Title: Outside the Lines: Incursion
Author: Annerb
Rating: Teens
Summary: How far would you go to make your world right again?
Classifications: Action/Adventure, Drama, Angst, S/J
Season: 4 (Alternative storyline for 'Chain Reaction')
Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

Incursion

Sam wasn't too surprised to find herself at gunpoint once again. People seemed to like threatening her with guns. To be honest, though, the more than slightly unstable gleam to Mathers' eyes made the whole experience a bit disconcerting. He couldn't quite seem to decide if he wanted to kill her.

Sam's eyes darted to the ticking counter that cheerfully flashed, reminding her of the slowly approaching self-destruct. Around them, the air was full of discordant sounds. The slight whimper from Walter who lay crumpled near Sam's feet mingled with the grinding sound of the Stargate springing to life. Red lights flashed and klaxons groaned and yet Mathers seemed immune to all of it. Griff's evaluation of the Colonel's mindset was unfortunately spot-on and Sam was beginning to doubt she would be able to talk him down.

"It's over, Mathers. There's no one coming for you. It's over."

Sam's voice was firm and calm, but Mathers jumped as if she had barked at him. His eyes narrowed and his fingers clenched. "Well, you're half right, Major. It certainly is over, at least for you."

As a shot rang out, Sam's only thought was that it was somehow right that she would die here in the control room among the blaring klaxons. It felt a bit like home.

Climbing down 28 levels on cool metal rungs was no mean feat and Sam could hear Daniel's heavy breathing in the space above her. She couldn't help but think of the last time she had done this, when the SGC had been taken over by aliens with duplicating technology. But she wasn't alone this time.

At level 17, Sam cautiously pushed the solid door outwards. She listened patiently for any sounds in the hallway before stepping out into the hall. She had just turned back to signal Daniel to join her when she heard the distinct sound of a P-90 being readied to fire right behind her.

"Crap," Sam mumbled as she raised her hands and slowly turned around to face her new friend. Her eyes met Daniel's for a moment and she almost infinitesimally gestured for him to stay put. He nodded and retreated further into the dark shaft.

"Hands up!" called a no-nonsense voice from the end of the hall.

Sam dutifully raised her arms, but did not drop her weapon. She squinted down the dim hallway, but couldn't see any faces beyond the bright flashlights trained on her.

There was a gasp from one of the figures. "Major Carter?" someone called out incredulously.

Sam nodded. "Reporting for duty," Sam said facetiously with a flick of her hands.

Daniel, meanwhile, had abandoned his perch and climbed out into the hallway. "Major Griff," he exclaimed.

"Dr. Jackson, good to see you."

Soon Sam and Daniel were surrounded by a half dozen soldiers, all of them obviously overjoyed to see them.

Sam cleared her throat. "As nice as this little reunion is…I need a report on what the hell is going on down here."

Everyone snapped to attention at her tone. Griff nodded and ordered three of the soldiers to continue patrolling level 17. Then he gestured for Sam and Daniel to follow him. "I'll take you to our situation room and try to get you caught up to speed."

Sam fell in behind him, her eyes roaming over the hallways as they passed. The whole Mountain seemed to be on minimal backup generators and was eerily silent. Flashing red lights just added to the effect that a great catastrophe had suddenly overtaken the normally bustling base. There was no laughter softening the walls, in fact, Sam didn't see evidence of a single other person on the entire way to level 23.

Griff eventually led them into the MALP room where there was a large table set up in the middle of the room. Siler and Lawrence were both leaning against it deep in discussion.

"Look who the cat dragged in," Griff announced dryly.

Siler looked delighted to see them both, but Sam just made her way to the table to find a large floor plan of the base stretched out on it.

"Fill me in," she said brusquely.

"We now have control of levels 17 through 26, but we have not yet secured 27 and 28 or gained control of the Stargate."

"We?"

"13 soldiers," Griff clarified.

Sam nodded. "I've been informed that you have a foothold situation."

Griff snorted rather indelicately. "No way. We've had a hostile take-over, but not by anything off-world."

"Are you positive?" Sam asked. As it was, she could be sure that none of these men were Goa'uld, but she needed to be completely sure.

"Yes. Mathers just made that up so he could lock down the Mountain and remove Bauer from of the chain of command."

"Where is Bauer?"

Griff pointed to a room on level 28. "Last we knew he was being kept here."

Sam paced the length of the room. "Okay…so hypothetically, Mathers was informed of the implosion of the NID and decided he needed to shut down the Mountain…to what purpose though?"

Griff shrugged. "Not to escape, that's for certain. He's had plenty of opportunities to go through the gate."

That was more than strange. Surely he knew that his only chance of escape was to get off-world. "How many men does he have?"

"He has five left."

Sam quirked an eyebrow at him. "Left?"

Griff and Lawrence shared a smile. "We have ten others in custody in the brig on level 18."

"And the rest of the personnel?"

"Right after he declared Wildfire, Mathers began sending people through to the Alpha Site. Practically emptied the Mountain. But some of us already knew about the shady dealings of the NID with Hammond and O'Neill, thanks to Daniel. There was no way we were just going to meekly go through the gate. We all rallied here and, well, planned a bit of a mutiny."

"Well, I'm sure they'll let us all have nice little cells right next to each other," Sam said with a smirk. Sam wandered over to a bank of TVs on the far wall, her mind still processing everything she had learned.

"Siler hacked into the security feeds for us," Lawrence supplied.

"Nice," she mildly commented as she skimmed the monitors. There were two men in the gate room and three stalking the halls outside. Sam's eyes lingered on the image of Mathers pacing agitatedly in the control room. She pointed to a slight figure in the bottom corner. "Is that Walter?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Siler said. "Mathers has been holding him there. He won't let anyone come through the gate, but it seems like Walter has been careful to put out a signal warning off-world teams not to come through."

Sam tried not to think of the various teams that could have met a rather unspectacular end against the iris. Especially not Teal'c. "Has there been a lot of gate activity?"

Siler pointed to a list. "I've logged 6 off-world activations in the last 36 hours."

Sam pushed thoughts of the gate aside. There would be plenty of time to sort it all out later. Instead, she stared blindly at the feed of Mathers for long minutes, trying to process everything and find the logical solution. "So," she said eventually. "We have them outnumbered. Why not just storm level 28?"

"That was our next step," Griff replied.

"But?" Sam asked when she detected a bit of hesitance in his tone.

Griff and Lawrence shared a look. "To be honest, we are a little wary of what Mathers might do if his back is pushed to the wall."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

Lawrence grimaced apologetically. "Frankly, Major, with no intent to speak poorly of a superior officer…he's completely lost it. He's cracked."

Sam watched the man on the monitor again. He did seem highly agitated and was talking…though she couldn't tell with whom. "Do you think he might harm Walter?"

"Or blow the whole Mountain to hell. He can do anything from down there, can't he?"

At Griff's words, something caught Sam's attention in the lower corner of the screen. "Siler, do you have control of the cameras?"

"Yeah, we just haven't because we didn't want to draw attention to them."

"I want to see the display screen right next to Walter's left hand."

Siler glanced at Griff, but he just shrugged. Sam was the gate expert after all. It took a few minutes for Siler to hack into the camera controls.

"Yeah, stop right there, and zoom in." Mathers was now staring suspiciously into the camera, but Sam didn't care. Because right before he shot out the camera, Sam saw something that made her blood run cold.

"Was that what I thought it was?" Daniel asked in a startled voice.

Sam turned away from the snowy fuzz of the screen and nodded. "Yeah. The self-destruct." She met Griff's eyes over the table. "You know what they say about insubordination. No time like the present."

Griff gripped his weapon a little tighter and nodded firmly back at her with a grim smile.

Less than ten minutes later, Griff's forces had efficiently mustered on level 28. Sam glanced around at the men and women crouched in the dark hallways, their determined faces barely visible in the low light. Pride swelled in her throat, knowing that the NID had thrown their worst at these people, but hadn't broken them. Not by a long shot.

Sam shifted closer to Griff. "Give me five minutes to try and talk Mathers down and then take the gate room. That should leave at least eight more minutes on the self-destruct." Sam hoped that Mathers would just step aside once he realized he was out numbered, but she was prepared to do whatever was necessary.

Griff studied her face for a long while, but he must have been satisfied with what he saw, because he finally nodded in agreement.

Before Sam pushed to her feet, her eyes met Daniel's. She could see him pushing to his feet to follow her, but she shook her head. 'Stay here,' she gestured. His eyes glared mutinously, but Sam just stared back. Eventually, Daniel sighed and nodded once, sinking back to the floor.

Girff's forces had already dealt with the one guard on this side of the gate room, so Sam had a clear shot at the blast door guarding the control room. She broke out her pocket knife and pried off the security panel. It didn't take her much time at all to rewire the door mechanisms. Crossing the final wire, she gripped her P-90 and stepped to the side as the doors slowly slid open.

The room remained eerily quiet and Sam stayed low as she crept into the room. The main computer station came into view, but Walter was no longer sitting there. Another step into the room and she froze at the sound of Mathers' voice.

"That's far enough, Major."

Sam dropped down behind the nearest counter for cover. Counting to three, she quickly leaned around the corner to get sight of the source of the voice.

Not five paces from Sam, Mathers held Walter in front of him like a shield with his gun pointed at his head.

Sam ducked back behind the counter and took a deep breath. "What is it that you want, Mathers?" Sam asked steadily.

"Want? I don't want anything. I'm just following my orders!"

"And whose orders would those be?"

Mathers laughed coldly. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't already know. The brilliant Samantha Carter. They should have listened to me and dealt with you while they had the chance. The way they dealt with your dearly departed O'Neill."

Sam took a deep breath and refused to rise to the bait. He was probably hoping she would lose it and charge at him with guns blazing. But Sam hadn't come this far to do something that stupid. "It's over, Mathers. You've lost."

"That's where you're wrong. They're coming for me. I just have to hold this base for a little longer."

Sam was startled to hear a thread of insanity in his voice. "No one's coming." But before she could say anything else, she heard the sound of someone moving off to her right. Maybe she had been stupid after all; she had let Mathers distract her while someone flanked her.

Sam threw herself to the floor just in time to avoid the first shot. Quickly regaining her feet she charged at her new assailant, knocking the gun from his hand. She tried to raise her weapon, but the man's foot connected with her wrist. With both of them disarmed, the struggle turned hand to hand.

Sam was intent on her opponent, but still registered the echo of gunfire in the room below and the sound of a struggle nearby. After almost a minute of dancing around each other's blows, Sam finally found her opening. Her foot connected solidly with the back of the man's knee, throwing him off balance. Following through, she finished him off with a sharp jab to the chin. He hit the floor with a sickening thud.

Her only thought now was to retrieve her weapon, but as she reached for it, Mathers called out. "I don't think so, Major."

Sam looked up to find Mather's pointing a gun at her with Walter at his feet sporting a bloody lip and a blooming new shiner. Walter had obviously tried to help her as much as he could.

In the distance the sound of gunfire was winding down and Sam knew that Griff and his people had won. But not in time for her.

The sharp retort of a gun echoed through the control room.

Sam opened her eyes, trying to figure out where she had been hit, but there was no pain. She absently ran her hands over her body before raising her eyes. She wasn't prepared for what she found.

Mathers was crumpled on the ground and behind him, Daniel stood with a Beretta gripped in his white-knuckled hands. His face was ashen, but determined. Daniel slowly lowered his arms, his eyes never leaving the bloody figure on the floor.

Sam must have made some sound because Daniel's gaze met hers. There was nothing to say, so Sam just nodded once at him and turned to the bound Sergeant on the floor. Sam quickly untied him and glanced down at the Gate Room. Slamming her hand down on the intercom, she barked, "Griff! Get your ass up here, pronto!"

Once Griff arrived, the two officers quickly shut off the self-destruct. They had just finally allowed themselves a sigh of relief, when they heard a low groan behind them.

Griff automatically trained his weapon on Mathers. Sam knelt by the fallen man and pressed her fingers to his throat, feeling a steady pulse. Sam looked up at Daniel. "He's alive," she reassured him.

Daniel looked distinctly relieved and ran a shaky hand through his hair.

Sam moved to Daniel's side and squeezed his arm. "Take him to the infirmary," she said to Griff. Sam really wasn't in any position to be giving orders, but no one seemed to question that she was in command. Griff and another airman not so gently heaved Mathers between them and dragged him out of the room. Another airman was carefully tying up Sam's now conscious assailant.

"Major?" Walter interrupted, gesturing towards the gate. It seemed like hours had passed since Sam had first entered this room, and she had almost completely forgotten about the wormhole that was still rippling quietly behind the iris.

"Receiving IDC," Walter clarified when Sam didn't say anything.

"Who is it?" Sam asked.

"Teal'c. This is his fourth attempt. Mathers would never let him through," Walter explained, his tone making it clear what he thought of that.

Sam felt her knees weaken and leaned against the nearest chair. "Open the iris and give him the all clear signal, Sergeant," Sam ordered, her voice surprisingly steady.

"Yes, sir," Walter replied with almost overstated respect, letting it be known to all that he was glad to be receiving her orders.

The iris slowly slid open and a few heart-stopping moments later, two figures appeared out of the brightness.

Jack.

He was actually there. He was leaning heavily against the solid bulk of Teal'c, but there nonetheless.

At her side, Daniel made an indistinct sound in the back of his throat and dashed down to the gate room.

Sam remained where she was, watching them from above. Then, ever so slowly, she released a long breath, one she had been holding for minutes, hours, weeks. She melted into a nearby chair, her eyes never leaving the threesome below.

Her team, whole again.

Jack's head momentarily lifted from Teal'c's shoulder, glancing blearily around the room.

Looking for her.

She had done it. She had saved her team. But Sam had the feeling she still had to learn the price of that gift. So she sat and breathed in and out and watched, acquiescing to the invisible barrier created by the vague feeling that she didn't deserve to join them.

"Walter," she ordered softly, after she watched Teal'c and Daniel lead Jack out of the gate room. "Dial the Alpha Site. It's time to get our people back."

Walter nodded eagerly and Sam forced her mind on the task at hand.

There would be more than enough time later for consequences.