"Move!"

At the same time he shouted, Ian was already pushing Carter into the closest doorway, pushing at McKay at the same time, who reacted by shoving Michael forward as well. The protection was scant, but Shawn was already pushing Dotty the same direction, shoving the stunned little girl in on top of Michael and lurching to his feet to slap the door control. It activated immediately and the door swooshed open smoothly, revealing a corridor.

"Go, McKay!" Shawn told him, pushing him through after the kids, and turning to check on Ian, who had scrambled over to the fallen technician. With one hand the New Yorker grabbed his lab jacket collar, jerked to his feet and dragged the man into the doorway just as a bolt of energy shot into the wall by Shawn's head, followed almost immediately by another.

Shawn slapped the door closed and turned toward McKay and the kids, but before he could say anything Rodney brushed by him, pulling out the control for the door and fiddling with the wires.

"I can jam it," he said, to them. "But it won't hold them back long…"

"Is he dead?" Carter asked in a very small and frightened voice, looking down at the technician's inert body, where his father was quickly checking him for signs of life.

Ian looked up at him, but before he could answer a loud crash from the other side of the door made the boy flinch, and Ian stood up, looking around.

"We need to move."

"General Hunt will-"

"Michael? You and Carter are in charge of Dotty."

The twins both nodded. They were scared but certain that their daddy wasn't going to let anything happen to them – or to Dotty.

"Make sure you stay right in front of us," Shawn ordered them as he and Ian hauled the technician up and supported him between them. The man gave a stifled groan, proving to them that the weapon used on him wasn't set to kill – a relief of sorts, but one that didn't mean much. "Follow Rodney."

"Yes," McKay said, looking over his shoulder and wishing he had something a little more comforting to say. He couldn't think of anything, though. All he could think of was that they needed to find a caller and warn Hunt that something was shooting at them – and then get the hell out of the way so the Marines could do their job. "This way."

He knew the base as well as any of them, and the corridor they were in was a lucky happenstance, because it wasn't that far from what he needed.

"There's a base alarm just down the hall," Shawn told him.

"I know," McKay told him, shortly. "Tell me you have a gun."

"Yeah, we take them to Best Buy all the time, Rodney," Ian said, using his free hand to push Michael gently in the back when the boy lagged a little as they walked. "The alert-"

"I know!"

Another loud crash came from the door behind them, and Dotty screamed and would have stopped if the twins hadn't kept hold of her and kept her moving by force alone. Not that they weren't scared, because both of them glanced over their shoulders, first at the door and then at Ian, who schooled his features immediately so they wouldn't see his concern.

"Any idea who – or what – it is?" McKay asked, stopping and slapping another panel, causing the door beside them to open – revealing another corridor. This one with an alarm on the wall only a few feet away – and more importantly a phone as well.

"Yeah."

Ian didn't elaborate and knew Shawn didn't need him to. McKay held his hand up to stop the kids, and poked his head into the door, afraid that someone was going to shoot at him as soon as he showed himself. When it didn't happen, he ushered the kids into the hallway, pushing them against the wall where a metal girder emerged at the doorway, giving them a small place to hide that gave protection on all sides but one. That one was protected by Ian and Shawn, who leaned the technician against the wall where he managed to stand there unaided while Ian reached for the phone and Shawn hit the alarm on the wall.

Immediately alarms went off all around them, lights dimming in the corridor they were in as well as others in the area. Ian grabbed the phone on the wall, while McKay jammed the door by them.

"This is Brooks. Seal the base."

McKay looked over at him, startled.

"What? No. We need-"

"They can't be allowed out of the mountain," Shawn interrupted as Ian started telling whoever was on the other end of the phone line what was going on.

"That means we don't get any help in here, either."

"We'll be fine." Cutting off any further conversation, Shawn turned to the kids. "You guys okay?"

They all looked up at him, scared, but they nodded. Before they could say anything, Ian hung up the phone and turned his attention to them as well.

"We need to get them out of here. They sealed the gate – the iris is still working, but the shield is down. And-"

"Now we know why," McKay interrupted. "This had to have been planned out. Whoever they are, they-"

"Ashrak," Shawn interrupted. "It's almost exactly like the last time."

Ian didn't reply to that, because Shawn wasn't really correct. The last time he'd been frightened because he hadn't known what was going on. Now he was an adult. With a lot more training and confidence in his abilities. He wasn't afraid for himself, but rather for the children who were looking to him and the others to keep them safe. And that made it a lot different than the last time.

"We need to move," Ian told them. "If they've been on the base since the shield went down they've had plenty of time to learn the area. Hunt will seal the gate room, and the majority of the Marines will need to protect the command center to stop any further incursion. We're going to head to the armory."

"Wait a minute," McKay said, holding up his hand. "Why not go to the command center? It's got to be safer… for the kids, I mean."

"Because if the objection is to take over the SGC, the first room they try to take will be the command center," Ian told him. "The armory is the most heavily fortified room aside from the gate room and the command center; it'll be the safest for the kids."

"And we'll be able to pickup some weapons," Shawn added.

"Right." Ian looked at the technician, who was starting to look a bit steadier. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go then."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"This is going to be great."

Jack smiled at his wife, glad to see that she was so excited about their upcoming visit. She'd been so busy lately that he'd thought he was going to have to pry her away from Washington to get her to come, but it hadn't been difficult at all.

"I can't believe he's already 30…"

"I know. Nothing makes you feel older than a child's birthday."

Suddenly Murray scrambled by, obviously carrying something in his mouth – a doll if the leg sticking out from the side was anything to judge by – and Nia right behind him screeching for him to stop and give Molly back.

Sam smiled.

"And nothing makes you younger than trying to keep up with them…"

Jack nodded his agreement, and pushed himself out of the fine leather chair he'd been sitting in for the flight. There was definitely something to be said for being the President, he had decided, when you could fly home to visit family in such luxury. However, Murray was his responsibility, and while any of the presidential aides would be willing to try to pry the doll from his jaws, Jack knew that he'd be able to get her back with minimal chew marks.

"I'll be right back."

"Take your time…"

Sam leaned back and closed her eyes, looking forward to some down time with a lot of little ones running around.