I am SO SORRY for the delay in posting the remainder of this fic. It's been sitting on my HD for months, but I completely forgot I had to post it! Thanks for the reminders and reviews; I'll do my best to get it all up in the next few days!!

Shaz

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PART EIGHT
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Nuclear Facility
7:29am, July 30

The room that had seemed so cold and empty to her just over twenty four hours ago was suddenly full of people and personalities. Janet gazed around the room once again, desperately trying to keep her eyes open as the soft conversation flowed around her, rising and falling as opinions were aired and options discussed.

"You should get some rest," Cassie said softly, appearing at her side and looking down at her with concern.

"I did," Janet smiled, but the yawn that escaped caused Cassie to raise her eyebrows accusingly. "I'll take another nap later, Cass," she promised.

"We have a problem!" Walter Davis announced loudly, stepping into the centre of the room. Conversation ceased abruptly as everyone turned to face him, waiting for him to continue. "Goa'uld ships are in the atmosphere, and the satellite images I'm pulling off shows them over the US mainly, and several around Europe."

"Already?" Paul Davis demanded, reaching for the sheets of paper Walter still clutched in his hands. "Our intel said they wouldn't arrive for at least another week."

"Strike while the iron's hot," O'Neill murmured. "Makes more sense to arrive now, while everyone here has their head up their ass in panic."

"We're not here to discuss the merits of the Goa'uld tactics, Colonel!" Samuels spat.

"Either way, we don't have a choice as to what we do next," Davis sighed, shuffling through the sheets. "We have to get the SGC back."

"Do we still stand a chance?" Sam asked.

"If we act now, yes."

"So what's the plan?" O'Neill asked.

"We need to get the SGC and get control of the Stargate. If we can send someone through to an Asgard protected planet-"

"I thought you said the Asgard had nothing to do with us anymore," O'Neill accused.

"They don't," Davis agreed. "But they always liked you."

Janet's eyes widened. "Wait a minute. You want Colonel O'Neill to go in there?"

"Yes," Samuels said bluntly.

"Samuels, I don't know if you noticed this, but Colonel O'Neill is in no condition to go playing hero!" Janet said hotly.

"What did he do this morning then?" Samuels asked scathingly.

Janet glared at the men now staring at her. "I let him join that mission against my better judgment."

"We don't have a choice, Janet," Sam said softly.

Janet stared at her. "Of course we do."

"What? Send someone else? Someone the Asgard don't like? Then what? They don't help us? Samuels' is right, Janet. We need him to do this."

"I don't see the Asgard dropping everything to come running to our assistance," O'Neill said calmly, "so this plan could be academic anyway. Added to that, we have no way of getting to the SGC at this point in time. At least, not until we get some protection against the bugs. It won't do us any good to go and get ourselves stung before we even reach the front door. We need another alternative."

The silence around the room was uncomfortable, and Janet stifled the urge to yawn again, despite the tense situation. "Do we know which Goa'uld is orchestrating this invasion?" Janet asked.

"No," Paul Davis sighed. "No idea."

"The Jaffa aren't going to be entirely immune to the bugs," Sam said thoughtfully. "Chances are if they get stung their bodies will still have to fight the virus."

"So when they land will be the right time for us to launch our counter-attack," Samuels agreed. "Our problem lies in having no counter-attack. All our resources are at this moment engaged with the threat of the bugs."

"Then I suggest you find a counter-attack," O'Neill said curtly, rising to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Samuels demanded.

"I've been awake for longer than I like, Samuels, and at my age, I need my beauty sleep. Call me when you've got something."

No one commented as he exited the room.

"He's right," Janet said. "I think everyone should get some rest and think about it. Like he said; we're not leaving here until we find a way to safeguard against the bugs."

Davis nodded. "We better figure it out soon," he added softly.

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Nuclear Facility
11:59am, July 30

Sam looked around the impromptu laboratory with critical eyes, observing small changes in both style and technology that had taken place during the last three years. It had been years since she'd set foot in a laboratory, much less tinkered with the various pieces of equipment. Sighing, she stopped her musings and located Janet – the reason she'd come to the lab in the first place.

"You busy?" she asked.

"Not with anything that can't wait, no," Janet answered. "I'm only filing results," she added, "go ahead."

"I've been thinking about the way the bugs are attracted to the electrical fields."

"Some sort of sensory system," Janet mused. "Possibly like a shark."

Sam nodded. "That's what I thought; they can detect the impulses on a level that we can't with their sensory system. What if we can use that against them, the way we can with sharks?"

"I'm not sure I understand how you propose to do that, Sam."

"Overload," Sam said simply. "It works exactly the same on us. Heat, for example. We can sense heat. It's warm and we enjoy it. Too much heat and it burns us."

"Stun them with a large electrical pulse?" Janet asked doubtfully. "Sam, that's going to hurt us as much as it hurts the bugs."

"Not if we use a field it won't," Sam said.

"Will that work?"

"I don't know," Sam said, shrugging. "It's only a theory, but if we can overload their senses with an energy field of some sort, they won't be able to detect us, or they might avoid us if we're the ones where the field is coming from."

"It's definitely worth looking into," Janet agreed slowly. "Have you thought about how you're going to create the field?"

Sam smiled. "You're talking to an astrophysicist, Janet. This is the sort of thing I did in preschool."

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Nuclear Facility
3;10pm

"But why does it work?" Dr. Harlowe demanded, his voice sounding empty as it echoed down the concrete hallway.

"I don't know the exact mechanisms of how or why it works," Sam responded, "but it does. You saw it yourself, Timothy."

"It doesn't make any sense, Sam. The EMP shouldn't affect them – there's no biological or electrical reason for it to work."

Walter stepped into the room, his hands sweaty as he gripped several sheets of paper.

"These bugs are alien, Timothy," Dr. Fraiser contributed, "how much do we really understand about their physiology? Not much. The EMP works – and keeps working. It solves the problem of the bugs. Sam and I both think if the pulse is strong enough it could kill them too. At the very least, it stuns them for at least half an hour or so."

"Excuse me, sir," Walter said.

"Just a minute, Walter. It's not an ideal solution, Janet," Colonel O'Neill said. "The EMP effectively wipes out everything we need to wage this war – communications, transport, intel… almost everything."

"But it gives us a chance to fight!" Sam said sharply. "It doesn't eliminate everything, we'll still have our firearms."

"I'm sorry, sir, but this is urgent," Walter said loudly. He held the sheets out to O'Neill. "The Goa'uld are moving. Reports indicate they've landed a ship on Cheyenne, and attacks are underway in several of the capitals."

"Fuck," O'Neill snapped, slamming his fists on the table. "What about the Asgard Treaty?"

"We all know that's been a bluff for years," Paul Davis said quietly. "The Goa'uld couldn't be fooled forever."

"With the Jaffa attacking and a ship over Cheyenne, we don't stand a chance of retaking the Stargate," Samuels predicted. "It was going to be enough of a challenge getting in there with the infiltration, but now? They've all but claimed this planet."

"So why bother?" Sam asked sharply. "Why bother with any of this in the first place, Samuels, if it's so impossible to win?"

"We've been working on the problem for months now, Major," Paul Davis intervened. "Ever since we learned of the infiltration, and the possibility of the Goa'uld releasing the virus."

"I still don't understand why you kept me alive," the woman said quietly. "Why go to the lengths you did to keep me alive and hidden?"

Walter watched as Paul Davis looked across at Samuels before answering. "Even if you had planted the bomb, Major, to execute someone of your intellect would have been a waste of resources. What I understand from Samuels is that the plan was to offer you freedom of a sort, in return for your assistance on several projects once you had time to experience… life in prison, so to speak. When we realised there was an infiltration, Samuels alerted me to your status. Like we've said before, Major, your experience with the Goa'uld is invaluable."

"I wouldn't have co-operated," Sam said quietly.

"I am aware of that, Major Carter," Paul Davis said equally quietly, "but I'm grateful to the conspirators for keeping you alive. When I learnt of your apparent execution I was appalled that not only would the government accuse you of the act of terrorism, but that they would execute you."

"And where was all this support when I was on trial, behind bars and being led to the gas chamber?" she demanded bitterly.

"Regardless of your situation, Major Carter, we have a bigger problem than the personal wrongs you experienced," Samuels interrupted. "The Goa'uld are taking over this planet and we have a plague or alien bugs about to wipe us out if the Goa'uld can't stop what they unleashed. I suggest we focus on that, and assign blame for your cuff scars afterwards."

"Another word, Samuels," O'Neill whispered, "and I will feed you to the bugs myself."

"Who's running this operation, Colonel?" Samuels demanded.

"I am," O'Neill said simply. "Take a look around, Samuels, at the people you recruited. They're my people. They follow my orders, and they stand behind me."

Samuels opened his mouth to protest, but Davis beat him to it. "With all due respect, Colonel, you aren't completely up to date on everything that's happened in the last three years," he said.

"Like hell I'm not," O'Neill snapped. "I know more about the Goa'uld on this planet than you do. I know more about the Goa'uld than you. That's why you brought us here, Davis, because we know how to fight them. Now either you let us do it the way we know works, or you find yourself another team."

The threat hung in the air.

"And what will you do if I take up your offer, Colonel?" Davis asked quietly.

"We'll leave," O'Neill said simply. "If anyone's going to figure out a way to either stop them or get off this planet if we can't stop them, it's Carter, and Carter's with me."

"Is she?" Samuels asked. "Three years is a long time, Colonel, and prison is a hard place. Is she still the same woman who's going to follow you blindly, or have times changed?"

"If anything, Samuels, I followed her blindly," O'Neill said mildly. "It's your choice. Our way or we go."

Walter almost held his gaze as his eyes skimmed across the room, taking in the people present. Dr. Fraiser, Sam, O'Neill, Maybourne, Dr. Harlowe, Paul Davis and Samuels all waiting.

"Okay," Davis said quietly. "We do it your way."

"Good," O'Neill said, nodding.

"Sir?" Walter asked hesitantly. "What exactly is your way?"

O'Neill blinked. "Carter?"

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