Jack looked over at the curse, his face set in a scowl – but that was already there from the ache in his head. He forced himself to his feet and headed for the Wall.

"Lieutenant?"

Sam had come in from the kitchen at the same exclamation, worried that he'd dropped the device – or that Jaffer had taken it from him and had chewed it up.

"Will?"

They both converged on the Lieutenant, who was staring at a picture that Shawn and Sam had given Jack for Father's day. A picture of Sam, Jaffer and Shawn all sitting in a studio somewhere, smiling for the camera.

"That's the kid!"

Will Marsh turned and looked at Sam, who was looking at him with a blank look. He turned to Jack, who was frowning.

"What kid?"

"The one in the device."

"What?" Jack was really having a hard time controlling the urge to boot the guy out of his house. No one should be so excited when he felt so miserable.

"The kid... it's the kid in the device I wanted Major Carter to look at."

"It's Major O'Neill, Lieutenant." Jack corrected, scowling.

"Jack..." Sam caught Marsh's attention, and pointed at the device. "What do you mean, Will? What kid?"

"One of the ships that landed today had a device in-"

"We know. You told us this already." Jack needed to sit down. His head was pounding so badly it was a wonder it hadn't popped right off his neck and rolled across the floor.

"Sir... the device is a hologram of some sort, and I swear that's the kid that the hologram shows."

"Let me see it," Sam said, reaching out and taking it from the Lieutenant. She carried it over to the dining room table and sat it down. Rather than try and figure out how to turn it on, she gestured for Marsh to turn it on for her, and the Lieutenant reached out and flipped a nearly invisible switch. Suddenly in front of them was a hologram image of Shawn. A picture of him from about a year ago or so. A near copy – if not an exact copy of one of his school pictures.

Jack looked at the hologram, and then back at Marsh.

"Where did these ships land?"

"Just outside of Colorado Springs. They were quasi-cloaked, but we tracked them with radar until they landed and then used their oxygen and carbon emmi-"

"Stop." Jack held a hand up. He didn't want to hear the techo-babble. "What kind of ships are they?"

"We don't know, Sir. They didn't have-"

"Where are the people that were in them?"

"We didn't find anyone in them. They were empty, except for this device. We assumed they were remotely controlled." He hesitated. The kid in the picture looked a bit like O'Neill himself. "Who is he, Sir?"

"Who would have a picture of Shawn?" Sam asked Jack.

Jack was rubbing his head.

"The Asgard might, but they wouldn't land in little ships. If they wanted something they'd come to us directly – or beam us up."

"They're not around right now, though, right?"

Jack shook his head. "Andrew doesn't start school for another week, so they won't be around until he does..." He rubbed his forehead again, trying to concentrate on a memory that had seemed so important, but something he couldn't remember. It was right there... he just couldn't remember what it was. Jaffer whined, and put his nose in Jack's side, and O'Neill stroked his shoulder with his free hand. A single word came to his mind, and rolled off his tongue almost of its own accord.

"Ashrak..."

"What?"

It all clicked.

"Shit! They're Ashrak ships, Sam," Jack said, standing up so fast he hit the table and knocked the device over. The image of Shawn continued to show; only now it was on its side. Jack looked down at it, unable to know how he was so positive he was right, only knowing he was.

"Ashrak?" Sam was looking at him almost dubiously, wondering if his headache was causing him to jump to conclusions.

"What's an Ashrak?" Marsh asked.

"How big were those ships?" Jack asked, already moving towards the hall, with Jaffer right beside him. Marsh followed him.

"One man ships, Sir."

"Jack?"

O'Neill stopped in the bedroom and grabbed his shoes and reached into the drawer beside his bed and pulled out his Beretta and holster. He looked at the weapon, and then at Sam.

"It's got to be Ashrak, Sam. I don't know how, but they've come after him once, and they're doing it again." He turned his gaze back to Marsh once more. The man looked bewildered, but Jack didn't have time or inclination to explain. "You're positive there were only two ships? There weren't more hiding somewhere else?"

"No, Sir. Only two. We wouldn't have missed any other ships. They were easy to track."

Sam reached for her shoes, as well as a BDU jacket. She was only wearing a light tank top, since she'd showered and changed after coming home. Jack was still mostly in uniform, since he'd pretty much collapsed on the couch when he'd walked into the door. Only his shoes had made it as far as the bedroom, and only because Sam had taken them there.

"When did they land?"

"About noon, Sir." Marsh told him. "I could call and find out exact-"

Jack stood up and interrupted him, and the Lieutenant moved when Jack headed for the closet he was standing in front of. Rummaging through it, Jack pulled down another pistol, this one with an ankle holster, and then he slid a wicked-looking knife into a sheath, and slipped it into his waistband. He couldn't have enough firepower when it came to Ashrak. He just hoped they weren't too late.

"Noon?" Sam's face was just as worried as Jack's. She wasn't as positive as he was, but when he seemed this sure of something, he was normally right, and she was just as concerned about Shawn as Jack was. "They could be anywhere."

"Yeah, they could. We've gotta get moving."

Jack was already heading for the door, Jaffer trotting ahead of him, and Sam right behind him, grabbing up her cell phone and already dialing the base. They'd want Jack and Teal'c – if they could get there in time. And since Teal'c was on base, he could pick up one of the B'kedricti weapons that had been salvaged from the last Ashrak attack. They'd proven to be very good at taking down these alien assassins.

"Colonel?"

Marsh was following them, completely confused by the sudden commotion.

"Lock up on your way out, Lieutenant," Jack told him, grabbing his keys and heading out the door.