has found Colonel Carter then?" he asked really worried.

He got a reply back from several people saying no sir.

"Where the hell is she?" he said trying his best not to think she was dead as his voice broke. It wasn't working and he was ready to break down.

"She's off base Ford."

"What?" he said turning to Daniel.

"She's off base. Jack wanted something that wasn't on the base and….she hasn't returned yet." Daniel said wincing.

"Thank god." he said with relief as he blew out a breath of air and laughed. "Okay, back to our immediate problem."

He called through the CB unit for everyone on the base to come to the gate room and anyone near the armory to bring what weapons they could as well along with thermo graphic sensors. Back at the gate room, the people who died where being taken to another room to be dealt with later. Ford personally took Jack to another room so no one knew he was dead. Only Daniel really knew at the moment and was keeping it quiet per orders. Just over twenty people died in the attack before Ford managed to stop it, or so was the thought. He was standing on the ramp with holding his sword tightly as everyone came into the gate room. From what they learned there was more in the base seeing as not everyone was making it to the gate room. Only a little over fifty people were there. The rest didn't make it. From what was also learned, there was still five more drone's out there.

"I'm Colonel Smith of SG-8 Major Carter."

"You're the senior most ranking officer here at the moment leaving you in charge of the base." Ford whispered to him. There was only the four of them at the top of the ramp near the closed iris.

"Where's General O'Neill? He is with the wounded that survived isn't he?" he asked quietly.

Ford shook his head as he bit his hand. He couldn't say it.

"O'Neill has fallen in battle?" Teal'c asked visibly saddened.

"Yeah. He didn't make it." Daniel said seeing Ford was having trouble saying anything or even nodding.

Colonel Smith was instantly feeling the problem more than before.

"I…uh…damn it! What do we do?" he asked not sure of himself.

"I…." Ford said slowly as he wiped his mouth in thought then turned to the crowd. "Okay, everyone listen up and keep quiet while I speak. Somebody make a note of this now. As of this moment I am taking charge of the base. General O'Neill didn't make it. We are in lockdown and have several enemy troops in the base. The self destruct has been disabled as have the naquada generators to ensure the base does not get destroyed by the enemy. If need be I will destroy this place to keep it from enemies hands. The doorway out of the base has been locked and coded to not open at all until I deem this place safe again. Everyone get that?"

There was either yes Major or nods.

"Good. We can and will mourn those that gave their lives and for those that are yet to come. Right now we have to concentrate on the present."

The day before…………..

Ford was in the kitchen making coffee as Carter walked into the room. They were getting ready for work after coming back from their morning run. They still had an hour to go before really needing to be there.

"Almost done." he said putting what she wanted in her coffee. He still like straight black, cold preferably. Then the phone rang.

"I got it." she said grabbing it. "Carter residence. Morning sir. Yes…..yes……yes sir. That important sir? I understand sir. I'll be right in then. Goodbye sir."

"What was that?" he said handing over her coffee.

"General needs to talk to me about something in private. You can't be there for some reason and why he didn't specify. Something with what the President called him about this morning."

"Oh. I hope it's not another award." he said taking a drink as he sat down.

"You got enough awards huh?"

"You're the only award I need." he said smiling behind his cup.

"Flattery will not get me to tell you anything. I'm ordered to keep quiet."

"Sam, you actually think I'd try to do that?" he said mockingly.

"You might." she said playing along as they kissed.

"You better get going then otherwise we might be in the bedroom next. I'll be along in a moment, got to get some gas for the General." he said getting up.

"I wish we could go back to bed. I'll catch you later then." she said finishing her coffee and grabbing her keys.

Carter came into Jack's office finding him behind a pile of paper work. She tried to keep a smile hidden by biting her lip. It was funny to see him doing paper work since he hated it. He said so all over the years they'd been working together. Doctor Lee was in the room as well.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes." he said putting his pen down. "The President and a couple of the Joint Chiefs had an idea that Hammond thought would be a good idea as well. They want us to do this and use Ford. You can't tell him and I'll make it an order if I have to."

"I know the importance of secrecy sir." she said sounding dejected.

Even though it was true that she and Ford kept little if any secrets between them, she knew her duty as did he.

"Good. I didn't doubt that, but I had to ask. Anyway, here's what they want done."

After Jack was finished.

"I don't like this sir. In fact, I hate it."

"Neither do I, but orders are orders." he said sadly.

"I want on record, that I am totally against this sir."

"I'm on that record as well Carter. But orders are orders."

The next day……….

Ford and Carter made it to work as usual, but a little tired. The still weren't scheduled for off world duty for the next couple of days so they worked on stuff in the base as with the other days. After his cooking period Ford came to Jack's office.

"You needed me for something?" Ford said walking in and sitting down.

"Don't you ever knock or even follow the rules anymore?" Jack said sitting his pen down lightly and looking up at him.

"What rules?"

"The rules that state what an Air Force officer of your rank is suppose to do around a superior officer like me."

"Oh that. Considering all the trouble you put me through I figure I could return the favor." he said with a smile.

Jack narrowed his eyes then shook his head.

"Anybody else Ford and you'd be in trouble for insubordination. You're just lucky you cook good sweets." he said pointing at him.

"You mean cake and Jello."

"Exactly, that and being such a great help around here and even better friend."

"I still can't believe I lost that bet. You should have been sick with that much Jello you consumed." he said referring to the Jello he made during the incident with him being stuck with Ancient information.

"I have to admit it was a bit much. Thanks by the way."

"Seeing as I seriously doubt you call me up here for that, what is it you need?"

"Pentagon wants you to make a new program. Here's the information." he said handing over a folder.

"A new program? You're kidding?" he said taking the folder.

"Nope. It's something to do with the SGC and they want your skills in this. Carter will be busy with other things, so don't try asking for her help. The sooner done, the better."

"In that case, I'll get right on it."

He had been at his computer in another room for the last three hours working on creating a new program when Carter entered. She was holding two cups and seemed, distracted.

"Caffeine I take it?" he asked sitting back.

"Yes. Jack said you were down here and was still down here working and hadn't left. Figured you mustn't be hungry but possibly need a pick me up." she said handing the coffee over.

"Got that when you walked through the door." he said taking a drink. He started feeling his energy boosting again. "How long have I been at this?"

"Three hours."

"Only three? Oh man, I'll be at this all night then." he said downing the rest and setting the cup aside with a groan. "The Pentagon…"

"The General told me what is was you're doing. I came to give you that and to see what else you might need."

"A kiss would be nice." he said smiling.

She leaned over and they kissed, which turned into a minute as they started making out.

"As much as I'd like to stay here and help, he has me doing other things." she said stepping away slowly.

"I'll see you later then. I love you."

"I love you too." she said leaving.

Ford shook his head in amazement and got back to work. About an hour later he started feeling really tired and the screen was getting harder to see through droopy lids. He sat back and rubbed his face. The last time he got up was when he had to go to the restroom about half an hour ago. He was feeling tired even then and splashed water on his face to keep awake. It worked for awhile, but now the effect was fading. The door open and he started smiling thinking she came back. His smile dropped as Jack walked in. Jack also noticed.

"What's with…" he said waving a hand at his own face.

He put his hand into his pocket as Ford looked at him confused.

"What?"

"You were smiling when I walked in then dropped it like just as fast like you want me to go away."

"I thought you might be Sam walking in again."

"Well that explains everything. How far have you gotten?"

"Not even close to done." he said yawning.

"Well, there is a deadline, but it's not very important right now. You can get back on it in a couple of hours. You look ready to fall asleep any minute so go crash for awhile. If anything, you need to be alert if anything happens. Not half way asleep." he said with a gesture.

"No, I'll be fine Jack." he said leaning forward again. He couldn't focus on the keyboard or screen and Jack noticed.

"Okay Major, that's enough for now. Go get some rest. That's an order. I'll have you woke if anything is needed."

"Yes sir." Ford said with a mock salute as he got up slowly.

Jack opened the door and turned around quickly hearing Ford drop. He was leaning back in the chair with his head leaning back as well. His arms hanging at his sides swinging slightly. He was dead asleep.

"I knew this would happen. Should have came sooner. Airmen!"

Present………….

Ford was sitting at the head of the briefing room table with his hands, still gloved, intertwined in front of him under his nose. His sword was laying in front of him on the table, still blood stained. Daniel was seated to his right and Teal'c to his left. Colonel Smith was seated next to Daniel. He was still trying to come up with plans and get them implemented. Even though Carter had left, which made things much easier for him, she didn't take K-9, which prove unfortunate. K-9 was on the table before them in, in a box, in several pieces. He wasn't going to be functioning ever again. Ford tried calling out, mostly to get hold of Carter, but all the lines were down, partially due to lockdown. He even tried calling the President on the red phone but it was dead too. Ford had slammed the phone down and was about ready to toss it across the room when Daniel told him they might need it later. So he punched a hole in the wall and then had them all assemble in the briefing room. That was about five minutes ago.

"As of this moment, we have no outside contact with the world and none off world either. The system is down and we can't spend time repairing it, much less should we seeing as we don't need the enemy getting access to the gate. I've had power to the gate disconnected for that reason as well." he said slowly then closed his eyes for a moment as he took some deep breaths. "I need a status report."

"We have killed another drone in the west corridor on level 23 and found one trying to get to the self destruct system. We lost two men and the drone got away. We have the room more thoroughly guarded now."

"Good. Make sure that that place as well as the armory are kept guarded at all times. Wait….have the men take all the explosive's we have along with those generators I disabled and toss them into pool."

"The pool sir?"

"Yes the pool. After it's all tossed in, I'll flood the room. Anything that goes in will get wet and will be easy to see by the men that will be stationed just outside and down the hallway from the room. I want teams of four. No one and I mean no one is to be separated from another person, even for bathroom breaks. If one goes in, they all go in and give what privacy they can. If possible, two men and two women for each team. I seriously think there is more than just a few drone's left. There is a Goa'uld out there. If anything looks suspicious, shoot it. If it's someone else, then zat them once, especially if they are alone. I want no chances of problems. Understand?"

"Completely Major."

"Good, Teal'c help them get those explosive's down to the pool. You can sense if anything is nearby and we don't need any screw ups. Inform me when the job is finished."

"Indeed." Teal'c said nodding in agreement as he and Colonel Smith left.

"What are we going to do?"

Ford looked across the table at the box and closed his eyes as he looked down not moving his hands. He stayed this way for a few moments.

"Ford?"

"I'm thinking Daniel. I know what needs to be done, but…..damn it Jack. You had to play the hero." he said barely holding his voice in check.

"Yeah, he did like to do that." Daniel commented with a crack in his voice.

"Idiot! I should have stayed awake and not took that nap he ordered me to take. Hell, he should have called me up right away!" Ford said getting up quickly and pacing. He walked over and looked out the window. Daniel walked over and looked out with him.

"You know, if Sam was killed as well, I'd probably be in worse shape."

"She's be put in charge now you know."

"I don't give a damn about that right now." Ford said turning away and grabbing his sword. "Got more impor…..Daniel get behind the table."

"What?" he said turning around.

Ford grabbed his arm and pulled him down behind the table then went to stand in front of the window again. He stuck the sword in the ground near him and stayed silent. There was a small clanking noise that was instantly gone moments later. Daniel could faintly hear movement but didn't see anything and stayed hidden behind the chair that Jack usually sat in. He saw the carpet behind Ford sink some and realized why Ford hid him. The drone uncloaked and started raising its arm. Ford swung around delivering a hard blow to the drone's head then stuck an arm blade into the drones chest. He pushed the drone away and grabbed his sword quickly tossing it behind Daniel who turned around after hearing a thunk noise. There was another drone with the sword going through its head into the wall. The drone on the floor made some movement Daniel noticed as Ford went to retrieve his sword.

"Ford, I don't think he's dead." Daniel said standing up slowly.

The drone was slowly getting to his feet. So far he only was on all fours, but barely.

"You're mistaken." Ford growled lifting the drone into the air by its throat and tossing him through the widow.

There was a sickening thud as the drone hit the gate room floor below head first.

"I guess I was."

"Let's go hunting." he said retrieving his sword and pulling the CB unit. "I need a man or woman, don't matter which, with a thermo imaging scanner."

Daniel followed along out of the room with the modified PC-90.

An hour later, the thing with the pool had been done and three teams of four were watching the corridor into and out of that room. There was some water coming from out of the doorway into the pool room. Each team had a thermo imaging scanner and kept watch at all times. Three more teams were guarding the self destruct, even though Ford disarmed it, he wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be activated, just in case. Teal'c was leading a team down one section of the base on level one along with the other six teams they had. Ford, Daniel and an airman using the imaging scanner was with them in their three man team. Daniel and the airmen had modified PC-90's as did everyone else on the base unless they had the thirty millimeter's with the modified part. But only a select few had really trained with those. Ford's plan was simple, he and his small team kept watch near the power station for the base as the six teams with Teal'c went through them level by level starting with level one. As each level was cleared, power was shut off from that level completely. As Teal'c and the teams started searching level two, two of those team's kept watch on the ways into and out of those levels in case anything came up or down. Several hours later they still found nothing. Teal'c and the others were now at level twenty and still looking.

"Nothing is on this level Major Carter."

"Understood Teal'c. Shutting power down now." he said flipping the necessary switches. "You kinda figure that someone outside would try to contact us some way. Hell, even Thor should have showed up seeing as all the other SG teams had to reroute to the Alpha site and haven't been able to contact us for…what is it been now?"

"I'm not sure." Daniel said rubbing his forehead.

"From what I have observed Major, it's been over ten hours since the base was attacked."

"Figures." Ford muttered tiredly.

There was little if any noise making it almost unbearably spooky when they did hear something, but so far everything they heard was normal. A pipe squeaking or metal groaning, things of that nature.

"Ah, Ford?"

"Yeah Daniel."

"I've got to go."

"I'm staying here this time. Trust me, I'll be fine. Airman, go with him."

"Yes Major."

"Are you sure?"
"Daniel, it's dead quite practically. My hearing is rather good and if one of them shows up, they're dead. Simple as that. I can't be taken over either."

They left keeping low and to the shadows.

Ford reached over from the spot his was sitting in grabbing something he brought along from home. It had served him pretty well on a few missions so far. He got if after he lost his shotgun in the castle incident. He had to change some of his ammo over for it, but it worked better. He pointed it at the open door and pulled a small bag from his pocket, got up and shook the contents onto the floor near the inside and outside the doorway then took his seat again. He pointed his new gun at the doorway, pulled both hammers back and waited in the dark as he counted off the time. Didn't take long as he figured. The flour he dumped on the floor puffed up slightly as someone walked into the doorway.

"Bad move jackass." he said pulling the triggers.

Being as there was nothing going on in the base and it being dead quite to begin with, the loudness from the elephant gun was deafening as both barrels blasted its slugs into the invisible target and exploded. Ford barely covered his face in time as he dropped the gun to shield himself. The invisible drone, now visible from the explosion, was against the wall across from the power room. Ford walked out slowly and looked around as his face healed. He saw little and heard even less, well he certainly heard Daniel and the other guy running back. He walked over and shoved his blade through the skull, pulled it out then walked back into the room and reloaded.

Daniel and the other guy came around the corner to where the power room was and jumped back as several blast came their way. More fire came at them hitting the wall. Daniel pointed the gun out and tried firing. He figured out he missed after a hit on the wall near his arm made him drop the gun. The airman with Daniel rolled out and fired several times. The drone staggered and fell as the airman hit him several more times for good measures. Ford stepped out of the room and looked at the drone on the floor several yards from the doorway.

"Good job airman. Must be taking my weapon training courses."

A couple of hours later after that, Teal'c and the other's had made their way down to level 27. A couple drone's tried for the explosives and were killed quickly. The splashing water was a dead give away. After Teal'c and his teams searched level 28, the problem came up. Three drone's attack the people stationed outside the room with the self destruct system. The teams reported in saying a Goa'uld was with them. Before they could find out who it was, the communication quit. Ford told Daniel and Teal'c to reinstate power back to everything as he raced away. A team stayed with Teal'c and Daniel as the others followed him.

They all rounded the corner and found everyone dead with the exception of one drone. The emergency lights were on and they couldn't get hold of Daniel and the other's for some reason. Main power was still offline. The men with Ford opened fire as the drone shot back from its place in the doorway. Someone was in the room trying to fix the self destruct. He brought his arms up blocking the hits as the men tried to take him out. Some Goa'uld energy shield was protecting him. He yelled to them fall back and moved out of the way. Slowly peeking out after a moment, he saw the drone not moving.

"Give me that rocket launcher I had you bring." Ford said handing his sword and elephant gun to another man.

He stepped out quickly, aimed it at the floor and fired. The shield blocked the large blast as Ford tossed the launcher aside and got back with the men at the turning junction. The shield didn't block the ground from crumbling underneath the drone though and falling through the hole to the floor underneath. Ford came around the corner holding the sword as energy fire came past him. Two more drone's uncloaked from behind them all and was taking all the men out quickly as they tried firing back. The man holding his elephant gun fired it off at them, but only grazed one of them as he was killed himself. Ford rushed them both, blocking what he could with his already heavily damaged coat. Several swings and stabs later, they were dead and he was alone. He turned around quickly and rushed to the room finding the room dark and the shield down. He looked at the hole in the floor and noticed something funny about the floor. Movement made him get up quickly.

"Whoever you are, surrender and I may let you live." he said stepping into the room.

"You will not kill me. I know this host's memories." a Goa'uld voice said. It was female he noticed real quickly.

"To save whoever it is, I just might do so. Step out of the shadow!"

"Your friends are all dead. The Sho'va Teal'c, Doctor Jackson and the others guarding the power room. I destroyed it before coming here."

Ford stepped into the room more and pulled his pistol.

"Foolish to the end. Your weapon is ineffective."

"Against your shield, yes. Against the wall behind you and the high explosive round in the gun, no. I got fifteen shots in this. Step out."

"Very well. If just to see your reaction before you die."

Ford kept the gun pointed and the sword ready as the woman walked out. He dropped the gun in shock.

"No. Daniel said…." he said in a low voice of shock as he backed into the wall.

"She may not have had access to the memories of the Tok'ra Jolinar, but I do." the Goa'uld in Carter's body said as it flashed her eyes. "You should hear her screams for you to free her by taking her life."

Ford staggered against the wall holding his chest. It was killing him badly and his vision was dimming. He glanced off to his left seeing the hole in the floor and the strangeness about it. A flickering that shouldn't be. The only thing keeping him up at the moment was the sword, otherwise he'd probably be on the floor barely moving.

"Your pitiful friend Daniel was right, except your wife made it back into the base when we invaded it. I was able to find her quickly and kill those who knew she was on the base before it was told she was here. There are many times I was almost found, but your methods were not thorough enough to find me." she said with a laugh. "You are a formidable foe to the Goa'uld, but you cannot win and will not win. I shall fix what you did to this system and destroy this base. Soon after, Earth will be conquered."

She flashed her eyes at him and turned away going back to the machine.

"I….will….stop you." he said getting up off the wall slowly.

"You cannot. Your love for this one compels you to save her even if you can't. You are weak and helpless." the Goa'uld said with a sneer.

Ford stumbled to go after her but fell to his knees dropping the sword and collapsing on his back breathing hard. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain that didn't go away as he held his chest tightly. She turned around and knelt next to him.

"So this is what the so called mighty Tauri Ford has been reduced to. A weak man…" she said placing the hand with the metal device on it over his heart. "With heart trouble. Leaving you to this pain is a fitting death, but you will die knowing you couldn't stop me."

"But…..I…did stop you." he croaked through hard breaths. "Sorry….Sam…"

She looked down seeing his fist against her chest. His wrist moved and the blade came out. His wrist went slack and he passed out not seeing her eyes flash as she fell over dead onto him.

Ford awoke a couple of hours later looking up at the ceiling in the infirmary. There was people walking around and talking quietly. He bolted up and looked around seeing no one around him. Looking over, he saw he had a machine hooked up to him and a central line. He pulled it out along with the other stuff.

"Major? What are you doing?" the doctor exclaimed coming over.

She was about to stop him, but the look on his face and in his eyes made her back away several feet, scared. Her arms covering the clipboard over her chest like it was something she could use to protect herself from anything.

"Is the General still here?" he said getting off the bed.

"Si…..Major?" she asked seeing his evil eye look that he gave anyone who called him sir.

"General O'Neill? Is he still here?" he asked keeping his fury in check, but barely.

"He's……in his office, Major."

"I'm leaving." he said storming out of the infirmary as she called upstairs.

His first stop was his room for clothes.

"Yes sir. Yes sir. I just was told that sir. Uh oh. I better go now sir. Yeah, I think it's him. Oh, okay sir." Jack said setting the phone back and hitting the speaker phone as Ford literally stormed into the room and slammed both hands down on the desk. It rattled and a few items dropped off it onto the floor. Jack could also swear the desk cracked in some places.

"You son of a bitch!!!" he shouted.

A guard rushed into the room and went for his gun.

Jack sat there quietly and saw the murderous look in his eyes as he motioned the guard away. With the look Ford had, there was a good chance that he'd take the guard out then go after him, possibly. Jack thought about a smart remark, but kept it to himself.

"Anything else?" he asked slowly.

"Damn you for that stunt you pulled!! I should pull you out from behind that desk and kick your sorry ass for what you did!! You have any idea what sort of shit you put me through! Gave me a damned heart attack I couldn't stop! You better a damned good reason or so help me you'll need to shoot me dead to keep me away!" he said barely keeping his hands from reaching across the desk to, do anything to Jack.

"He was under order's from me to do it Major." President Hayes said over the speaker phone. "I'm sorry, but it was a choice that had to be made."

Ford slowly turned to look at the red phone. There was a long moment of silence.

"You still there General O'Neill?"

"I'm here and so is he sir." he said as calmly as possible.

Jack had given that look on Ford's face to many people over the years. Seeing it directed at him was, scary. Mostly because the wrong signal or something said could set the aggressor off in a heartbeat.

"The Joint Chiefs, General Hammond and several other's decided for the sake of the planet and the SGC future we needed to do a test. And you passed as several people told me you would. I am sorry for the deception, but it had to be done."

"I figured out it was a test at the end." he said through gritted teeth. "I could have told you what I would have done. Putting me through that was something I would expect from Kinsey or a Goa'uld. Anyone else I could have taken, but that went over the line sir."

Ford reached over and hung the phone up as Hayes was saying something. He turned away quickly and looked at the ceiling while clenching and unclenching his fist.

"You just hung up…"

"I know what I just did Jack!" he said turning around sharply.

"Okay." he said holding his hands up.

"Damn it, I can't believe you let them put me through that!" he said dropping into the chair and rubbing his eyes as he tried not to cry, and failing. "Jesus Christ Jack, why did you go along with that plan? Sticking me in that machine to see what I would do, making me think it was real. Hell, even at the end, some part of me thought it was real. I actually thought she was taken over. Gave me a heart attack in the process! You know what that feels like?!"

"No, I don't." he said after a moment of silence. "I agree that the program they devised wasn't the greatest idea and that part at the end wasn't something anyone should experience, but they ordered me to do it."

"Why?" asked slowly as he wiped his eyes. "You could have told me in private and I still would have….done it without giving away I knew. Everything was okay, I could deal with, until the end."

"They wanted it to be as real as possible. They wanted to see how you would take being able to run the SGC if me and Carter were gone. Along with a majority of the other higher ranking officers. Would you be able to run it seeing as you know as much as I do and more? Hell, besides Carter, you know this place better than the designers."

Ford sat there holding his face with one hand. His eyes were closed but watering up. Jack waited a few minutes before saying anything.

"Ford?"

"Where is she?" he managed to croak out while not moving.

"She's asleep in her room on the base. You had a heart attack and died in the chair. They doctor's weren't sure if you'd make it back seeing as you didn't come back in the program. It was suppose to reset, but it didn't. Took over an hour for you to start breathing again and nothing they did brought you back. Carter almost couldn't take it and waited next to your bed until you came back. Once you did and the MRI showed normal brain activity, she knew everything was going to be okay and went to get some sleep."

"How did she know my mind was back?" he said looking up.

"You said something as you called out her name. She said something back and you fell asleep."

"How long ago was this?"

"Several hours. In fact you would normally be coming to work in…" Jack said looking at his watch. "An hour."

"Then I better get to work. Best thing to get my mind off this anyway." he said standing up. "You know, that program I was running, I kept going over it in my mind as I went through all that. That is until the end. Think I figured out the rest."

"Hmm. Oh Ford."

Ford was standing just inside the doorway.

"Yeah?" he said in a low voice.

"How did you know it wasn't real?"

"When I blew a hole in the ground, the floor glitched a few times. I then realized it."

"Oh. For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to go through that. It wasn't my decision. I thought it was a bad idea as did Carter. Quite a few people thought what was being done to you was far over the line. Me and her both had it put in our reports we didn't agree with this happening."

"I know. Sorry about the outburst. Don't worry, I'll get over it though. It wasn't real." he said walking away.

Jack shook his head and was worried. He only hoped Ford could get over it. What he watched was damaging enough, for Ford it must have been terrible. They were all there watching when Ford realized who had betrayed them all. When Carter stepped out and flashed her eyes, Ford's heart on the monitor went erratic signaling he was in arrest, surprisingly too seeing as he wasn't suppose to be able to have heart attacks. It was devastating to see him die knowing he had to kill Carter, fake though it was. Though they didn't see him actually do it, the program did signal her termination. For the next few days, Ford had therapy, willingly, with Carter by his side.