"Teal'c's on his way," Sam said about ten minutes later. "He'll bring Jack, and the B'kedricti and a squad of base security forces will be coming with him."

"They're never going to get there in time..." Jack's eyes were on the road in front of him, his truck was speeding through the streets far faster than was really safe, but he had no intention of slowing down. If anything, he sped up every chance he got. The Academy was so close that morning, and now it was so damned far away. Why hadn't he figured this out before? What had he been thinking? A strange ship lands on the planet and all he can think about is his head?

"We'll be there about ten minutes sooner than he is." Sam told him. As long as they didn't crash and die on the way. She clutched the handle by the window as they veered around a corner, the tires on the truck squealing in protest.

"We'll never make it..."

"They would have called if something was wrong..."

They couldn't rely on just the AFA security to help them. No one at the Academy knew about the Stargate, they certainly didn't know about aliens on Earth, and they didn't know about Shawn's connections with the aforementioned aliens and Stargate. And they couldn't. Not if they could help it.

"What did Hammond say?"

"He wasn't there. They're calling him in." She hesitated, looking over at him. "I had them call Janet. She's going to come with Teal'c and the SGC people."

Jack's hands tightened on the steering wheel, the knuckles turning white. Janet would probably be needed. Jack could only hope she was needed. The thought of Shawn – young, defenseless and completely ignorant of any such threat like the Ashrak – facing a pair of the deadly assassins alone was just a bleak one.

"We should have told him about them..."

It had been Jack who was responsible for Shawn not knowing about the Ashrak. Jack had made the decision that Shawn shouldn't know, so he wouldn't have to live in fear, constantly looking over his shoulder for an invisible assassin. Jack had said he'd take care of Shawn. He'd told them he could watch the boy. Shawn was supposed to have a childhood, even if he wanted to go to the Academy, and Jack wasn't going to ruin that by telling him about the assassins that were after the older version of himself.

"You made the right call about that," Sam told him, resisting the urge to rest her hand reassuringly on his thigh. She didn't want to distract him as fast as they were going. "You know that."

His hands tightened on the wheel again, his eyes never leaving the road. Sam had backed him completely at the time, and Dotty had agreed because both of them had been so adamant. Now look where it had gotten them.

"Call ahead and warn them that we're coming in. I don't want to get slowed down by some over zealous cadet on guard duty."

"What do I tell them?" She asked, dialing the SGC to get the number of the Academy.

He shook his head, trying to think of something. Sam was bad at making up stories, that was proven fact, so he knew it was pretty much up to him to come up with something. He used the first thing he could think of, even though he knew it lame.

"Tell them there are bank robbers – or escaped Military prisoners – in the area, and we think they're hiding on the grounds or something. Anything to get them to lock down the cadets, and keep them out of the way."

Sam nodded; once again impressed by the way Jack thought so well when he was obviously worried about other things. It was one of the reasons he was such a good Commanding officer. She started talking into the phone, and Jack took another corner far too quickly.

&&

A blast of energy hit the wall right by where Shawn's head had been. Less than a second later, another blast struck the same place. Both shots missed, but only because Shawn had rolled out of his bed, blankets and all.

"What the hell?"

River sat up in his bed; promptly hitting his head in the exact same spot he'd hit it earlier that day. The stitches ripped, and the bandage turned scarlet, but he didn't even flinch. Both guns had turned on him the moment he spoke up, and he emulated Shawn, rolling off his bunk as well, diving behind the desk as two 'shots' took out sizable chunks of the wall behind the bunk beds.

"River! Watch out!"

Shawn was looking for a weapon. Anything that could be used as a weapon. He didn't know what these guys were, or who they were, but they were serious. And dangerous. One of them turned towards Shawn, who ducked behind his own desk, and again a shot was fired. This time coming uncomfortably close to Shawn's head.

"Who are they?" River called, looking wildly around for something to throw at the man who was walking towards his hiding spot, advancing with his weapon out in front of him. He grabbed up his Physics book and hurled it, daringly exposing far more of himself than he should have. He paid for it, too. The book hit the weapon as it went off, deflecting the shot a little, but not by much. Instead of hitting River in the chest where the Ashrak had been aiming, the force bolt slammed into the young man's shoulder, knocking him off his feet and back against the wall. He tumbled to the floor, ominously still and silent.

The Ashrak that had just downed River turned his weapon on Shawn, who was frozen. He was trapped. The desk made a great shield against one person, but it left him nowhere to go when there were two weapons trained on him. Figuring it was better to go down fighting than to just go down, Shawn poised himself to attack, trying to decide which one would be most vulnerable. Neither looked vulnerable.

There was a sudden clatter of broken glass from behind the Ashrak, and both of them turned. The one who'd originally fired at Shawn turned, and ran right into the tray that Ian slammed into his face. The Ashrak dropped like a rock, and Ian dropped the tray on the prone body, contemptuously.

"How do you like that, mother fucker?"

"Ian!"

Shawn rushed out from behind the desk, piling into the other Ashrak, who had turned as well and was already bringing his weapon to bear on Brooks. Shawn didn't bring this Ashrak down, but he did manage to knock him aside enough to make the shot go wild. Ian dodged as the bolt hit the doorframe, and he and Shawn both scrambled to their feet quickly.

"Come on!"

Brooks grabbed Shawn's arm and yanked him towards the door, but Shawn struggled to get free. Brooks was bigger, though, and he had more leverage just then. Short of hurting him intentionally, Shawn wasn't going to get free.

"Let me go!"

"Come on!"

He dragged him out the door, and Shawn stepped on a piece of broken glass. His bare feet were no protection, and he felt skin slice open.

"I thought you took the dishes back?" He gasped as he was dragged through even more broken glass, biting back a gasp of pain when the first piece of glass went deeper.

"The kitchen was closed."

Ian realized why Shawn was going so slowly, and reached over and picked the younger cadet up, slinging over his shoulder to get him through the broken glass.

"We can't leave River," Shawn told him, struggling once more to get free. "He's hurt!"

"Those guys aren't after River, Shawn," Ian countered, still heading down the hall. "If they were, they would have stopped shooting when he went down. We've got to get help. For us and him."

He set Shawn on his feet as soon as they were clear of all the glass, and Shawn reached down and yanked the glass out of his foot. He didn't have time to stop and see what kind of damage was done. Ian was right; they had to get some help. But first they had to get away from the guys that were shooting at them. Shawn had no idea what they wanted, but since it seemed they were after blood, he definitely didn't want to give it to them...

Leaving a trail of bloody footprints, he and Ian turned the corner and headed for the stairs.