Twenty-Seven

Damn good thing they kept the canteen well stocked, the man thought, keeping that mess going was very draining. Sure, it meant damn well nobody would be breaking in that way except maybe in very small pieces, but it meant all he did was eat.

He reached across, grabbing another pot of Ice Cream, and swiftly began spooning the stuff directly into his mouth. It was plain vanilla, not his favourite, but it was food, it was energy, and unless he wanted to drain himself to the point of death, or worse, have to disable his masterpiece, he needed to keep energy flowing into his body just as fast as it flowed out.

That meant eating and eating and more eating and even some drinking.

Oh yes, and lots of visits to the toilet.

It didn't occur to him that in the arrogance of assuming no-one would get past his masterpiece, he hadn't set any mental shields.


“"Huh,”" Willow said, a little surprised as she withdrew her mind from that of the unsuspecting bomber, “"that's different”"

“"What's up?”" Reeman asked.

Willow shrugged, “"I am about to disable the bomb, according to our friend, there are just ten hostiles left down here. The gate control room and infirmary have SGC personnel inside, but in both cases they are considered to be contained and of no threat”"

“"Who we looking at for the ten?"” Reeman asked, commanding, that kind of intelligence could make or break the mission after all.

“"Mr Pierce, our big bad is here. A trio of unidentified Russians, and six creatures that the ‘bomber' couldn't identify, but weren't human”"

Willow closed her eyes, signalling that she was busy, then carefully, magically reached into the mass of the bomb and disconnected a single wire. Then, abruplt, she forced the doors open.

"That,"” Devon said faintly, “"is a big bomb”"

"That"” Willow shook her head,"“is an illusion and a bloody good one to have me fooled”"

She froze, “"did I just say bloody?”"

At their nods, she shook her head, “"Oh, I need to leave Britain more often”"

Shrugging, she flicked her hand, dismissing the illusion, and deliberately sending feedback through the link to its master. In the cafeteria, the man collapsed, blood streaming out of his ears as his power was permanently and aggressively destroyed.


“"Sir, Sir!” "O'Malley looked up, surprised by the eager tone in his aide's voice,"they're in, they're in!”"

Annoyed by the babbling, the general barked an order, “"Soldier, report!”"

“"Sir,”" his aide said, trying hard to calm himself down, “"Willow reports that they are inside the SGC and are making their way to the gateroom”"

O'Malley grinned, but hiss Aide was suddenly still, serious, "“She also reports that there are ten kilos of C-4 near the bottom of the shaft. Primary detonator circuit is out, but there are live circuits left linked to anti-handling devices. She suggests extreme caution; she hasn't informed her team that they just walked over a live device”"

The General shivered, "“I should fucking hope so, Jesus, Ten Kilos…”"

"“Sir",” both General and Aide glanced up as a Private, his arm in a sling, walked up," “team twelve just hit the top of the shaft”"

“"Twelve, that's Gibbs”"

O'Malley grunted, "“Pass on the message about the explosives”"


Doctor Frasier glanced around the infirmary once more, taking a close look at each of her patients. These, she supposed were the lucky ones, they at least were alive, for now.

But if Pierce had his way

That was why the had the Infirmary sealed shut instead of killing everyone like he did elsewhere, he knew it wouldn't matter, he knew they weren't going to survive, why not let them rot and curse and scream for mercy as they realised they were about to die?

“"Arsehole”" she muttered, picking up the chart of Colonel Sumner, she glanced at it once more, but really she didn't need to.

Six broken bones, a lung she had only just re-inflated in time, Sumner would live, at least until Pierce had his way. Most of these would live, a few, well, she couldn't save them all, not her and only one nurse. The rest of her staff, well, most were dead, two were on trolleys, patients themselves, a few she didn't know about, but she suspected they were dead too.

Right now, only she was awake in the midst of this mass of pain and suffering, her nurse, Helen, having fallen asleep on her feet an hour ago. She couldn't sleep, not whilst she had so many patients to look after and no relief, no signs of relief coming soon either. Frasier sat down slowly, reaching for her sixth coffee of the hour, wishing somebody would come and save her from all this.

She slammed upwards, fully alert, what was that?

Sounded like a...

The sound came again, and Frasier grinned, P-90. She had heard the sounds of these weapons far too often to mistake them now. Hopefully it was a rescue, and not just another group of personnel being discovered and killed, like had happened three hours. Pierce had been quick to gloat over the phone about that, happy to impress upon her the hopelessness of her situation.

Arsehole.

A loud bang sounded at the door, waking her Nurse, and together, they grabbed their guns, pointing them at the now smoking doors, just in case.

“ "Sergeant Reeman, 1st Infantry. Put down your weapons!”"

Tearfully happy, she dropped her weapon, it was a rescue.


“"We suspected as much",” Reeman commented, gratefully drinking the coffee Frasier had cheerfully supplied, "“Willow will get a NEST team down here fast enough. He's trying to put the SGC out of commission permanently”"

“"That,” "Frasier snorted, “"and all of Colorado”"

“"What?"” Reeman stilled, "“how?”"

“"You don't know?”" the Doctor replied, suddenly still,"“the gate, he plans to detonate nukes right next to the gate”"

“"So?"” Devon asked, "“I assume that's because he sees the gate as what lost him his daughter”"

Frasier shook her head, “"its naquadah, a superconductor but it can be used to enhance thermonuclear explosions”"

“"Exactly,”" Devon carefully asked, “"how much can it enhance an explosion by?”"

Frasier swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, "A factor of ten”"


“"There's another team just past the shaft”" Willow pointed out, "“I think we are going to need them”"

Reeman nodded, waving four of the team to go retrieve the second team.

“"So,”" Devon asked, “"what do we do?”"

“"Well,”" Reeman firmly said, "under no circumstances must that bomb go off”"

“"That's for definite,"” Willow commented, "“I'm going to take a look”"

“"Right,”" Reeman nodded as Willow closed her eyes, signalling that whilst her body might be in the room, her mind certainly wasn't, “"if the bomb is rigged, then we are going to need that NEST team, hell, we are going to need that NEST team regardless”"

“"We can't plan on having the time to wait for them though"” Devon reasonably pointed out, “"which means we need to be able to disable or remove that device”"

“"Chucking it through the gate would be nice,”" Reeman commented.

Frasier shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the peculiar behaviour of the red head, “"whilst the gate should have enough energy stored for a manual dial-out, you would need a valid address to send it too, and you would have to be sure of what was on the other side of the gate, we don't want to send it to an inhabited world”"

“"What about the dialling computer?”" Devon asked.

“"Most likely out, there has been fighting in that section of the base. Plus, you would need somebody who knows how to operate it and has authority”"

“"Siler,”" Willow frowned, her eyes opening, "“Hammond and Selmac are in the control centre”"

“"Siler and Selmac have authority, if that's a younger Hammond, then she wont"” Frasier's look was one of pure curiosity now, though there was more understanding in it, she had seen enough weird stuff over the years not to be fazed by somebody who could apparently sense other beings.

"Then, she froze, “"General Carter?”"

Willow shook her head, “"no sign of him”"

“"Then where," the Doctor asked, "“is Selmac?”"

“"Inside Siler,"” Willow sighed, “"He's old you know, from what I could sense, Selmac doesn't think he has long left”"

“"This isn't time for that,” "Reeman commented, “""he bomb?”"

“"Which one?”" Willow shivered," “I sensed five active devices right beside the gate, as well as some very determined guards”"