---
PART SEVEN
---
July 30 3:03am
Nuclear Facility
"We're running out of time!" Doctor Fraiser snapped, rising quickly to her feet.
"I am well aware of that, Doctor Fraiser," Paul Davis said calmly, not moving in his chair. "Believe me; I'm well aware of it. Estimates were overly optimistic; by the time the sun rises the bugs should be here."
Walter swallowed roughly, his fingers contracting slightly on the roughened table top that had become their meeting table. "What's the plan?" he asked, breaking the sudden silence that settled over the room.
"Harlowe and Fraiser get that vaccine done. I don't care what else; that is their priority," Paul instructed. "The rest of us are going to try and find a way to stop the bugs and the Goa'uld. Whichever order it happens in, I don't care, I just want it done."
"Even if we do find a vaccine in the next few hours or days, the damage these bugs can do is enough to completely destroy earth's entire eco-system as it stands."
"Isn't there anything we can do to just… I don't know… wipe them out?"
Walter glanced across to where the Cassandra's friend was leaning against a wall, her eyeliner smudged and her hair tangled untidily.
"It's not like a can of Raid will work," Maybourne sniped.
"But Bek's right," Doctor Fraiser said. "If we can just kill them, or find an effective way of eliminating a large proportion of their swarms we'll have a much better chance of recovering from this."
"We don't have a way to wipe them out though," Paul pointed out. "That's our problem, Doctor Fraiser."
Walter watched as Fraiser glanced at O'Neill, almost as though seeking his permission for something. He shook his almost imperceptibly. "What do we know about these bugs?" O'Neill questioned. "Harlowe, you've studied them, what can you tell us?"
"They swarm," Doctor Harlowe said. "They swarm, and seem to follow where large populations are, but it appears more random than calculated."
"Why?" Sam questioned.
"I assume it's because they can smell the people? Or detect them somehow. I didn't really focus on their behaviour, Sam. I'm a geneticist, not a biologist."
"No, this… this could be important," Sam said absently. "Colonel… do you remember the planet we found these bugs on?"
"Shit yeah," O'Neill said darkly. "I couldn't get that crap off my boots. It stuck like glue."
"When we arrived there, Sir, there was absolutely no sign of those bugs the first time. We were hardly on that planet for five minutes before the first one stung Teal'c. Seconds later the entire swarm came flying over those buildings."
"Your point, Carter?" O'Neill demanded.
"We did something that attracted them. How else could they have known that we were there?"
"Well, what did we do?" O'Neill asked. "We arrived, I stepped in the pigeon poop, and the bug that got Teal'c came out of nowhere. And then all hell broke loose."
"Maybe it's sound?" Doctor Fraiser suggested. "You would have been talking, right? And if these bugs are attracted to large populations, it doubtlessly because the people are talking."
"It could be smell too, for that matter, Janet," Sam pointed out. "Body heat, even."
"Going on these reports, the swarms seem to have definite travel directions, it just appears to be randomly chosen," Paul inserted.
"Where are the biggest swarms?" Sam asked.
"They were released in Nevada," Paul said as he unfolded a chart across the table. "We didn't realise until a few days had passed and the first swarms were reported. They moved here… across the west toward the coast… and reports confirm that there's a big one in the west." Smaller swarms are spreading, but the biggest infestations are around the big cities."
"So why do some follow the population, and others stay behind in the cities?" Walter questioned.
"Pity we can't just activate the Stargate and the energy field keeps them away," O'Neill commented.
"It couldn't be that simple. Again," Fraiser almost whispered, staring disbelievingly at O'Neill.
"What?" O'Neill asked curiously.
"It is a possibility," Sam agreed. "But it doesn't explain why the second we went through the bugs didn't attack us straight away."
"Excuse me!" O'Neill snapped.
"Care to share, ladies?" Maybourne asked.
"We've come across at least one species on another planet that was unable to penetrate an electrical field," Sam explained. "They were an energy based life form, though."
"These bugs aren't energy based, Sam, they're based on the same carbon chemistry principles that we are, complete with a retro virus that re-engineers DNA," Doctor Harlowe disagreed.
"But what if these bugs use the energy field to find their prey?" Sam suggested. "That would explain why they appeared out of nowhere within a few minutes of us arriving on the planet the first time."
"You just said the second time they didn't arrive straight away," Paul reminded her.
"The first time we stepped through the gate was after we had it active for several minutes while we checked the MALP readings; usual off world procedure," Sam stated. "Those minutes could have given the bugs time to swarm toward the gate from wherever they were before. The second time, the gate was activated, and we went almost straight through. We didn't stay around the Stargate either; we went for the buildings immediately, so even if the bugs did fly to the gate again, we didn't see them."
"Why didn't they find you then?" Maybourne asked.
"There were three of us in buildings; the energy signature we give isn't as strong as the Stargate's and would have been masked fairly easily," Sam answered easily. "By the time we got back to the Stargate, they'd found us anyway and simply joined in the chase."
"It sounds plausible, Sam, but there's no proof for that," Harlowe pointed out tiredly, rubbing at his eyes.
"I know that, but it's our best explanation at this point in time. Simply 'smelling' us doesn't fit and isn't as compatible as this theory."
"What do we need to do to find out if this theory is right?" Paul questioned, "and if it is, how does that help us fight against Harlowe's pets?"
"We can lure them," O'Neill realised. "Set a trap and lure them. The minute the swarm's in position we blow the crap out of them."
"One electrical signal isn't going to attract every bug on the planet, Sir," Janet pointed out. "They're still going to keep multiplying, no matter what we do."
"But we've got time now, Janet," Sam said. "If we only destroy ten or twenty at a time, that's still a swarm less to deal with, and that makes it a little more manageable; especially if you get that anti-venin working."
"It's not that easy, Sam," Doctor Fraiser said simply.
"I know, but this is our best chance. If we wire a building and see what the bugs do when they arrive, we'll have our answer."
"What if you're wrong?" Cassandra asked, speaking for the first time.
"Then we'll just have to find another way to beat them," O'Neill said simply.
"Okay. O'Neill, you take Carter and Maybourne and get something set up. There's surveillance gear in the crates I brought with me; you'll have to find a vantage point where the bugs don't find you," Davis instructed. "Harlowe, you and Fraiser keep going with the vaccine; work in shifts so you both get some rest," he added. "Walter, I need you to get the communications centre going; the equipment is still in the transport. Cassandra, if you and…"
"Bek," Cassandra supplied.
"…Bek don't mind, we could do with a hand unloading the gear I brought."
"Sure," the girls agreed, and seconds later their small base was a flurry of activity, the new personnel and equipment settled in and packed away carefully.
---
Nuclear Facility
4:30am July 30
Bumping across rutted roads on an uncomfortable seat was something Jack had not looked forward to when Maybourne had busted him from the research clinic, yet here he was again, bouncing around on a seat with a stray spring that was determined to add an extra hole to his ass. His head cracked against the window loudly, streaks of lighting flashing briefly across his vision before the darkness outside the window settled back to its empty self. Even the stars were in hiding tonight.
"Where exactly are we going?" he demanded again, rubbing at his head.
"Walter said there was an old power plant down this road," Carter managed before they bounced over a particularly large rut and he heard the breath knocked from her with a grunt. Very ladylike, Carter.
"Should be about there," Maybourne muttered, jerking on the wheel.
"Maybourne, this is the last time you drive me anywhere," Jack muttered, saving his head from crashing against the glass again by bracing his hands on the dash.
"You said that last time, Jack."
Jack ignored Maybourne, peering ahead instead. "There it is."
The headlights cast a bright beam of light over an old chain link fence, the criss-crossing shadows cast on the ground behind it moving as the SUV rolled to a halt.
They gathered their equipment quickly, lugging it to the fence where Maybourne used his wire cutters to cut away a large portion of the rusted fence.
"You really like doing that, don't you, Maybourne?" Jack commented.
"What? Cutting fences?" Maybourne asked congenially as they pushed their gear through the hole.
"No, illegal breaking and entering."
"I'm a criminal, Jack, what do you expect?" Maybourne demanded, and his teeth glinted brightly in the orange glow of Jack's flashlight as he grinned.
The long grass swished as they moved through it quietly, whispering strangely into the stillness around him. It was too quiet, Jack thought, shivering.
But he had missed this, in a strange way. Missed running up to abandoned buildings in the dark carrying explosives with his blood pumping through his body as his heart thudded in his chest. Missed the way his breathing seemed to echo and his eyes caught every detail as he looked around. Missed the way his teeth worried his lower lip as Carter deftly picked the lock and they stepped into the empty building.
Their footsteps echoed loudly, the building hollow and dusty in the light of their flashlights.
"Carter?" Jack asked, turning to look at her. "You're the expert," he added.
"You and Maybourne can set the explosives, sir," she suggested. "I'll wire this place up."
He nodded, moving silently to Maybourne and helping divide the explosives between them.
They were putting their tools back into their pockets when Carter finished, jamming a large set of pliers into the back pocket of Cassie's jeans, which were far too short for her.
"Set?" he asked.
"Ready to blow, sir," she grinned briefly, her face smudged and dirty as the light fell on it. "I'm going to suggest we move out of here now," she added, "it's almost dawn, and Davis said those bugs would be here by the crack of dawn."
"Let's go then," O'Neill agreed.
They stopped for two seconds while Carter flicked on the small generator she'd brought, and the rattling hum filled the air loudly.
"Let's go!" she called, and they all ran back to the rover together, piling onto the uncomfortable seats and slamming the doors shut.
Carter took the driver's seat this time, grunting again as she pulled the pliers out of her pocket and sat down a second time.
"Uncomfortable?" he asked, taking the pliers from where she'd dumped them on the dash and dropping them at his feet.
"Yes," she said simply, starting the engine and pulling the car back into the relative safety of the surrounding trees at the edge of the large parking lot.
They were unwrapping stale MREs when dawn broke the darkness and sent silver slivers of light across the treetops. And silhouetted against the light sky slowly turning orange was a large, black moving cloud.
"Fuck," Jack breathed, gazing at it.
It writhed and swirled, moving with an inner rhythm as it twisted across the sky, straight toward the power planet several hundred feet ahead of them. And as it got closer and the light got clearer, they could see the bugs glinting with an almost plastic sheen as they swooped angrily around the building.
"That is one flock of bugs," Maybourne breathed, staring in horror.
"You ready to blow it, Carter?" Jack whispered.
The air around them hummed with the sound of the bugs.
"Give it a few more minutes, sir, we want as many as we can get," she said quietly, her eyes focused on the swarm ahead of them.
The swarm hovered over the building, the bugs almost sticking to the sides as they searched it, crashing against windows and shattering them. More bugs arrived, the sky getting darker and darker as they swooped and darted, flitting with a speed that Jack envied.
"Carter, if we don't blow it soon…" Jack commented, swallowing, "if we don't blow it soon, we're gonna have every damn bug here, and I doubt that explosion will be big enough to take them all."
"Five more minutes," Carter said firmly. "Five more, and then we blow it."
The longest five minutes of Jack's life passed almost too quickly; time seeming to stretch until it suddenly snapped and Carter was hissing at him to blow it. His finger brushed the key pad. For a second nothing happened, and then the steady rumbling of the insects grew and grew until Jack realised it wasn't the insects anymore. The building almost seemed to lift off the ground, perfectly in position as it slowly rose higher and higher.
It exploded, the aftershock rocking the SUV back as the red tongues of fire licked the walls of the building, swallowing them whole. Debris rained down everywhere, and the SUV jerked forward as Carter jammed it into gear.
"MOVE, CARTER!" Maybourne yelled.
The car swerved wildly on the road, and Jack gave up trying to sit normally. He clung to the dash and the handgrips above the door, bracing his feet against the floor and jamming his aching knees under the glove box.
"CARTER!" he yelled.
Something crashed against the windscreen. A bang against the roof. He felt the impact as something thudded against the door. An angry whine filled the air.
"CARTER!" he yelled again, wildly staring out of the window and watching several bugs streak past, hurling themselves at his window. "You missed some!"
"SHUT UP!" she screamed at him, jerking on the wheel again as the SUV slid across the road, bugs bouncing off the hood and slapping against the windows with a empty thwack.
"This," he ground out, grunting as they bounced over a rut, "has to be your dumbest idea to date!"
The SUV stalled; jerking to a halt across the road. They bugs were relentless, and there was a slight crack developing against the window next to Jack's head.
"Carter!" Maybourne yelled.
"Sit still!" she ordered. "Don't move, and don't speak."
"What the hell are you doing?" Jack hissed.
"We won't outrun them on this road, sir," she said calmly, hardly moving her mouth. "I've turned the engine off; hopefully they lose interest."
"Hopefully?" Maybourne snapped.
"Shh!" Carter hissed.
Jack closed his eyes and listened to the thudding as the bugs threw themselves against the SUV. No, he hadn't missed this at all.
---
Nuclear Facility
6:46am July 30
They'd sat outside in silence, watching as the sun crept up over the treetops and slowly cast its light over the land. Shadows had formed in the darkness, lengthening and twisting as the sun rode across the sky. Even this early the sun was hot, burning down on their skin.
But neither Cass nor Bek moved; both continued sitting on the rock they'd chosen, letting their gazes rest on the gravel road the SUV should arrive back on.
"They've been gone too long," Bek said eventually as the sun started to turn Cass' knee a soft shade of red.
"No," Cass shook her head. "No. They'll come back. You'll see."
The silence pulled awkwardly across them, and they scanned the skies anxiously, waiting for a sign that the bugs had arrived and started their decimation.
A grumbling in the distance attracted their attention, and their muscles tensed, waiting. The soft cloud of dust rising up between the trees appeared seconds before a battered and dirty SUV rumbled into view. The engine roared as it raced toward them, buzzing angrily.
Cass' eyes widened; it wasn't the engine buzzing.
"GET INSIDE, BEK!" Cass screamed, staggering down the rock and pulling Bek behind her. "NOW!"
They stumbled into the dark shadows of the shelter entrance, holding their breath. Davis and Samuels appeared behind them.
"Get back," Samuels ordered roughly, pushing them inside.
They slipped into the darkness silently, their eyes straining past the two men in front of them. They heard the sound of the SUV's engine cutting, Jack yelling… Maybourne yelling...
"GET IN HERE! NOW!" Davis yelled.
Bodies fell through the opening, and a burst of orange light lit up the dark entrance.
"Get back!" Samuels yelled again, pressing back on them.
Fire licked the concrete walls as they all staggered back, burning the air and turning it to charcoal until everyone had staggered past the heavy iron doors and someone threw them shut, blotting the light from outside as the last flames raced up the walls before dying.
"What the fuck was that?" Maybourne panted, leaning against a wall and running a hand over his forehead.
"Flame throwers," Davis answered easily. "They can't fly if their wings are burnt. Did it work?"
Sam's face, dark and smeared with dirt, split into a wide grin, revealing even white teeth that contrasted brightly against the grime. "They swarmed around it like bees swarm around honey, Davis."
"They just kept coming," Maybourne added. "We blew up the first lot and before the flames had even stopped the next lot was on our heels."
"It's a start," Davis said grimly. "Fraiser and Harlowe are still working on the vaccine, and we still have to find a course of action against the Goa'uld."
When the adults moved away into the meeting room, Cassandra and Bek were left alone at the entrance. The blackened door looked dark and solid, but Cassandra could hear the soft thudding of the alien bodies hitting relentlessly against the door. She rested her hand on the warm surface; it shuddered lightly beneath her touch.
---