"What the hell is Guardian?" McKay asked, confused.

"What do you mean?" Ian replied, carefully looking out the door once more. "I told you about Guardian."

"No." Rodney looked annoyed – which he was. He hated not knowing everything there was to know, and he was pretty sure he'd never heard anything about anything named Guardian. "I'd have remembered the name, at least."

"It was pretty hush hush," Shawn said, standing guard at the door they'd just come through – although without a weapon there wasn't much he'd be able to do. "For obvious reasons. But I thought-"

"I told you about it, McKay," Ian interrupted, even though he didn't turn his attention from what he was doing. "I even invited you to come and work on it, but you were too busy working with Sheppard on integrating the ZPMs with the Gateship technology and told me to have fun."

McKay scowled, but didn't argue. Not when it came to Ian's memory.

"You still could have told me about it later," he grumbled. "What does it do?"

"Negates all invisible technology that the Ashrak – or any other race of infiltrators might try to use at the SGC. Sam and I decided we'd better take some action just in case we ever had another group of Ashrak try anything stupid." He looked over at the kids, making sure they were still tucked into their little space, and winked to try and erase the fear from their expressions. "Sam called it therapy."

"She would," Shawn said, shaking his head. "See anyone, yet?"

"No." Ian looked at the tech. "Who's base officer of the day?"

"Captain Mathews," the tech told him. "She's probably up with General Hunt by now."

"Or trapped like we are…" McKay grumbled.

"She'll have a weapon," Ian said. "OD is responsible for the armory security in the even of an attack, so she'll be making tracks this way as soon as she can be."

"We can't wait, Ian," Shawn replied. "They're after me, and they're going to come this way. We've got to get the kids safe."

"How do you know they're after you?" Rodney asked, frowning.

"Because they always have been."

"They're going to find themselves at the disadvantage with Guardian running," Ian told him. "Especially if they don't realize it right away. We'll give it-"

An explosion at the door behind them rocked them all a little, making all conversation stop immediately.

"Shit." Shawn pulled Dotty into his arms and hustled Carter and Michael away from the wall. "Is it clear?"

Ian took another quick look out the door and down the corridor that led to the armory. There wasn't anyone there. At least not then.

"McKay? We're going to break for the armory. The door will be sealed, so you're going to have to get it open as quickly as you can."

"Right."

Ian looked down at the boys, who were pressed right against him, now. With Dotty in her dad's arms, they didn't have any responsibility to keep them from being afraid, and they could see that Ian was nervous. Neither of them understood that he was afraid for them, not because of anything that might happen to him. All they could see was that he was hesitating.

"You guys stay right behind me, okay? Unless I tell you otherwise…"

They both nodded.

The New Yorker looked at the others.

"Ready?" When no one said anything, he led the way out the doorway, the sound of another explosion driving them into the hallway a little quicker than they might have gone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"This is amazing…"

"Yes, Sir."

The sergeant had settled himself in front of the main computer, and the Guardian program was fully engaged on the screen. It showed the entire base in the form of a multi-level map, with blue dots representing those personnel that the base computer recognized as having subcutaneous transmitters. Which meant any personnel that had ever gone on an off-world mission – military mainly. Those blue dots had an index, telling who each one represented. There were white dots as well, and these represented unknown personnel – or people without a transmitter.

"The red dots are our intruders?" Hunt asked.

"Right. Anyone that Guardian recognizes aren't fully human are brought up as red dots," the Sergeant told him. "We have seven left on the base." He gestured to the various spots, and Hunt nodded.

"Which one is Colonel Brooks?"

The sergeant gestured to the three blue dots and the four white ones that were all bunched together.

"They're almost at the armory – looks like they're being chased." He looked up at the general. "With no weapons and three little kids… they don't have a chance.

"Then I suggest you get them some help, Sergeant."

"Yes, sir."

He keyed his radio, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Hurry up, Rodney…"

"I'm going as fast as I can."

With his eyes locked on the corridor in front of them, Ian couldn't take even a moment to look over McKay's shoulder and see what he was doing. He knew if Rodney said he was doing his best then he was – and knew that his best was pretty much better than almost anyone else's.

"We-"

"Got it!"

Ian heard the door whoosh open behind him, just as he saw two Ashrak come around the corner. The Ashrak saw him as soon as he saw them, and despite his best efforts, their reflexes were faster than his.

"Go!"

Shawn had moved as soon as Rodney yelled, and managed to turn his body and get through the door with Dotty tucked firmly in his arms. The technician stumbled, tripping over Michael, who had been watching McKay, and knocked both of them to the ground. Ian pushed at Carter, trying to usher him into the room behind his brother when he heard the weapon fire and felt a crushing blow against his side that knocked him against Carter, slamming both of them to the floor. He heard his son yelp in pain, and then heard a dozen shots echoing throughout the corridor, so loudly that they had to be right beside him, but he hurt so bad all of the sudden that he couldn't seem to focus on anything just then.

"Come on!" He heard Rodney, but couldn't answer – couldn't even look up. Someone grabbed the back of his shirt and he felt himself moving, but everything went black before he could figure out what was happening.