Hey all, i hope you're pumped for an EPIC CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

its not as though anything overly exciting or action-y happens, it's merely an epic length for one of my stories, but it is necessary and hopefully a bit insightful to each of the characters main (at least a little)

thanks to everyone who reviewed, please keep it up (it makes me feel special)

again, i don't own any of this stargate stuff, merely my plot :)

happy reading

The men of SG-1 purposefully strode down the corridor towards the elevator; the only mission in their mind was to ensure the swift recovery of their fourth team member. They pressed the unfamiliar button to take them to sub-level 6, the level that took care of shipments and the acquisition of new and specialised equipment and supplies. The three men stepped out onto the floor, attracting the curious stares of the office staff that worked there. Jack boldly approached one such office worker; a pretty young woman carrying an armful of yellow manila folders.

'Excuse me, miss, but where might we enquire about medical shipments?'

'If you follow the hall down to room 116, you'll find the office in charge of all incoming supplies for the infirmary.'

'Thanks…' Jack called over his shoulder to the girl as he strolled quickly down the hall.

'You were a great help…' Daniel flashed a smile as he passed, unknowingly making the young girl's heart flutter.

'Indeed.' Teal'c gave a solitary nod, before following his team mates down the hallway towards room 116.

Within minutes they had located the correct door and, in typical Jack style, the team leader flung the door wide open without bothering to knock. But, after observing the scene before them for a moment, each of the men had a sneaking suspicion that no one would have answered in any case. The half-dozen people that worked in the office were frantically going about their business; making flustered phone calls, typing manically at their computers or having hushed but serious conversations with one another about some apparent emergency. After a moment of standing, stunned by the unexpected bustle inside the tiny room, Jack approached the nearest worker: a woman in her late 40s with greying hair and bright red glasses perched upon her nose.

'Excuse me, miss, am I in the right area to talk to someone about medical shipments?'

'Yes, but you'll have to make it quick, sir; we have a small crisis on our hands.' The woman spoke as she frantically shuffled through a pile of papers at least a foot high, only ever making eye contact with Jack once in her haste to continue her task.

'Right, well, a friend of mine is currently undergoing treatment in the infirmary for the Plague, and we were wondering…'

'Sorry to cut you off, but that seems to be the exact object that we are having problems with down here.' After a quick glance at Jack's confused and dangerously undiplomatically inclined expression, Daniel quickly stepped in.

'How so?' At the new voice, the woman seemed to notice that the people talking to her were more than just mere office workers and, after giving the three men a very unsubtle once-over, she extracted herself from her task to talk to them properly.

'We organised a shipment of the medicine to be sent directly from New York to the mountain as soon as possible, but when it reached Washington D.C., it was stopped by…' the woman checked one of the pieces of paper on the desk beside her, 'The NID.'

Each of the three men became visibly furious, all three of them thinking immediately of one man: Maybourne. Of the three men, Jack was looking the most livid, but once again before he could verbally attack the woman before him Daniel spoke up.

'On what authority?'

'They claim to have received a tip-off about possible tampering with the drugs, in the form of illegal narcotics being smuggled in the same container.'

'So what's going to happen?'

'We're currently in negotiation with the NID, trying to convince them to release the drug, but they aren't co-operating.'

'Can't you order a new batch?'

'We already thought of that but, again, the NID are preventing us from ordering any new products. They seem to think that it will be impossible for any product to be shipped to the mountain within the next 48 hours- in case the people who attempted to smuggle the illegal narcotics try to send more drugs through the same route that they managed to infiltrate with the first package.'

'You've got to be kidding me!'

Jack stormed out of the office without so much as a thank-you or even an acknowledgement of the woman's assistance. Daniel gave an apologetic smile before running after Jack and, after a swift nod, Teal'c followed them out of the office. Daniel and Teal'c only caught up with Jack when they reached the elevator, where he was impatiently tapping his foot as he waited. The doors slowly slid open and the three men entered in silence. As soon as the doors closed, though, Jack released the restrains he'd been holding himself in. With an angry roar he kicked the wall of the elevator, scuffing its shining surface with his boot. He punched the emergency stop button, and slid down the wall of the elevator, sitting with his head in his hands on the floor. Daniel and Teal'c exchanged a concerned look, before slowly sinking to the floor beside him.

'I am going to KILL that bastard!' Jack snarled under his breath, glaring angrily at the floor beneath him.

'He is indeed a most irksome man.' Teal'c's deep voice resonated off the walls of the elevator, having an uncanny calming effect on the three men. Daniel nodded his agreement absentmindedly, his mind already desperately searching for some way around the obstacle that the NID represented. They sat in silence, each man trying to come up with some way to solve their problem.

'This is really Carter's area of expertise, this thinking up ways to save the world business…' Jack muttered under his breath. A moment after this statement sunk in, Daniel's face lit up with an idea.

'How about we go ask her, then? I'm sure she'd much rather be in the loop than kept in the dark, and she'll probably be able to come up with the best course of action…' Jack sat in silent contemplation for a moment, before nodding subduedly. Daniel turned off the emergency stop button, before hitting the number for the infirmary. As the elevator came close to their stop, the three men got to their feet and straightened out their clothes. But, just before the doors opened, Jack turned to his two companions.

'Do you mind if I go in alone? I think it might be a bit much, if we all show up expecting her to have all the answers…'

'Yeah, that's fine…How about Teal'c and I go up to my office and try to get the NID to change their minds?'

'That sounds good, I'll be down in an hour or so to check up on you guys…' The doors slid silently open, and Jack stepped out, 'See you then.' Teal'c gave a nod, and Daniel a small smile, before the doors shut, leaving Jack alone in the hallway.

Jack slowly made his way down the near-empty hallway, and automatically turned into the infirmary. He came to a halt, however, when he saw the scene before him. Just inside the door a Perspex wall had been erected, with a sensor-activated door in the middle of the wall. A nurse sat at a desk beside the doorway, with a computer and telephone before her. Jack hesitantly approached the doorway, and with an unsubtle clearing of his throat he attracted the nurse's attention.

'How can I help you?'

'Can I go inside?'

'Perhaps; what is your name?'

'Colonel Jack O'Neill…' The nurse immediately turned to the computer, typing in his name and starting the search. After a moment, a confused expression darted across her face.

'There doesn't seem to be a Jack O'Neil…'

'Two L's' Jack interrupted and, with a small smile, the woman re-entered the name. Obviously happier with this information than her previous search, she gestured to the door.

'You're cleared to enter…' But before she could finish, Jack had already walked through the door.

'Wait!' The woman frantically beckoned Jack back towards her, and he resignedly turned around to meet her at the door.

'What?'

'You'll be needing one of these.' She held out a surgical mask, which Jack gave an obviously sceptical glance.

'I'm sorry, sir, but it's a precaution we have to take; if you don't wear one you can't go in, I'm afraid.' Jack snatched the mask with an audible sigh, and snapped it hastily over his mouth, before turning his back on the woman and making his way to the back of the infirmary.

Jack made a beeline for Sam's bedside, but again came to a stop at the sight before him. Sam's bed was cordoned off by a bright yellow line painted in a large box around the area, decorated with black stripes and Hazmat symbols. But what really caught his attention was the woman he had come to talk to. Sam's bed was now surrounded by medical machinery, not all of which were familiar to Jack. He recognised the drip that was now leaking some transparent medicine down a tube connected to her arm. Subtly tucked away in a corner was a defibrillator. Sam herself somehow looked smaller and sicker than she had a mere hour ago; her skin had paled, her eyes had dulled and she wasn't moving unless completely necessary. But, to Jack's immense relief, when she noticed him hovering nearby she waved him over, with a small smile on her face.

Jack walked slowly over to Sam's bedside, only hesitating for a moment at the ominous yellow line that decorated the floor. He yanked one of the chairs from its place by the wall, repositioning it directly next to Sam, as close as he could possibly get.

'Nice mask, sir.' Her voice was soft and lacking energy, but it held the joking air that she always reserved for him.

'Is that insubordination, Major?'

'Of course not, sir.' The smile on her face widened, making her eyes glow with contained mirth.

'Well, that's the most insubordinate subordinate that I've ever heard.'

'A certain other Colonel I know once said those words to me…'

'And who would that be?'

'Maybourne, you're best mate down at the NID.' Sam had obviously intended this to be a light-hearted joke, but Jack's mood automatically blackened at the mention of the man's name. The joking smile slipped of Sam's face in an instant, replaced with a slightly perplexed look.

'Why the sudden aversion to Maybourne, sir? I mean, I know you never really got along too well…' Jack snorted.

'That's the understatement of the century.' He muttered under his breath, momentarily bringing the smile back to Sam's face as she continued to speak.

'Regardless, you've never really got that angry at the mere mention of his name before, so why the change?' Jack glanced down at Sam, and nearly lost his composure at the innocently questioning look on her face. He turned away, observing the infirmary around him, and after taking a deep breath he turned to look her straight in the eye.

'There's been a problem with shipping in you medicine, and it's all his fault.'

'How…?'

'The bloody NID conveniently found a flaw in our medical shipment system, which just happened to be discovered in the same container as your antibiotics. So now they're refusing to allow any of our medical shipments through until they've contained the threat.' Jack spat out the end of the sentence venomously, crossing his arms moodily across his chest. He heard a gasp, but to his surprise it didn't come from the woman next to him. Looking up, he saw Doctor Fraiser standing at the foot of the bed, carrying a clipboard. She had apparently walked up to discuss something with Sam, but had stopped when she heard Jack talking. She was standing stock-still where she must have come to a halt, and despite not being able to see her half her face, both Jack and Sam could tell she was deeply mortified at the news.

'Janet?' Sam's voice was soft and tentative, but it was enough to snap the doctor out of her reverie. With a subtle shake of her head, she sat down on one of the other chairs next to Sam's bed and sighed.

'Janet, what's the matter? I mean really, you said that there were dozens of different medicines for the plague, and if one wasn't acquirable, that it wasn't that big a deal…I mean, you already have me on one of them, right?'

'I'm afraid it's not quite that simple, Sam. Certain medications, such as the ones that we ordered, are very effective at eradicating the disease, so much so that you would be almost cured within 24 hours. There are about two or three different drugs that work that effectively, and after that the other medications are far less effective. Unfortunately for us, the only one that we had in stock was the least useful of the other drugs, and leaves you with a much higher mortality rate than the normally prescribed medicines. On top of that, we only have enough doses to sustain you for one day, maybe two, and after that…' Janet trailed off, her grievous expression showing just how serious the situation was. Jack and Sam sat in stunned silence for a moment as this new information was processed, before Sam's now quivering voice rang out once more.

'How does this affect my chance of survival?'

'With the medicine that we have here, you're chances were going to be not fantastic…but once that runs out, you're chances will be slim at best.'

Silence reigned once more; each person mulling over the new information. Sam, though, seemed to have taken the news the worst. Her skin had paled, and she looked on the verge of tears. But before anyone could think of a single thing to say to comfort her, the phone next to Sam's bed began to ring its shrill tone, echoing off the cement walls. Jack quickly grabbed the receiver and placed it to his ear.

'Hello?'

'Jack? It's Daniel; we just got a call from General Hammond: he wants us in the briefing room in five minutes…'

'What for?'

'The debrief for the mission, from what I gathered…'

'Tell him I can't come, I'm still talking to Carter.' Sam smiled slightly at the comment, but it quickly disappeared as she continued to listen to the phone call, despite only being able to hear one side of it.

'The general thought you might say that, and he said to tell you to come anyway. It doesn't sound like it's going to go very long, maybe forty-five minutes…'

'Forty-five minutes!'

'Jack, we're gonna have to be debriefed sometime, and don't you think it's better for it to happen now rather than when things are…harder to cope with?' Jack sat in silence for a moment, contemplating both what Daniel had said and what he had insinuated. He glanced down at Carter's face, and when he made eye-contact, she nodded dully, mouthing the word 'Go'. Sighing, Jack returned to his conversation with Daniel.

'Alright, Daniel, I'll be up as soon as I can be.'

'Thanks, Jack.'

'Yeah, whatever.' Jack promptly hung up, slamming the receiver as loud as he dared with the chief medical officer beside him.

'It would seem I have a briefing I need to attend. I'd much prefer to stay here, but I have the strangest suspicion General Hammond wouldn't be too happy about it…' Sam didn't even visibly react; she just continued to stare at her hands with slightly glistening eyes. Jack cleared his throat uncomfortably, before getting to his feet.

'Well, I'll…I'll see you soon, Carter.' Receiving no more response than before from his second-in-command, Jack hovered for a moment before heading to the infirmary door. As he exited, he heard the phone ring once more. He paused near the newly-erected Perspex wall, waiting to see if it was Daniel or Teal'c calling for him. From the suddenly sweetened tone in Janet's voice, Jack gathered that it was Daniel on the other end of the line, but Janet showed no intentions of handing the phone over. After a few moments conversation, Janet hung up and joined Jack at the door.

'It seems that General Hammond wants me at the briefing too.' Jack merely nodded, and turned to the door once more. Once outside the quarantine area, he yanked off the surgical mask and threw it in one of the large bins alongside the doorway. Waiting for Janet to do the same, Jack took one last glance at Sam, who still hadn't moved since she had nodded at him a few minutes before. Concern and an unidentifiable feeling of foreboding washed over Jack, but he hesitantly turned away from Sam and into the hallway and began to make his way to the briefing.

Tada!!! i hope you liked it :)

i hope all you long-time readers still remember those symptoms i listed in the last chapter (kudos to you if you do, feel free to go back and check if you don't)

they are going to be kinda important for next chapter (or otherwise certain female majors are going to be acting in ways that will make you go "what the???")

any plot suggestions are welcome, and appreciated

if i like it, it will probably end up in here somewhere (like the dan/jan bit, i wasn't planning on putting that in here but because someone suggested it...hello dan/jan ship!)

thanks again for reading, and thanks in advance for any reviews you may write :)

xedwardismyromeox