I'd like to thank D.J. Scales and Ray1 for their kind words.

DJ: SG-3 was traditionally the Marine unit of SGC. Although in some episodes of Stargate, they changed this, I'm going by the book: Stargate: SG-1: The Ultimate Visual Guide, which gives a breakdown of all the SG teams and what their specific missions are.

Ray, regarding your prediction as to who kidnapped Casey...well, read on: :)

Stargate: SVU 2

Chapter Three

Io'tan found her mistress on the high terrace that overlooked the ancient metropolis of Mount Tanis, which was lit up in the nighttime darkness. Clad only in a scant sleeping gown, Mut's blond hair was unbound--it flowed gently in the breeze as she thoughtfully scanned the buildings before her.

Io'tan came up from behind the High Priestess and placed a shawl over her bare shoulders. Mut turned and smiled thanks at her First Maiden.

"If you can not sleep, my High Priestess, I could get a cup of soyla juice for you," Io'tan offered.

"No thank you, my dear Io'tan," Mut said, as she gazed at the cityscape once more. "I can not sleep because of the excitement that I feel. For I now stand on the precipice of history. The Netian Empire shall finally be mine to rule."

"You believe Nacre?"

Mut nodded. "I have sent an alkesh to Kelora check out his story. They report that Neith's Ha'tak has indeed been destroyed."

Io'tan stared at her in puzzlement. "Forgive me, my High Priestess, but I thought you had sent Lord Battlemaster Amun to Kelora for the same mission."

Mut glanced back at her with a smile. "I did. And he has not yet returned--just as I had suspected he would. That was why I sent a separate ship, with a crew loyal to me, to send back word on the fate of Neith."

Io'tan became nervous at the thought of Amun turning against them. "How can we stand against the Lord Battlemaster, when he has so many--"

Mut raised a hand, which instantly hushed Io'tan.

"Amun can plot his takeover of the Netian Empire all he wishes," Mut said. "But, ultimately, he will not be a problem to us."

Io'tan almost asked how did she know this, but stopped herself. 'Mut is the High Priestess,' she told herself. 'It is her job to know that which is beyond the common knowledge of the rest of us.'

"You will be a marvelous Lord Empress, my Lady," Io'tan said with the utmost sincerity. "You will lead the Netian Empire to its greatest heights."

Mut merely smiled as she continued to gaze out with contentment over her newly inherited realm.

SG-1: SVU

Amun angrily strode back and forth on the peltac of his Ha'tak class ship. He knew his show of displeasure made the peltac crew nervous--as well it should. It had been a full half hour since they launched two squadrons of gliders to the position of the anomaly in the seeker energy wave--and so far, the pilots had reported not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

"If there was nothing out there," Amun asked himself, "then what caused the seeker wave to crumple up, as if it stuck an object?"

Pal'tee stared at him anxiously. "Are you asking me, my Lord Battlemaster?"

"No, I ask the gods why must I be saddled with fools for subordinates!" Amun roared. "Who knows what mischief Mut must have accomplished by now back on Tanis--while I, the rightful ruler of the Netian Empire, just sits here and twiddles my thumbs? Recall the glider squadrons, and get us back into hyperspace!"

Pal'tee nodded. "As you wish, my Lord Battlemaster."

Amun left the peltac and retired to his private quarters, where he found the slave whom he spent the night with. She presently knelt on the floor beside his bed, her head bowed down in complete and utter submission. "Welcome, my Lord Battlemaster," she said in the barest of whispers. "I hope I can make your stay a pleasant one."

'A much better attitude this time,' Amun thought, with an approving nod. The scant outfit she wore exposed her back, which showed several whip lash marks spread out across her skin. 'The slave wranglers really know their business. Good to see somebody on this ship knows what they're doing.'

"Strip, and lay down on the bed," Amun ordered her. "I have had a bad day, and require relief."

"Yes, my Lord Battlemaster," the slave murmured, as she stood up and expertly removed her skimpy garment with just a flick of her fingers.

Amun turned away from her, to confer with his communication device. He had contacted several Ha'tak captains under his command--men whom he knew would be loyal to him--and had wanted to see if they had gotten word back to him yet. If Mut had rallied her forces, Amun would need more than one Ha'tak to retake Tanis.

But as he checked for messages, Amun never noticed the lingering look the slave gave him as she got onto the bed.

It was a look of cold, pure hatred.

SG-1: SVU

"Well, that was fun," Jacob said. He sat watching the Goa'uld gliders abruptly halt their search for him and head back towards the Ha'tak vessel. Although the cloaking device on his teltac still worked--albeit just barely--Jacob didn't want to take any chances, so he moved his small ship under the cover of an asteroid, one of many that orbited in a ring around a nearby planet. It was a great hiding spot, although it required some fancy piloting on Jacob's part when the asteroid began to shift suddenly.

This happened when the gliders, after not having found him, randomly opened fire into the asteroid ring--perhaps hoping to get Jacob by chance. It had been such an intensive waiting game that, once it finally ended, Jacob was surprised to see that only half an hour had went by--it felt to him like several hours had passed.

'How can you say that was fun?' Selmak muttered with disapproval. 'We were very nearly captured….'

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Selmak, Selmak," he said with a heavy sigh. "You should know by now that humans like to use sarcasm and humor to relieve tension."

'Humor is irrelevant,' Selmak proclaimed.

"You sound like a Borg when you say that." Jacob's relief only intensified when he saw the Ha'tak disappear into hyperspace. "They're finally gone…."

'And with them our only chance to discover the location of Mount Tanis,' Selmak lamented.

"Yeah, they're good," Jacob admitted.

'They are good?' Selmak asked, sounding puzzled.

"Stopping their ship in mid-flight to shake off anybody who might be following?" Jacob said. "Yes, Selmak, they're very good. Ordinary Goa'uld aren't that thorough."

'I thought you were being humorous again,' Selmak replied.

Jacob dismally shook his head as he gazed at the damaged and sparking panels all over his ship. "Yeah, well, I'm gonna need a really good sense of humor in dealing with fixing the hyper drive…."

'What is a Borg?' Selmak suddenly wanted to know.

SG-1: SVU

'Oh, God, no,' Elliot Stabler thought, as he got out of his car and walked up to the front entrance of Casey's building. 'Not again, please…she just got back home….'

Elliot quickly sought out Captain Donald Cragen, his unit commander, in the crowd of police and CSU technicians.

"Cap!" Elliot called to him. "I got the call over the dispatch radio about a kidnapping at this address, and I was hoping that it wasn't--"

Elliot stopped short when Cragen just nodded his head grimly. "It was Casey. She was abducted right outside the front door of her apartment building. The doorman said he saw the whole thing." When one of the CSU techies gestured at him, Cragen added, "Excuse me, Elliot."

Elliot was about to go over with Cragen when he heard his name being called. He turned and saw Munch had walked up to him.

"Who was it?" Elliot asked. "Who grabbed her?"

"Doorman said it was a man and a woman who were arguing just outside the door about directions," Munch replied. "When Casey went to give them directions, they grabbed her and placed her inside a van that pulled up."

A flash of rage erupted within Elliot. "This doorman, was he on his break or something? Any reason why he didn't go to Casey's aid?"

"He says he tried to, but that the woman pulled a gun on him."

Elliot leaned close to Munch and whispered, "Are we dealing with a real woman here, John?"

"You're thinking Casey was kidnapped by a trannie?" Munch asked with confusion.

"No, damn it, John!" Elliot hissed. "I'm talking about what recently happened to Casey--why we went all the way to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado; because she had been abducted by little green men from Venus, or whatever. They're not back, are they?"

"Casey's abductors looked human," Munch told him. "But if you're asking me if they're aliens in disguise…."

"Wait, you've seen them?"

Munch gestured up at the security cameras. "Building surveillance system caught it. But don't get your hopes up. C'mon, I'll show you."

They entered the building and went into the security office behind the front counter. The doorman ran the security tape which showed Casey being kidnapped. Elliot helplessly watched as she walked up to a bickering couple and pointed down the street. The man immediately walked around in back of Casey, while the woman showed her a piece of paper.

"She's distracting Casey," Elliot said, as he pointed at the woman on the screen. "She's diverting Casey's attention from the guy behind her…."

"So he can do this," Munch said. He gestured at the screen.

Elliot felt his skin crawl as the man came up from behind Casey and placed a cloth rag over her face. Casey struggled, but it was no use. Seeing how quickly she succumbed, Elliot could only deduce that the rag which covered her nose and mouth was drenched in chloroform.

"They're pros," Elliot said softly, as he watched a now unconscious Casey being quickly hauled off screen. The very sight made him want to tear apart the security office in his rage and despair.

"That's for damn sure," Munch replied. "You notice how they both wore baseball caps, and made sure that their faces were turned away from the security cameras at all times?"

"Meaning they cased the joint ahead of time," Elliot said, with a nod. "But who? I mean, it's obvious that they're pros. But who hired them…and why?"

"What about the government?" Munch asked.

Elliot shook his head. "No, don't start with your conspiracies again John, please; we got--"

"Just listen to me," Munch firmly told him. "Out of all the Disappeared, Casey was the only one who made it back home so far, right?"

Elliot quickly pulled Munch out of the security office--and out of earshot of its personnel. Once they were alone in the hallway, Elliot said, "No, she wasn't. Olivia also came back."

"Yeah, but Liv's not here, back at her job, is she? She's gallivanting around God knows where with Captain Atom and his space rangers. Casey was the only one of the Disappeared to actually return to her normal life, right?"

"What are you driving at, John? That this abduction had something to do with Casey being grabbed by the aliens?"

"What else could it be?" Munch asked. "Isn't it too much of a coincidence for you that Casey gets abducted so soon after she returns home, by a team of professional abductors, no less? This has big leagues written all over it. And who's a major player in the big leagues? The U.S. government."

Elliot nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely way too much of a coincidence for me. But why would the government abduct Casey to begin with? I mean, they had her right where they wanted her in Cheyenne Mountain. Why let her go in the first place?"

"Elliot, the United States government is a vast and scary monster. And it's so vast a monster, that oftentimes, one claw doesn't know what the other is doing."

"You mean rival agency crap, like back when the CIA and FBI were spying on each other?" Elliot had to admit that it made sense. At least it was a lead. "Maybe it's time to give Liv a call, see what she knows."

"That's assuming she's still on the planet," Munch muttered. He held up a hand when his cell phone rang. "Yeah, Munch. Fin?"

Elliot shook his head slightly at the very notion that Olivia might be out of touch because she was off world…literally. 'If somebody had told me just a week ago that we would have been dealing with this sort of stuff, I'd have laughed in his face,' Elliot thought.

"Yeah," Munch said into his cell. "Ok, Fin, hold on--we'll be right over."

After he closed his phone, Munch said, "Fin found the van that Casey was taken away in. It was abandoned in an old parking lot about a block south of here."

"Let's go," Elliot said.

The ride was brief--for once, mid-town traffic was blessedly light--and the crime scene was easy to find. Elliot pulled up alongside two other police cars that were parked on the sidewalk. When he got out with Munch, Elliot saw that the CSU team was being led by one of their finest: Captain Siper. He was glad to see her on the case--Casey deserved the best.

Fin Tutuola strode up to them, shaking his head. "She ain't here, and neither are the kidnappers. It looks like this was where the van was dumped. They probably switched rides here."

Elliot glanced around the neighborhood. There was a bodega on the corner across the street, along with a row of 'mom & pop' shops. "We need to set up a canvass; see if anybody saw something."

"I already got the unis doing that now," Fin said. "So far, nada…."

"Which would track with the type of people we're talking about," Munch said.

"What type of people is that?" Fin asked.

"Professional kidnappers who work for the government," Munch said.

"Aw man!" Fin shook his head. "Everything is the government with you, John!"

"He may have a point this time, Fin," Elliot said. "The government may well be involved."

Fin frowned at them. "Does this has to do with what the two of you were doing in Cheyenne Mountain? When you brought Casey back, but were unable to talk about it?"

Munch nodded. "This might be a repercussion from that."

Captain Siper walked over to them carrying something in a sealed plastic bag. "We found this inside the van."

Elliot took the bag from her and saw that it contained Casey's purse. "You find anything else?"

Siper shook her head in the negative. "No prints, no hair or fibers, nothing. It's almost like the perps were wearing hazmat suits, or something. Another thing: the van's vin numbers were removed with what looked like acid. Whoever's behind this, they certainly know how to cover their tracks."

"It's looking more and more like you're right, Munch," Elliot said, as he took out his cell phone. "It's a government agency behind this."

"Try not to look so disappointed," Munch told Fin.

"Nah, it ain't about that," Fin said, shaking his head. "I just want Casey back, safe, is all."

Munch sighed heavily. "As do we all. Hey, Elliot, who're you calling? Cragen?"

"Not yet," Elliot replied. "I'm calling my inside girl, who's working with Captain Atom and his space rangers: Olivia."

SG-1: SVU

'Impressive,' Olivia thought, as she came out of the rest room and strode through the cabin of the jet. She and SG-1 were aboard the spacious Air Force passenger plane which presently sped east, towards New York City.

'I could get used to traveling in style like this,' she thought. 'Although nothing really beats going through the stargate.'

Olivia smiled as she walked past Sam, who sat chatting with Jack. When Sam glanced up at her, Olivia just gave her a wink, along with the thumbs up gesture, as she went past.

Sam stared up at her in puzzlement.

But Olivia kept going, not wanting to disturb the private moment between the two potential lovebirds--God knew they rarely had a quiet moment together. As Olivia took a seat in the rear of the plane--all the better so she could spy on how Sam was doing with Jack--she noticed Teal'c sat in his chair with his eyes closed, in a state of meditation, which he referred to as kelno'reem.

Hailey and Satterfield were back at Stargate Command. Satterfield was busy looking through Daniel's books and reference material in his office for any other mention of Mount Tanis, while Hailey stayed behind to help Doctors Fraiser and McKay with their puzzle of how to deal with the Goa'uld stasis tubes.

Olivia smiled at the memory of Jack making Hailey swear to him that she would not attack or harm the insufferable McKay in any way. Jenny actually held her right hand up when she swore--but kept her left one hidden behind her back.

"Uh, wait," Jack had said, as he pointed at her other hand. "Your fingers had better not be crossed back there…."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Jenny had kept her left hand in full view while she once again held up her right hand and recited the promise O'Neill made her say, which was that she would "play nice" with Dr. McKay--without injuring or killing him in any way, shape or form.

When Olivia saw Sam absently reach over and fix the collar on Jack's civilian jacket, she smiled in approval. 'Nice move, Sam!'

Daniel, who had sat off by himself, reading, abruptly got up and sat down right next to Olivia.

"Hiya," he said cheerily. "So, what are we watching?"

Olivia stared at him, dumbfounded. "Huh? What?"

"You know, I have a good friend," Daniel began, in that same light tone of voice, "she studies the mating habits of gorillas in Africa. And, whenever she's watching the gorillas during mating season, she gets this intensely fascinated look on her face--which is the very same look that you've had while watching Jack and Sam just now."

Olivia felt her face grow red with embarrassment. She had been caught in the act, and didn't know what to say for herself.

Daniel leaned over, giving Olivia a nudge in her shoulder, and said, "What are you, some kind of a matchmaker here? You trying to set up Jack and Sam?"

Olivia couldn't help but laugh at that. "Um, no…I'm just…oh well, all right, I'm busted."

"Ah-ha, I thought so," Daniel said with a nod. He was smiling broadly as he glanced at his watch. "So, we should be landing at JFK within the hour. Looks like it'll be a big homecoming for the both of us, huh?"

Olivia stared at him in shock. "You're from New York City, too?"

He nodded. "Born and raised. I lived there until I was eight. Uh, my parents were both killed in an accident while setting up a temple exhibit at the New York Museum Of Art."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Olivia said.

"Yeah, thanks. It was rough," he admitted. "But before then, New York City was pretty much my playground. I remember this candy store, about a block away from the museum--"

"Cranston's?" Olivia asked with a gasp.

Daniel stared at her, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "You've been there?!"

"Are you kidding?" Olivia exclaimed. "I loved that place! They had all the best candy, right up in the front--"

"--right in the front of the store, just at eye level for a kid, right?" Daniel finished. "Yeah!"
"YES!" Olivia said, laughing. "Oh my God, I nearly cracked my teeth on some of the stuff they had there!"

"Remember the jawbreakers?!"

"OH GOD, YES!"

SG-1: SVU

Sam sat with a smile as the conversation behind her grew louder and more ribald. Her smile turned into a broad grin as she glanced over at Jack, who also listened with fascination to Olivia and Daniel as they sat reminiscing over the things they did in New York City as kids.

"Good God, Daniel," Olivia abruptly exclaimed. "Do you realize that we could have passed each other on the street as kids and never known it?!"

"I know," Daniel replied, sounding amazed. "Small world, huh?"

"It's too small!" O'Neill said, as he glanced at them over the back of his seat. "You guys are having way too much fun back there!"

'Oh, God, Jack,' Sam thought, embarrassed, as she placed her fingers on the bridge of her nose. She truly loved the guy, and literally trusted him with her life, yet Jack always had a very special talent for saying the wrong thing at the absolute worst time.

"What?" Daniel called back to him. "What's eating you?!"

"Your racket is disturbing Teal'c, who's trying to get some rest right now," O'Neill said.

"They are not disturbing me, O'Neill," Teal'c quickly stated, as he sat with his eyes still closed. "In fact, I find their laughter to be quite soothing."

A cell phone rang, and when Olivia answered it, she said, "Elliot?!"

"Oh, darn it," Sam muttered, annoyed. Just when Liv and Daniel were starting to form a bond, Liv has to get a call from--of all people--her old flame, Elliot, whom she had just gotten over. "Talk about bad timing…."

"What?!" O'Neill asked, with a puzzled expression. "What's bad timing, Carter?"

But before Sam could answer, both she and Jack suddenly glanced back at Olivia when they heard her say: "Yes, Elliot. I'm fine. Yes, yes, sweetie, relax! I'm perfectly all right, I swear! Why wouldn't I be?"

Sam watched as Olivia's eyes grew wide as she listened on her cell. "Oh my God…."

"What is it?" Daniel asked her.

"El, hold on." Olivia put down the phone and glanced up at Daniel and the rest of SG-1. "Casey's been kidnapped."

"What?" Jack asked, as he and Sam immediately got up and went over to where Olivia sat next to Daniel. Sam noted that Teal'c was now fully awake and had joined them. "By who?"

"You have any idea who did it?" Olivia asked Elliot on the cell. She shook her head. "No ransom yet. The abduction was caught on surveillance camera, but the abductors managed to hide their faces. Elliot thinks they were pros. Casey was attacked from behind with chloroform, then taken away in a van--which was later dumped."

"They do sound like pros," O'Neill said with a grim nod. "NID."

Daniel gave him a concerned look. "Why do you think it's them?"

"We've got one, Woolsey, running the Awakening Project back at the base," O'Neill told him. "And I'm willing to bet it was Woolsey who sent the heads up to his buddies that Casey was back home."

"Uh, wait," Olivia said, puzzled. "Who, or what, are the NID?"

"Not over the phone, Liv," O'Neill told her. "We'll tell them everything they'll need to know in person."

"Ok, Elliot, listen: we're coming to New York right now, right. Yeah. No, I'd rather not speak over the phone, if you know what I mean. Right."

As Olivia spoke on the cell, Sam asked, "What reason would the NID have to abduct Casey?"

"Because they can," O'Neill replied, annoyed. "Does the damned NID need a reason to do anything?"

"Yeah, they've always acted like they belong to a completely separate government," Daniel said, as he stood with them. "But, Woolsey seems like a pretty decent guy…at least so far."

"People with the NID always start out as being decent," O'Neill said with disgust. "Until they bare their fangs…."

Olivia closed her cell phone. "Ok, I told Elliot we'll meet him at the precinct house within a couple of hours. Now, could somebody please tell me who the NID are?"

As Jack began to explain, Sam sadly shook her head at the disturbing thought of Casey being in the clutches of the NID. 'Poor girl, I hope she's all right….'

SG-1: SVU

When Casey awoke, she found herself lying on a hospital-type stretcher in a small room that was bare of any other furniture. At first she thought she was in the hospital, having suffered some kind of a fit or fainting spell--she remembered speaking to a nice couple who….

'No, the guy grabbed me from behind!' Casey fearfully thought, as it all came rushing back to her. 'I didn't faint, he smothered me with something! Was it chloroform?'

When Casey tried to sit up, she anxiously realized that her wrists and ankles were secured to the sides of the stretcher via medical restraints. Her clothes were gone; replaced by a soft cotton outfit that looked like the blue surgical scrubs that doctors wore, and her feet were bare.

"Hello?" Casey nervously called. "Is anybody there?"

'What the hell happened?' Casey thought. For a scary moment, she wondered if she had actually been committed to a mental hospital. What if everything she had experienced the past few days--being abducted by aliens, and rescued by SG-1--had all occurred in her mind? What if she had suffered some kind of complete break with reality, and had finally woken up now--on this stretcher--only after the anti-psychotic drugs her doctors had prescribed had taken effect?

But there was something wrong with that theory--namely the fact that Casey, in her job as an assistant district attorney, had been in mental hospitals many times before; usually to help assess whether a perp was mentally fit to stand trial. And the room she was presently in was very dingy looking, with dirty walls and cracked plaster. This place didn't strike her as being anywhere inside a mental hospital.

Which raised an even scarier thought: that Casey had been abducted by that couple on the street--and they brought her here, stripped her of her clothing, dressed her in these surgical scrubs and then tied her down to this stretcher. And if that were the case, then it might be a good idea if she didn't call out for help after all.

'But why?' Casey frantically thought. 'Who kidnapped me, and why did--?'

She was startled from her thought when the door at the opposite end of the room abruptly swung open, and two men dressed in white lab coats entered the room. One of them stared at Casey as if she were nothing more than a lab rat as he raised a recorder to his mouth and said, "Test subject is awake at eleven hundred hours."

The other man slipped a stethoscope under the v-neck collar of Casey's surgical shirt and listened to her heartbeat. It felt cold against her skin.

"Who are you?" Casey demanded. "Why are you--?"

"Be quiet please," the man with the stethoscope told her.

"What are you doing to me?" Casey said, louder. "Where am I? What--?"

The other man came over and held a large, very sharp needle in front of Casey's wide, terrified eyes.

"You want me to stick you with this?!" he asked, his voice harsh.

Casey quickly shook her head. "N-No…."

"Then shut up!" the man shouted at her. Then he glanced at his comrade. "Go ahead."

The other man proceeded to check Casey's chest under her shirt with the stethoscope, then he gave the other man a nod. "Sounds very good."

"Then we can proceed with the experimentation," the man with the needle said. "Excellent. The boss is already impatient for results."

"Who are you?!" Casey screamed at them. "What do you want with me?!"

"You were abducted by the Goa'uld," the man who had the stethoscope said. "You came back alive, and now we're going to cut you open and examine your internal organs and your brain. Ok?"

"Oh jeez," the other man said, with a broad grin. "That's cold!"

"What difference does it make?" the man with the stethoscope said, as they both left the room. "She's going to be dead in a few hours, anyway."

Casey stared after them with horror, as what they said sunk into her terrified mind. She tried in a wild panic to get free of the restraints, but it was to no avail. And so Casey did the only thing she could in this dire situation.

She lay her head back and started to cry.

SG-1: SVU

Olivia felt like she had come home again as she rode up in the elevator in the One Six. Technically, she wasn't really back at her old job; her mission with SG-1 was still ongoing. But she had no idea that she would actually miss being in the halls of the One Six precinct as much as she did right now.

Daniel, Jack and Sam surrounded her in the elevator. Olivia glanced over at Teal'c, who wore a pullover hat to hide the Jaffa tattoo on his forehead, and something occurred to her. "Wait a minute, how am I going to introduce you to people, Teal'c?"

"My undercover name is Murray," Teal'c told her.

Olivia stared at him in disbelief. "Murray?"

Teal'c nodded serenely. "O'Neill gave me that name."

"Oh, yeah, that figures," Olivia muttered, as she rolled her eyes.

"Excuse me?" O'Neill said, sounding offended.

The elevator doors opened just then, stifling the argument that was to follow. Olivia led SG-1 into the SVU bullpen, which was alive with the sounds of ringing telephones, and people shouting back and forth at each other. Olivia was pleased to see that Cragen didn't give her desk away. Once she saw Elliot at his desk, Olivia strode up to him and said, "Hello, Elliot."

Elliot smiled as he stood up and gave Olivia a welcoming hug. "Good to see you again, Liv. Have Captain Atom and his space rangers been taking good care of you?"

"Uh, that's Colonel Atom to you," O'Neill said smoothly.

Elliot chuckled as he shook hands with O'Neill. "Colonel Atom it is! Seriously, Colonel, it's good seeing you again, as well."

"Likewise," O'Neill said. "You remember Major Samantha Carter?"

"Yes, of course, hello again, Major," Elliot told her.

O'Neill gestured at Daniel. "This is Doctor Daniel Jackson, and the big guy is Murray. They're also a part of my team."

Elliot nodded to Fin. "That's Detective Tutuola. And--oh, and here comes Munch."

"Oh, God, no," Sam whispered dismally, as she placed a hand over her eyes. "Not him again…."

"Well, well," Munch said, as he came over to the group, "if it isn't the men--and woman--in black…."

"Detective Munch," O'Neill said with a smile. "Good to see you again. Hope you're still fighting the good fight."

"It's not much of a fight when the other side doesn't even fight fair," Munch said. "You ever try looking up information on Deep Space Telemetry? It's like trying to break into Fort Knox! Hello, Major Carter," Munch added, when he saw Sam, "have you threatened anybody with bodily harm lately?"

"Haven't even thought about it," Sam shot back. "At least not until you walked in through the door…."

"Whoa, whoa," Fin gently said, as he stood in front of Munch, "easy John, easy--they're on our side, remember?"

Olivia was about to go and calm Sam down, until she saw Jack had already done so by discretely placing a hand on her shoulder and gently massaging her as he whispered something in her ear.

Sam nodded as she let out a heavy sigh. "Sorry, sir."

"Forget it," he said. "Let just move on, shall we?"

"Yes, great idea," Olivia said. "The focus here is getting Casey back safe and sound."

"Agreed," Elliot chimed in. "Let's save the animosity for the sons of bitches who grabbed her."

"Any leads?" Olivia asked him.

Elliot shook his head. "Since they dumped the van, the kidnappers, and Casey, appeared to have vanished into thin air."

"The area where they dumped the van had no CCTV," Fin added.

"Never thought the day would come where I'd be actually hoping for surveillance cameras," Munch said.

"Colonel O'Neill thinks that a rogue government group called the NID might be behind this," Olivia said. "He's dealt with these guys before."

"The NID?!" Munch exclaimed, looking stunned.

"Let me guess," Fin said sarcastically, "you've heard of them, right?"

"Yes, but--" Munch shook his head.

"But what?" Elliot prompted.

"They're not supposed to be real," Munch told them. "I mean, just like the Illuminati, the NID is just another urban legend for conspiracy buffs: the big, bad covert group that operates without restriction, completely outside the law."

O'Neill nodded. "Yep, that's the NID whom we know and love."

"Why would a group like this want to abduct Casey?" Fin asked.

"We don't actually know," Sam told him. "But they've been known to perform experiments on people."

"Oh God," Elliot muttered, with a fearful expression. "If that's the case, we've got to hustle, because the longer Casey's in their grasp--"

"Her life is in dreadful danger, Detective Stabler," Sam solemnly said.

"These people are completely ruthless bastards," O'Neill added. "They operate without any regard for human life whatsoever."

Olivia glanced at Elliot. "Cragen really needs to be hearing this."

"Yeah," Elliot replied, as he started walking over to the Captain's office. "I'll get him. He can help us figure out what our next move is."

SG-1: SVU

'What is wrong?' Pal'tee wondered.

The peltac commander did everything he was instructed to by Amun. Pal'tee had earlier been given new orders by the Lord Battlemaster: to break off from their present heading and to come here, in the orbit of a backwater world, where they would meet up with several Ha'taks whose commanders were loyal to Amun. And then their mighty fleet of would all converge on Mount Tanis, and wrest control of it from Mut.

They had arrived quite some time ago, and Pal'tee gazed at the view screen, which displayed a mighty force of ships, all of whom had sworn alligence to Amun. Pal'tee then contacted his Lord Battlemaster, and informed him of their arrival at the rendezvous point.

Yet, oddly, there had been no reply from Amun.

Pal'tee only assumed that the Lord Battlemaster had been busy with his concubine--yet he should have still heard Pal'tee's message, and had joined them on the peltac once he was ready.

Several of the peltac commanders from the other Ha'taks had contacted Pal'tee, wondering where their Lord Battlemaster was, and after several more minutes of continued silence from Amun's quarters, Pal'tee began to wonder the same thing.

He ordered two of the armed Jaffa to accompany him as he strode off the peltac. When they arrived outside Amun's quarters, Pal'tee once more tried to call his Lord Battlemaster.

And once again, there was no answer.

Pal'tee reluctantly punched in the override code, which allowed him access to the entire ship. As he entered Amun's private quarters, Pal'tee braced himself for walking into an embarrassing sex scene between the Lord Battlemaster and his slave.

But what he saw instead shocked him beyond all belief.

Amun lay face down on the blood-splattered bed, completely lifeless, a knife sticking out of his back. The concubine stood over him with a defiant glare as she shouted, "Long live Her Lord Empress Mut! The true and worthy ruler of the Netian Empire!"

In response to this offensive scene, the Jaffa guards took it upon themselves to shoot the woman dead with their staff weapons.

But Pal'tee hardly noticed this abrupt act of violence. A major power play had been performed right here on his ship, and he was helpless to stop or even influence it. Pal'tee, now in total control of the Ha'tak vessel, did the only thing he could think of: he ran back to the peltac.

There awaited something even more scary: a live communication from Mut, whose delicate features took up the entire view screen on the peltac.

"To all Ha'tak commanders in Amun's renegade fleet," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Your Lord Battlemaster Amun is dead. I hereby assume control of the Netian Empire as its rightful Lord Empress."

Pal'tee began to properly bow to his new ruler, until he heard her say, "If you wish to prove your loyalty to me, then you will open fire on the Ha'tak of the former Lord Battlemaster Amun. Destroy it, and its blasphemous crew, and you may begin your new life as my humble servants."

Alarms began to sound throughout Pal'tee's Ha'tak as it rattled under the withering fire that came from the ships which surrounded it. The very same renegade commanders who had previously sworn allegiance to Amun were now intent on obliterating his vessel to prove their loyalty to their new Lord Empress.

Pal'tee wanted nothing more than to try and explain that he and his crew were merely following orders. But he realized that would be a waste of time. Her Lord Empress Mut was bent on sweeping away all possible resistence to her power.

Including Pal'tee and his Ha'tak.

SG-1: SVU

'Never should have let her out of our sight,' O'Neill glumly thought. He was on the street, about a block down from the precinct house, headed towards the car with Carter, Olivia and Detective Stabler. They were on their way over to the crime scene, where Casey was abducted, in an effort to see if they could pick up any clues that might have been missed previously.

O'Neill knew it was a long shot, but there was nothing better they could do; they had no further leads that pointed to where the NID took Casey.

Casey Novak. O'Neill remembered the woman's easy smile and pleasant demeanor. Despite the fact that she had been overwhelmed by her experience being abducted by Neith--and who could blame her?--Casey still proved herself to be one tough little cookie. She had saved Olivia's life when Neith attacked her with a ribbon device.

'And now she's in the hands of the damn NID,' O'Neill thought. He shook his head slightly. 'Nope, never should have let Casey out of our protection….'

While they stood waiting for Elliot to unlock the car, Carter leaned over and said, "Sir, are you all right?"

"It's not me whom you should be worrying about," O'Neill said softly. "It's Ms. Novak. She's the one in trouble."

"We're doing everything we can," Carter assured him.

"You did the right thing by letting Cragen run this," Olivia said. "The Special Victims Unit has a lot of experience in tracking down kidnap victims just in the nick of time."

"And you'll get the full backing of the SGC," O'Neill told her. "Whatever you need, just ask. I just hope it will be enough."

Olivia started to speak, when she suddenly stared past O'Neill's shoulder at something. "Who the hell's this guy?"

O'Neill turned around to see a man had walked up to them. He wore a full beard and had a twinkle in his eye as he said, "Hello Jack, long time no see. Major Carter! Good to see you came out of Adrian Conrad's lab in one piece."

O'Neill recognized the man immediately.

It was Harry Maybourne.

"You son of a bitch!" O'Neill snarled, as he pulled out his gun and stuck the muzzle right in Maybourne's face.

To Be Continued...