CHAPTER 89

EPISODE………..INSIDERS

It had been several weeks since they came back from Atlantis. They hadn't been off world lately seeing as they were still waiting for the Odyssey to return, or were. She had entered orbit overnight and was currently re-supplying still. The higher ups wanted them to stay on Earth in case anything happened since the Odyssey was gone. They had a mission scheduled in the next couple of days. Mitchell was rather bored and wanted to go off world, but he couldn't. Daniel was happy to be able to work on various projects he was still trying to finish as was Sam. Teal'c went back and forth to seeing Ishta and helping Bra'tak during the hiatus. Seeing as it had been quiet lately and not many problems cropped up, Sam and Ford were even able to take an extra day off for two of the weeks that had went by. Sally loved having them home for her those days. Ford came in real early to get a few things done so he could have more time to go around the base, help others and such. Right now, they were in a meeting, except for Daniel who was off world, his parents had came back and also were off world helping him. Carter and Teal'c were seated on his right while Mitchell and Vala were on his left. Vala was sitting in the chair, laid back and her legs up in the chair with her. She was slowly turning the seat back and forth occasionally.

"Okay, so hear anything from the search parties that's new Mitchell?" Ford asked.

"Nothing new."

"The toxic atmosphere on Castina is slowing us down considerably." she said.

"And Sahal?"

"We've found several stone structures, but they appear to have been abandoned over 40,000 years ago."

"Nothing but old stone buildings?"

"Nothing. They are even making thorough checks to see if there is any hidden rooms or alcoves. And with some of the special senor equipment usually reserved for the ships."

"Great." Ford muttered rubbing his face with one hand. "That whole trip was almost a total waste. I take that back. Going so we could stop the Supergate was definitely worth it."

"Agreed. Getting rid of those two evils ships was a miraculous bonus." Mitchell stated.

"Yes. Wish we would have had some part of the ship to at least research but." he said trailing off. "Part of me wishes I was there with Daniel to talk to her. I actually think I would have made some difference and probably got more info out of her."

"How so?" Carter asked.

"Well, from what Daniel told me, almost all word for word. I thought of a question she could have probably answered. Simply, which planet did Merlin visit first? From there, we would have a good idea where to look first."

"But we haven't found anything yet." Mitchell stated.

"True, but Merlin liked to hide things. That's why Daniel is still in Camelot looking around for more information in that library."

"You heard from Daniel?" Vala asked with interest.

"Yeah. Few hours ago. Hasn't found anything, but he's looking. I told him I'd send you along to help, but he said he had things covered. Especially with his parents helping." he said seeing her pout. "Sorry."

"General Carter, you are needed in the Control Room." Walter's voice said over the speaker.

"Wonder why?" he said aloud as he and the other's got up. "The gate didn't activate."

He vaulted over the edge startling several people, including the team, as he landed on the first step of the stair below.

"What's up Walter?"

"We just received a heads up from NORAD."

"Why did you jump?" Carter asked as they walked up.

"Because I could."

"He's done it many times Colonel." Walter said bringing up the message. "An Al'kesh bomber just entered Earth's atmosphere four minutes ago. Its bearing indicates, Cheyenne Mountain. Two F-16's have been re-routed from Peterson to intercept. Patching us in now."

"Repeat, you have entered a flight restricted zone and are ordered to leave, please respond." the pilots voice said.

The bomber continued down with the two jets after it.

"Stargate Command, this is Bearcat One. The alien vessel is unresponsive. Should we engage?"

"If they were friendly, they wouldn't be flying silent." Mitchell said.

"Unless their communications were down." Carter said.

"That can't be the case. If it is Jaffa controlled, they know how we do things. Or at least the message has been passed along on our rules. This must be someone else. Bearcat One, this is General Carter, take out the engines only." Ford ordered as he grabbed the mike.

"Roger that."

"You want to know who it is." Carter said.

"That and I'd rather not have some large ship blow up and land in someone's back yard. Who knows what's on the ship anyway."

"Good point." Mitchell said nodding.

One of the F-16's came close firing off a missile from the edge of the wing. It hit the left back engine and struck the ship. No shields were up to deflect the damage.

"The alien vessel has been disabled. They are coming down hard." the pilot reported.

"I've got projected coordinates." Walter said.

"Bearcat One, continue flight over area and keep watch until a team arrives. Inform Landry we are heading out please."

"Understood General."

SG-1 got ready, with Vala going with. Ford ordered a few teams to go to the crash site ahead of them and keep watch. Medical went ahead as well in case it was a biological attack or someone inside was injured. They got up top and a airman tossed a set of keys to Mitchell.

"What are you doing?"

"Driving, I thought." he said holding them out for Ford.

"If you want to drive the GMC truck, go ahead." he said pulling out his keys.

"All right!" Vala said excitedly as she followed him.

Carter shrugged and followed. Mitchell tossed the keys back to the airman and followed along.

"Can I have shotgun?"

The look Carter gave was enough to know it was not happening. The airman notified the gate guards of the General Lee coming through very soon. He flew out of that tunnel. The guards and personal outside shook their heads as he roared down the road at least a dozen or more miles over the speed limit.

The ship was crash landed in a small open field. A lot of trees were around keeping it somewhat hidden. But the bomber was rather huge so a few miles out was being watched to make sure no one got too close. The different teams and other airmen were around the area when a lot of them looked up seeing a certain orange car drive up very fast. He turned the wheel putting the car into a slide. A few people got out of the way quickly as the car passed by a parked Hummer.

"Did you really have to do that?" Carter asked as they got out.

"Hell yeah! I don't get to do that often." Ford said getting out with a laugh.

"That was fun! I want to learn how to do that!" Vala exclaimed as she got out on his side.

"He's right Sam. That was fun. I do it, sometimes." Mitchell said as he got out on her side.

"Well, he's right that he can't do it often." she said as one of the men walked up. "I have to admit it is fun too. I just don't do it very often."

"The area within a two miles radius has been secured."

"Good job Major. Any idea when that can move again? Rather large and hard to hide."

"We hope to have the ship back in the air and hidden within a hour or so General."

"Good man. Let any one of us know if you need more personal or anything. How many flying that thing?"

"There was only one person flying her General. I'd tell you, but I think you'd rather see who it is than hear it from me." the Major said pointing at a medical truck.

Ford could see that the man was a little afraid but he wasn't sure if it was him he was afraid of or the pilot.

"Okay, you can go Major."

The man saluted and walked off quickly.

"What is his problem?" Mitchell asked as they walked up to the med truck.

"Not sure. He's either afraid of me or whoever the pilot is."

"Can't be a Prior, could it?" Vala asked.

"No…" Ford began when he felt a presence. "Must be a Tok'ra."

They rounded the open door and the medic turned to see who was standing there now. He quickly backed off and after giving them a nod, he walked a few feet away.

"Ah, at last. The welc…." Ba'al began saying as he held a gauge pad to his head.

Ford grabbed him by the lapel of his jacket that looked like a old faded brown suit from back in the late 1800's to early 1900's. With one hand he hauled him out of the back of the truck and slammed him against the open door. Ford has his gun out and in his face so quick that Ba'al was shocked at the speed.

"Wait General. I don't know what personal vendetta…." Mitchell began.

"I don't have a personal one."

"Okay, whatever it is. We should find out why he's here? You know?" Mitchell said placing his hand on the barrel.

"You better have a damned good reason or heaven help me you'll wish you never even heard of me. Major!"

"Yes General." he said running up.

"Has he been searched?"

"Yes, we did a scan for any energy signatures and did a pat down. He has nothing on him."

Ford pulled the barrel back, did a few twirls and put it away.

"I do have a good reason." he said straightening out his suit and acting like he was unfazed by the event. Though it was evident he was.

"Mitchell, find out what they have found in that thing and have anything they need, brought in, you know how. We are going back to the base. We'll see you there."

"Yes General." he said walking off.

"I'm going to have to sit in the back aren't I?" Carter said as Ford pulled Ba'al along.

"Yep. Sorry."

Ba'al didn't like the ride all that much seeing as he was not allowed to talk or touch anything. Ford threatened to tie him to the top if he did and he somehow knew that Ford was serious. The ride back was done very fast. Vala was actually wondering if Ford was going to flip the vehicle on a few turns, but all four wheels stayed on the pavement. Once back at base, Ba'al was placed in a observation room, wearing a gray prisoner outfit. Several armed men were outside the room and down the hallways. Monitors were keeping watch on him as he paced around the room. They were all currently in Sam's office, including Mitchell who showed up about ten minutes ago.

"I don't get it. We know that Ba'al has come to Earth before without being detected." Mitchell said looking at the screen.

"Indeed. Presumably by a cloaked cargo ship or by using Asguard beaming technology from high orbit." Teal'c said.

"Exactly, so why would he fly a Al'kesh directly to Stargate Command?" Mitchell asked.

"Maybe he heard about my new ability, gift or whatever you want to call it." Ford said as he glared at the screen. "On the bright side, we have a bomber. Needs some work though."

"He could have been trying to attack." Vala suggested.

"Ba'al isn't that stupid." Ford said. "Besides, he could have rammed that thing into the mountain and did little damage."

"I found something." Carter said from the table she was sitting at and looking at a computer monitor. "There's a signal coming from inside the interrogation room."

"What sort of signal?" Ford asked.

"Kinda like our locator beacons."

"No doubt he's expecting his people to beam him out at some point." Vala said.

"Not happening. I want extra inhibitors…" he said stopping to pick up the phone and make the order.

"I don't understand." Vala said.

"We had the gate stolen from us some time ago and after getting it back, along with many other's that Ba'al had stolen, we had transport jamming devices placed in the base so that sort of incident couldn't happen again." Carter said.

"Hello Colonels, General. Miss Doran." Landry said as he walked in.

"Sir." the two said.

"Problem General?" Ford asked.

"Other than a man I would rather not see here is in our base, he refuses to talk to anyone but SG-1. He'd rather you not be in there, but I told him not to hold his breath."

"Lucky us." Carter muttered.

"Better us than anyone else." Ford said looking at the screen again. "We'll go talk to him in a few minutes. Don't tell him we are coming."

"Good luck. By the way, if he does try anything and you have to, be aggressive. I'll understand." he said giving them a brief look before leaving.

"Did he just give us permission to torture Ba'al?" Vala asked.

"No." Ford said. "He just gave me a little leeway on how I can treat Ba'al if he tries anything. Let's go get this over with."

Ba'al was still pacing back and forth as the door opened.

"General Carter, Colonel Mitchell, Colonel Carter. Quetesh." he said as they walked in.

"It's Vala. She's not like you anymore. Sit down." Ford said pointing at the chair.

He held up his hands and sat as they stayed in front of the table. Sam started to sit down when Ford stopped her and pulled the chair back from the table. Then he let her sit. He wasn't allowing anyone within reaching distance of this man.

"We've been allowed to give you the time of day but that is about it." Mitchell said crossing his arms. "Why are you here?"

"I understand your reluctance to trust me so I'll be succinct."

"Be what?" Ford asked.

"He means brief, to the point." Mitchell said.

Ford nodded and then waved his hand at Ba'al to continue.

"Obviously you aren't as intelligent as I thought Mr. Carter. To the point, I am here about the clones. They want me dead."

"That would make all of us." Teal'c stated not looking at Ba'al.

"That was perfect Teal'c. Jack couldn't have said it better." Ford said.

He nodded with a smile and noticed the others also liked the expression.

"Let me guess, one or more of them decided to do something you didn't like or maybe, one of them came out with compassion. You couldn't stand having that emotion in one of your clones and had him killed. Or maybe that one convinced others to kill you because you tried to keep that emotion out of your self."

"No. You must understand what I did was out of necessity."

"No. No. There is no necessity for you. One of you is a blight on this universe." Ford said holding up a finger. "I don't care if you think that a million of you could take on the Ori and win. You can't. And as long as we are around, which includes this planet, you aren't going to even have a chance at trying to rebuild."

"Your plans to attempt to rebuild your empire have been thwarted, twice by us." Teal'c stated.

"Yes. And both times I had to hear about it. I was not there."

"I'm sorry, but I'm still out of what you call the loop. What plans did you stop of his?" Vala asked.

"The first one involved him stealing Stargate's to which we never found out truly why. Other than to apparently start a new empire on some new world which a little far fetched. The second one involved him trying to gain control of the Jaffa High Council. Tried to convince Teal'c to join him too." Ford said.

"To which he ultimately failed." Teal'c stated.

"We still don't know why your clones turned on you? So?" Carter asked.

"That's because there is probably a little more to his plans than he is letting on." Vala said. "I think I know what it is."

"Do tell." Mitchell said.

"I used to be a Goa'uld, reluctantly mind you, but I know how depraved they can be." she said looking at Carter and Ford. "This weapon on Dakara that Daniel told me about, it is in the hands of the Jaffa High Council is it not?"

"Yes. But it is not a weapon technically. It was originally used by the Ancients to seed all life in this galaxy." Carter said.

"It doesn't work though. We took the power source out, or I should say I did." Ford said.

"This weapon, if functional, could also destroy all life in the universe?" Vala asked.

"It could if the dialing program was used to make all the gates activate at once like we did when we destroyed the Replicators." Carter said.

"To which I helped…."

"You didn't help at all in that. You just passed on info that Nerus gave you. Rather ingenious really." Ford said reluctantly.

"Everything makes sense now. He wanted to use the Jaffa to gain control of the device. From there, he would be able to wipe out all life except his own little corner of course."

"If I recall right, that was Anubis's plan." Mitchell said.

"I didn't say it was original. But if I had succeeded, the Ori would have lost interest and been on their merry way." Ba'al said with a small chuckle.

"No. No, they would have stayed here, bringing more people along to build an empire here that the Ancients couldn't stop because they would have no one to protect. More than likely, they'd run to another galaxy or something."

"You don't think they would have fought back?" Mitchell asked.

"Like they are now?"

"Good point. Wait, I think I get it now. You weren't going to bring your clones along and they want revenge." Mitchell stated pointing at him.

"They served their purpose, what can I say? Their ego's were getting difficult to deal with."

"Well, they are your clones." Mitchell said.

"I don't understand. After all this, why would you come here for SG-1's help if they would rather see you dead?" Vala asked.

"Because I can help you." Ba'al said sitting back and crossing his arms.

"With what?" Teal'c asked.

"I can't even begin to think of what you might have that could helps us. Even if you had a dozen ZPM's, which would be nice, I don't think they would do much other than saving this planet and even then, that would only go so far." Ford stated.

"Yes, I have seen the somewhat serious lack of firepower you really have in the Antarctic site. You might be able to stop one Ori ship, maybe two."

They didn't bother to ask how he got the info, especially after he kept going.

"I can help you find Merlin's weapon."

Landry was up in the office when Walter knocked on the door. Seeing as the two of them were in charge of the base, Ford took more of his personal items out to let Landry put items he wanted. The TV and DVD player stayed. The personal computer with games he put back in his room. The toys and such went to the T.A.R.D.I.S. Landry had a few pictures put up and a few personal items on the shelves behind him. The refrigerator stayed. The Tommy gun also stayed.

"Chief?"

"Agent Barret is here to see you sir."

"Barret, what can I do for you?" he asked seeing the Agent walk in, in his black and white suit with pin stripe tie.

"I'm here for the prisoner sir." he said setting a briefcase on the edge of the desk as he opened it.

"Excuse me?" he asked with some surprise.

"Ba'al. I have an official request for him to be transferred to N.I.D. custody."

Landry picked up the paper he was handed laughing.

"Not going to happen Agent Barret. I've been able to talk to a lot of people since I started working here more. Especially to General Carter. I doubt a Presidential order would make him give up Ba'al. Can't say I blame him with some, things he showed me and some things I learned about General O'Neill."

"General…."

"Take it up with General Carter. He has jurisdiction in this matter."

"You outrank him General."

"Yes, but he has been given full authority over this place. Unless I am told from higher up to do something, he has the last word. Besides that, I feel safer with him here under our watch than outside the base."

"Anubis told me of the weapon and its power. He dedicated a considerable amount of his time to finding it on our plane of existence. But he never succeeded."

"But you have an address?" Carter asked as Vala sat on the edge of the table.

"Actually, you have the address."

"Yes. But we don't know which one and somehow, you do."

"Well, it's one of the planets that O'Neill learned about when he downloaded the Ancient repository on that planet, I believe you designated P3R-272."

"There are thousands of addresses on that list." Teal'c stated.

"You will never find it on your own. I however, have information that will help you narrow it down considerably. All I ask in return, is that you eliminate the clones."

"And we do that exactly how?" Mitchell asked.

"Sam figured it out."

"You mean that locator beacon she found General?"

"Yes. I implanted a locator chip in each one of them as they were created."

"And yet, you have one to? Why?" Carter asked.

"I had to implant one in myself in order to gain their trust."

Ford laughed.

"Your own clones couldn't trust you and probably not even each other on some level. That is just sad Ba'al. I almost pity you. Can't even trust yourself. Are you going to help us find them?"

"There is a tracking system on my Al'kesh you can use to locate them. They will never see it coming."

"Incredible story, really." Mitchell said not really believing it.

"I should point out that all my clones also know the location of Merlin's weapon and if one of them should be captured by the Ori, it won't take long for them to find out that the SGC computer has the location of the weapon capable of destroying them."

"The Priors would stop at nothing to have it in their grasp." Teal'c stated.

"Yes. Or course, it is all your decision. I leave it all in your very capable hands."

They all headed out and stopped as the door closed.

"I don't care if he is starving to death. I don't even give a damn if he suddenly is dying, you do not open this door for anything with consulting me first. Understand airmen?"

The men saluted and said yes General.

"General, I need to speak to you."

"Hey Barret." Carter said as he was walking up.

"Hey." he said giving her a slight nod before diverting all his attention on Ford. "We need to talk General."

"About? Wait, why are you here?" he asked crossing his arms.

"I am here to get the prisoner transferred into our custody." he said handing over a piece of paper.

The team and the airmen noticed a spark of anger enter his eyes as he looked over the paper and laughed darkly.

"If you could…."

"Open the door? No. If you want to talk to him, fine. Go ahead from the upper room. He's not leaving this place." he said digging into a pocket. "Where the hell did I put that thing? Ah, here we go."

Barret tried to grab the paper as Ford lit it afire. Once it was burning rather well, he let it go and Barret started to stamp it out. It became ashes quickly.

"I never saw a paper." Vala said.

"Nor did I." Carter said as they started walking off.

"Me either." Mitchell said looking at the guards before walking away.

A few hours later, they were in the briefing room. Same seating arrangement as earlier. This time though they had open folders in front of them. The large thin plasma screen came down as Lee clicked a button on a remote in his hand.

"We managed to activate the tracking system in the Al'kesh." he said standing just to the right of the screen. "And this, is what we got."

The screen showed info in small boxes on the left side. The rest of the screen showed a star map with several points popping up and little info boxes about those places showing up.

"Those are the Ba'als?" Mitchell asked.

"He's got a lot of them." Ford said without thinking.

Vala snorted and then Ford cracked up with her. Even Lee stifled a laugh.

"That's a little childish." Carter said with a hidden smile.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. Go on Lee."

"Anyway, we've worked up those files with the current locations, showing addresses and any available intel."

"Okay, what sort of trap are we looking at?" Mitchell asked as they turned back to the table to face each other.

"I don't think it would be as simple as an ambush." Carter said. "Not while we have him in custody. No Goa'uld would sacrifice himself like this."

"What do you think General?"

"That he has a hidden agenda. To which I can't figure out yet."

"I think we should go." Vala said.

"I agree. Can't hurt to at least look. We can send up a U.A.V. or something to check the area out first." Ford said.

"Some of this intel seems a bit sketchy." Carter said.

"I noticed."

"I'm familiar with this planet." Vala said pointing at Mitchell's open folder. "It used to belonged to Camulus."

"Can you get us in?" Mitchell asked.

"Absolutely." she said flashing him a wide smile.

"Our first stop then." Ford said turning back to the screen.

"What are you looking for?" Carter asked as he got up.

"A possible pattern."

"Pattern?" she asked walking up as Lee left the room.

"What sort of pattern would be in this?" Mitchell asked as he and the other two walked up to look.

"I don't know. My gut tells me that Ba'al has a hidden agenda and that it has something to do with his clones." he said looking over the dots.

"We can have K-9…." Carter began.

"Yeah maybe." he muttered as he started to smile.

"You're coming with us even though Ba'al is here?" Mitchell asked.

"What if that Ba'al is a clone sent to die like the one on Dakara and he's trying to get SG-1 off world to be killed? It would help his plans, whatever they are. Besides, if Ba'al tries anything, they have orders to shoot to kill. Besides that." he said with a small wave. "General Landry is here along with a friend."

"A friend?" Carter asked curious.

"Yeah. I'll show them to you soon." he said and then laughed lightly.

"What's so funny? You find a pattern or something?" she asked.

"No." he said still chuckling. "I'm thinking of all the things that Jack would say if he was here."

"Indeed." Teal'c said in understanding.

"Such as?" Mitchell asked.

"Oh, something along the lines of….." he said snapping his fingers.

"How about, so many Ba'als to kick, yet so little time." a voice said with a certain funny tone. "Or maybe, one Ba'al is one set to many."

Ford cracked up pretty hard as the other's turned to look toward the stairs.

"Sir." Carter exclaimed not bothering to hide her smile and small laugh at the jokes.

Mitchell quickly stood at attention even though he was chuckling. Teal'c was surprise to see Jack and it was evident to everyone, though he reeled in his surprise quickly. He was in full uniform, not SGC BDU'S.

"Relax Mitchell before you hurt something." Jack said waving as he walked up. "You can laugh if you want. It was a couple of jokes."

"Nice to see you again sir." he said shaking Jack's hand.

"T., how are you….ah!"

Teal'c gave him a bear hug that made bones crack. It lasted a moment with them hugging each other before he was set back down.

"Nice to see you to Teal'c."

"Indeed. I have missed your company brother."

"So have I Teal'c." he said as Teal'c nodded and let him past. "Hey Colonel."

"Sir." she said raising her hand. Ford pushed her and they ended up hugging.

"So, where's space monkey?" he asked looking around after they stopped.

"Camelot." they all said.

"This must be Vala." he said nodding at her.

"He's taken Vala." Ford warned.

"I know, but he is easy on the eyes." she said as Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I am against it, but why are you…." Carter began before turning to Ford. "This is that friend…."

"The only person I can trust to keep this place totally safe and to kill Ba'al without hesitation in case he tried anything while we are gone."

"Yes. You all get to go have fun." he said waving at the gate. "Do I have to do paperwork?"

"No." Ford said.

"Made cake?"

"Yep. Just for you."

"Sweet." he said then looked at the screen. "Man, I knew Ba'al was full of himself, but to make so many more of himself. Wasn't a mirror enough for him?"

Ford cracked up again as Jack knew he would and then Ford further fell apart as did Carter slightly as he started up again.

"Must be an inadequacy issue. Maybe he needed more of Ba'als around to deal with a size issue. Or maybe an issue of one seeing as his name is Ba'al, you know, singular."

After they all stopped laughing a few moments later, Ford sat down on the table.

"I know you all never got that joke that Teal'c told you all. About the meeting of those guards. I understood it."

"Indeed." Teal'c said nodding with a smile. "You laughed at many other jokes as well."

"You understood that?" Jack asked.

"It's an animal joke, in a sense. Teal'c once told me a, joke of sorts that I didn't get at first, but that was because it was more of a statement, in a sense. You know which one I mean Teal'c?"

"Indeed. Out of all the System Lord's, Ba'al has been the butt of many jokes. Correction, he has been the balls of many jokes."

They all had a good laugh at that one. After a few more laughs, they parted ways to head out. Jack went and said hi to Landry before going to stuff himself on cake and Jello. Before they left to get ready, Jack and Landry did ask if Ford was sure about bringing Vala.

"She's worked with Daniel."

"So have you."

"Yes Jack." Ford said grabbing the Tommy gun. "But she's going to be an active member here at the SGC assuming she stays like she says. And since Daniel isn't here, she might actually be more, behaved with us."

"Okay. So what is it like to be ordered around by a lower ranked officer?"

"Jack. That's a really stupid question."

"Why?"

"I live with Sam everyday, which I love doing." he said quickly. "I may be in charge here, but if she came in and said she ordered me to do something, as a wife order, I'd be up and out that door."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that. You never really could say no to her."

"Still can't."

Ford left and met the two guys in the armory. He set the gun aside as Mitchell and Teal'c were being given weapons and such. He put on the vest and then his coat, then slid the strap till the gun was behind him.

"Where's….."

"She's helping Vala."

"Ah." he said grabbing his hanky quickly.

"That explains that creepy feeling." Vala said jumping lightly into the room. "How do I look?"

"Turn around." Mitchell said. She did and he tugged on something. "You look great."

"Yeah, I like it." Ford said.

"Thanks. A little more enthusiasm next time would be nice." she said looking at Teal'c who was still strapping weapons to his leg.

When she took one of the PC-90's a airman was handing out, Mitchell took it from her quickly.

"What was that?" she asked as Mitchell gave the gun to Carter. She grabbed what she needed and followed Teal'c out. "This is my first real mission through the gate and I know the terrain."

"Right. You get this." he said pointing at the zat gun that the airman handed her.

"Ford?"

"I can't help you here Vala. He's team leader, not me. Airman, make sure she gets a knife."

"Why?" Mitchell asked.

"Because she can't bring her sword. So, a knife also works."

"Can't she use your sword?"

"Can't lift it." she said attaching the knife to the vest.

"Besides, I'd be using it."

"Let's go." Mitchell said walking out.

Jack was down eating and checking out the display case that Ford made sometime ago to the fallen people. So Landry was there to give them a send off and a good luck. They went through the gate to a nice sunny planet, lush with fertile trees and bushes. Vala showed them the way to the ring system that was buried under what looked like a straw of some sort. Way out behind them was a landed Goa'uld mothership, a few dozen miles away. Thankfully, no one was around that they saw.

"Here we are." Vala said pushing the straw away from the rings.

"Here what?" Mitchell asked.

"A ring transporter, hmm." Ford said looking.

"Yes, a sort of backdoor you could say." Vala said.

"From this location, it could be more on an escape route." Carter said looking between the ship and the rings. "But they don't do us much good if we can't activate them."

"We don't have the right equipment." Ford said. "The Sonic Screwdriver should be able to do it, but I still don't have all the settings down enough to try. I could end up making it explode."

"So, how are we going to get them to activate then?" Mitchell asked.

"Leave that to me." Vala said with a smile as she ran off.

"Wait, wait….oh man. Ran off already." Mitchell muttered stopping after a few steps.

"Let's give her a chance."

"No offense, but why do you give her, leeway and such?" Carter asked.

"Other than Daniel, she's told me most of her life story. And I can usually tell when someone is lying."

"And she told you this stuff when?" Mitchell asked.

"During sword training. She's actually rather good."

"Better than you?" he asked and after getting a look. "Right, stupid question."

Vala was running around quietly and hid behind a large stump as three Jaffa's on patrol walked by. She stood up with her zat ready as she sat on the stump. A quick short whistle got their attention and she shot the last guy before running off and the other two following. The team was watching and waiting when they heard staff weapons firing.

"She's got someone's attention. You all get down behind the brush." Ford said setting his gun inside a large bush. "Less gun fire from us, the less anyone hears."

"Good idea." Mitchell said as they hid.

Vala came running up and stood in the middle of the ring.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Mitchell hissed.

"I alerted the Jaffa patrol to our presence. They will call ahead and ask for reinforcements."

The group looked at each other, though Ford was standing with his back to a tree and a astonished look on his face.

"Nice idea Vala. I'm impressed." Ford said.

"What idea? They send more Jaffa to come find us." Mitchell said.

"Where do you think the reinforcements will come from?" Vala asked.

"Everyone up." Mitchell said quickly as they all did so and got in the rings.

Ford almost forgot his gun. Once back inside the ring, it instantly came up around them and when it came back down, a small group of Jaffa were there looking around at ready. They took off quickly. In the ship, they ringed up and thankfully found no one in the ring room. After a quick check to see if they might have been seen, they slowly took off. It wasn't long and very few patrols and they were just outside the bridge.

Mitchell began making hand signals when Ford cut him off.

"You want to go in guns blazing General?" he whispered.

"No. I just want to walk in and see the look on his face. He already knows he can't kill me. Something I want to try."

"And if they start shooting you?" Carter asked quietly.

"I'm a distraction for you to come in. Maybe Ba'al will come running out and then you have him."

"Alright. Give it a try." Mitchell said after hearing the short plan.

Ba'al and several Jaffa were just there, doing nothing. Ba'al was looking at the large screen as information came across it. The Jaffa didn't move, just stood quietly. The team was a little surprised when Ford suddenly vanished, even though he told them the plan. Ford slowly walked up and put his blade to Ba'al's neck. Ba'al felt something and when he started to reach for it, he stopped as Ford appeared just to his right.

"Ah, ah, ah." he said wagging a finger as the Jaffa turned around aiming their weapons. "Now, now, you wouldn't want me to take his head off would you? Despite the fact I'm sorely tempted."

Ba'al had them lowered their weapons.

"I know why you are here." Ba'al said.

"Oh really. Please enlighten me, but before you do, have them drop their weapons, or else." he said swinging the Tommy gun around toward them with his free hand. "I have 250 rounds in here. More than enough to take out everyone on this ship."

They dropped their weapons as Ford whistled. SG-1 came in a shot them all with zats as they went for their weapons. Ford muttered something about idiots as the last Jaffa fell.

"Okay Ba'al, let's all hear your story. I'm quite sure it will be the same as the other Ba'al."

"You're here because my imposter…."

"Oh please." Ford muttered and then sarcastically asked. "You're saying you are the real Ba'al?"

"Yes. I'm know where Merlin's weapon is. I never shared the information with any of my clones."

"I believe that as far as…..I don't believe it. That Ba'al that showed up on Earth is more believable to be the real thing."

"What makes you think that?" Mitchell asked as they kept their weapons ready while Ford kept his sword at Ba'al's neck.

"I'm going to get it for this but seriously, that Ba'al had more balls to come to us for help." he said hearing them groan. Vala snorted. "He came knowing there was a good chance of being destroyed before he could even get into our atmosphere. In which case we wouldn't be here. If you were the real thing, then you must be really believing that you're a true god. Only a complete idiot would have such lax security. We could have taken several key systems parts and gotten away easily. There's barely any protection around here."

"He has a point. We only came across three patrols, and there was barely any Jaffa in each group. I include the group that Vala pissed off." Carter said.

"Yeah. The lack of Jaffa here is strange. Back when I was still a host, this low amount of Jaffa usually meant the Goa'uld in charge was close to being overtaken by another Goa'uld, or was a minor subservient annoyance of another more powerful Goa'uld." Vala said.

"Just in case you have a ambush prepared or something, I'd rather you not have some sort of code word or gesture ready to be made." Ford said putting his sword away.

"I have no ambush or attack plan made ready." he said sternly. "I am unfortunately lacking in security personal as you noticed. Getting good help is hard when you people have taken the slaves away."

The smile on his face made Teal'c almost shoot him. A left hook from Ford laid him out cold.

"Easier to carry him than have him try anything. Sorry Teal'c. I know you'd rather have done it."

"Indeed."

"If he wakes up and causes any trouble, then you can punch him."

"I look forward to it."

They avoided the other patrols with ease and even left a note saying that the Jaffa should go back home to Dakara for help seeing as Ba'al left and was not coming back. That Ba'al awoke sometime later, after the infirmary check to find himself in a small room. Despite some protest, he changed into the gray prisoner outfit like his counterpart and then Ford roughly pushed him into the room with his other self. Only a few people had asked why, despite the fact that Ba'al was the bad guy, why he was getting such bad treatment. SG-1 didn't learn about these few questions till later, but other personal just gave those people who did ask a brief history lesson on what Ba'al did to General O'Neill at one time. For a lot of people, they were surprised that Ford wasn't in there killing or at least torturing Ba'al. He mentioned a few times how much he wanted to do so because of that incident. Ford was surprised when he came back to find that Jack didn't go after Ba'al. Even told Jack that. Jack shrugged and said he thought about it. At the moment, the group was up in the observation room looking down at the two Ba'al's as they seemed to be sizing each other up. Or something close to it. They looked ready to try and kill each other.

"What are we going to do if they go at it? Not that it wouldn't be a cool thing to see a couple of Ba'als kick each other's…um, ass." Jack asked.

"I told the guards to ignore everything that goes on in there. If they kill each other, I don't care. We can replace those Ba'als. Just have to go pick up a few more on other planets."

Sam shook her head lightly as Jack laughed in agreement. Vala thought it was funny.

"Plenty more Ba'als from where these two Ba'als came from." Jack said making Ford crack up.

"You two are never going to grow up are you?" Carter asked.

"Where's the fun in that?" Jack asked. "I grew up and got bad knees. Ford fixed them, so I'm enjoying the lime light again."

"And your excuse General?" Mitchell asked.

With the straightest face possible Ford said something that got him strange looks, amongst other things.

"I'm a Toy's R Us kid."

Only after Teal'c said he didn't understand did Ford crack up. So did Jack. Mitchell ended up explaining it.

"Hmmm. I now understand his fascination with toys."

"Joking aside Generals." Carter said seriously. "What is next on our agenda? How do we find out who's who?"

"You're the scientist here Carter. What do you think?" Jack asked.

"We've done blood test already. Both test came out the same."

"I'll have Lee and a few other scientist try a variety of things. Get K-9 to help them. For now, I want SG-1 keeping watch and such." Ford said.

They agreed as the Ba'als began circling each other.

"You two want to kill each other…" Ford said through the mike as one of them threw a punch. "Go ahead. We can always replace you both."

The other threw a punch and they both stopped.

"Hmm. I was looking forward to seeing them fight. Score is one for one." Jack said as they left.

Later that night, Sam was checking with one of the scientist that had done more extensive research into the two Ba'als blood work. Ford and Jack were talking a lot and eating. Landry joined them a couple of times to talk business about the base. Daniel was still off world though he did call for more coffee to be brought. Vala was an unknown, but somewhere on the base as was Teal'c. Sam was looking at one of the computer monitors that showed blood results as it was being explained to her.

"I wish I had better news." the curly dark haired lady said.

"So there is no way to tell them apart?"

"We generated distinct DNA profiles from all four samples using a number of analysis techniques…"

"Four?"

"We did the host and the Goa'uld separately."

"Oh right."

"We did the test five times and each time the test results were uncanny. There was a perfect match with all thirteen specific DNA markers. The last time I saw these sort of results, it was with your husbands clone. And we knew which one was the real one then. Either these clones are genetically indistinguishable from the real Ba'al, or…."

"Or we have two clones on our hands and the real Ba'al is still out there. Thanks."

A little bit of searching the base she found Ford looking at some book in Daniel's office.

"The test results didn't show any difference between the two. Either they are both clones or the cloning he's done is….." she said unsure. "I don't know, somewhere along the lines of like yours is."

"I had K-9 check that idea out. He can't find anything different about them at all. Other than some differences in brain patterns, which he confirms to be from different information gained. Both of them in two different places and such. The only other difference was the fact I roughed them both up differently."

"Mitchell told me that we have another mission tomorrow to grab another Ba'al. Well, he said possibly grab another couple of Ba'als." she said as Ford chuckled. "Now you got him doing it too."

"Come on Sam, the guy has a name that closely resembles certain body parts. If he had went to school on this planet, he'd be laughed at and picked on so much that he'd probably be in therapy the rest of his life."

"Or turn into a homicidal maniac."

"Yeah, there's that. Depends on our first trip. If things work out, we go get another one."

The next day, they took off to another planet. It was a rather thick forest they were all in. Very thick. But the trees were all very thin. Kinda made it very difficult to not make noise. It wasn't very long after they had started off through the trees that a Jaffa patrol found them. They still hadn't gotten any idea of where to go or if there was a ship nearby seeing as the U.A.V didn't see anything other than the patrols. They got down near each other firing all one direction.

"So much for not encountering resistance." Mitchell said firing off another burst.

"I guess some Ba'als are bigger than other's." Vala said firing her zat gun.

"Either those Jaffa we left a note came to this Ba'al or they left him a message." Ford said waving a hand at them. They saw the grenade and got down as he tossed it. after the explosion, they didn't hear anything.

"Let's ask him if we find him. I just realized another problem. If he has a ship, we're screwed. We've got to find a way around." Mitchell said.

"I'll go." Carter said getting up.

"I'll come with you." Vala said walking away.

As the two left, Ford got looked at.

"What?"

"Aren't you going?" Mitchell asked.

"And get yelled at because I had to play the manly roll of protect the weak female? I don't think so." he said shaking his head. "I heard Sam's implied tone."

"And yet, I would bet you are going to go anyway." Teal'c said.

"I'm giving them a few moments."

"What about Vala and the fact she can feel you? And you sneeze…."

"I can cover it. You two got this?"

"I don't see or hear anything. Go ahead. We'll check things out ahead here and call if we have trouble."

Sam and Vala ran through the trees, going back rather far before turning. They got into a less thick area of trees and stopped. Sam looked back and didn't see anything other than Vala walking up to her. She turned back around and then looked to left with a smile.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Vala looked and smiled as she walked over and picked up a rock. Off to Carter's left, exiting the forest was a large open field that had better and more lively trees surrounding it. Vala tossed the rock and it bounced off a cloaked ship.

"You know, I'm surprised that Ford didn't follow us." Vala said after Sam told her the plan.

"I didn't want him too. Well, not really anyway. I'm actually seeing if he will follow."

"I don't feel him if you're wondering that."

"Kinda surprised that he didn't follow." she said looking around.

"Implied tone to stay?"

"Yes. But I didn't think he'd actually listen."

Ba'al and a couple of his guards were walking down a path. As they were getting close to the turn point to head to the cloaked ship, Sam and Vala walked out slowly. They both stunned the two Jaffa and when Ba'al turned around bringing up his hand, Vala stunned him. Carter walked over quickly and removed the hand device before he could try anything.

"We did it." Vala said pulling out tie straps. "That's what I call girl power."

"We did a good job. And without any men to help. What do you think of that Ba'al?" she said with a smirk as Vala tied his hands and feet together.

Another group of Jaffa started firing at them a bit after they started looking around. Mitchell and Teal'c both took them out and slowly walked up to find a foxhole. And Ba'al was in it.

"Hold your fire. I'm the real Ba'al." he said lying on the ground holding a injured arm.

"Yeah, right. I've heard that a few times now. Sam, this is Mitchell. We've got Ba'al."

"Yeah, so do we."

"General ever catch up with you?"

"He came after us?" she asked surprised. "I thought he stayed behind with you."

"Yeah. A bit after you left he followed. I told him to go ahead." Mitchell said as Teal'c was tying up Ba'al.

"He's not here and Vala doesn't….wait I think I know where he is now." she said looking at the ship as it uncloaked.

The side door opened and he walked out holding a bag, which he set on the ground.

"Find anything interesting?" she asked as he was putting his hanky away.

"Oh, some crystals mostly. A few Jaffa grenades." he said walking back in and kicking a large crate out. "More importantly, a several bricks of weapons grade Naquada. And several no refined bricks too."

"Nice find." she said impressed.

"We can't take the ship, but that doesn't mean we can take the crystals. By the way, nice job you and Vala did."

"You saw that? How did you make it so she didn't…."

"I stayed just out of range." he said picking up the bag and crate. "Well, a little further than that actually. Then I noticed the ship, after that rock toss. You two knew what you were doing and I decided to, well…"

"Any data crystals?"

"A few."

Walter was waiting at the end of the ramp as they came through. Ford pushed the crate through and set the bag on top letting it slide down the ramp. Carter and Mitchell came next followed by the two Ba'als and then Teal'c and Vala. The outfits they were wearing were different and really weird.

"Walter. Have something for me?" Ford asked.

"Yes, SG-12 have just brought in two more Ba'als."

"You just couldn't make a subservient version of yourself huh?" Ford asked looking at the Ba'als briefly.

"You said they got two? Damn." Mitchell said.

"Yes sir. Your team is tied with them." Walter said.

"You're betting on who gets the most Ba'als?" Ford asked, once again without thinking first.

Vala cracked up as did Walter. Carter shook her head muttered something about betting, competition and people needing to grow up as she left.

"Hey! This place has been betting on things since the Stargate program started." Mitchell said following her out.

"Walter."

"Yes General?" he asked with a worried tone.

"You're the man that deals with all the bets, so why am I hearing about this one now?"

"Um…" he said nervously.

"I thought I told you, any bets not dealing with me and Sam, I want in on."

"You must have meant to tell me or thought you already had General."

"I guess I have been busy. So, what are the stakes? Time, money…food?" he asked as Walter pulled out a small notebook.

Sometime later, Ford was heading toward the elevator. All the Ba'als they had captured, all underwent a medical check. Some decided to be less than cooperative, which got them zatted and if that failed, a good punch in the face from Teal'c. Lam wasn't that thrilled with seeing her patient's injured, but it was better than having said patient killing her or someone else. After the check, they had to change into the gray outfits and were all placed in the same room. Ford ordered it to make sure that it was easier to know where they all were. They were all also placed in a different observation room that was as close to a bathroom as possible. So far, no attempts to escape, but a few fights between the Ba'als had erupted.

"General.."

"Yes Barret. What do you want?" he asked turning around.

"I hear you have a couple of extra Ba'als."

Ford couldn't help but crack up. A couple of airmen nearby heard it and also laughed as they kept walking.

"I'm going to be hurting at this rate. Funny Barret. The answer is no. You can't have any of them." he said entering the elevator. "Or a dead one if one ends up that way. We still don't know just how much alien technology the whole N.I.D. has, which might be a sarcophagus. Not that I would mind if you had one to use on him after you all tortured him to death. Still no."

"That's too bad." he said also entering.

"Landry said something about you complaining to your superiors."

"Yes. They are really unhappy with you General."

"I make a lot of people unhappy with me. Outside this place anyway. Sadly, I have more enemies than friends. Half the hill wants me dead, or something like that, but. I've talked to the President and he totally agrees with me. Ba'al is dangerous and better off under our supervision."

"Seeing as I can't take one of them with me, can I stay on and watch the interrogations?"

"I told you, you could interrogate the man, or mans from the window."

"Tried that." he said as they got off on another floor. "They won't talk."

"No surprise there. If you want to watch, go ahead though."

Barret followed him into the briefing room to find SG-1 in there with the large monitor down.

"I guess from the sounds of the alarm earlier that….um, which team was it?" he muttered looking up. "One of the teen numbers."

"SG-14." Carter said. "They returned with two more….of them."

He smiled noticing she deliberately avoided the name.

"That's all of them that we could find with the tracking devices then?"

"Yep."

"Hmm. They don't look happy. Oh well." Ford said shrugging.

"Wow, you all have your work cut out for ya huh?" Barret said looking at the screen. "How many is there?"

"20. Personally, I could handle one of myself. Beyond that…" Ford said.

"You already handle one of yourself General." Mitchell said.

"Where's General O'Neill?" Barret asked. "I thought he was here."

"He left about an hour ago." Carter said. "He was only here to help us while Ford was off world."

"You refer to him by name here instead of rank?" Barret asked.

"I've tried to get other's to do it, but its military training. She knew me before I was re-enlisted so…." Ford said shrugging.

"What's the plan then?" Barret asked.

"It's late so we'll let them sit there all night and interrogate them in the morning. You can stay here in one of the guest rooms. I'll have Walter get you a room Barret."

It was the next morning and Daniel was still off world, parents included. All of SG-1 stayed at the base, just in case anything happened. Sally wasn't thrilled with the idea, but they promised to do extra things with her on the weekend.

"And just how might you be able to help me?" one of the Ba'als asked.

One of them was picked at random and put into another observation room to be questioned. Mitchell and a few guards were in another room interrogating another Ba'al which Teal'c was doing as well.

"Well, we can spare your life for one thing." Carter said sitting just away from the table as Ford leaned against the wall behind her. "You help us find Merlin's weapon, and I promise, we won't kill you."

"Oh really?" he said looking at Ford.

"Seriously. We won't." he said.

"I see. So I help you get this weapon and I go to a basement inside one of your appalling penal facilities."

"Nope. You'd just end up taking the place over eventually or escaping. We'll put you on a planet, with a Stargate. From there, you're fair game again." Ford said. "But this deal only works for whichever Ba'al gives us the info. The other's, they die. There's a betting pool on how they should die. Very few of the suggestions, don't involve pain."

"You see, here's what I'm thinking." Mitchell said sitting across from another Ba'al. "You're not the real Ba'al. I mean, you haven't even tried to cut a deal. Which makes me think that you have no idea how to find the weapon, therefore, you are just another clone."

"I am the real Ba'al. I assure you." he said laughing darkly.

"No, no. Now think about this. How did we meet? Do you think the real Ba'al would allow himself to be captured like that? Cowering in the bushes like a scared little bunny rabbit."

Ba'al looked at him and made his eyes glow.

"That's better. But I am still not buying it."

"You are trying to goad me into revealing information." he said sitting back.

"No. I'm just calling it like I see it. And right now, you don't like somebody who could intimidate a ten year old child out of his lunch money, much less run and interstellar empire."

The Goa'uld voice came into play as Ba'al leaned on the table. And anger was really laced into it.

"Why don't you have the guard excuse us for a moment and I'll show you just what I'm capable of."

"Now I know that you are not the real Ba'al." he said leaning over the table as their faces got close. "The real Ba'al wouldn't care about the guard."

Sam wasn't getting anywhere and so she left. Ford took the Ba'al back and roughly shoved him into the room with the other's.

"Okay, take a vote or whatever between yourselves. I'm the next interrogator. So choose which one of you wants to die. You have two minutes and then I pick. Another way to look at it is you get to fight back."

He ended up having to pick, which ended up being the guy Sam talked to. He took the slightly struggling Ba'al to one of the bomb rooms. There was no glass, just cameras and lights. The camera was rerouted, with K-9's help to make sure it was recorded onto a tape in another room. No one was going to be seeing it, at least not yet. A few guards waited down the hall just in case. Ford left his weapons and coat in one of the bomb labs. A guard was keeping watch over those. He left his watch as well. Ba'als restraints on his hands were removed and Ford pushed him into the room.

"I want the tape after I get done. No one is to see it airman."

"Yes General."

"So, the infamous General, or should I call you Ford Carter, wants to talk to me alone?" he said sitting on the table. There was no chairs in the room.

"You can talk if you like. This is one of the sound proof rooms." Ford said rolling up his sleeves. "Unfortunately, Jack hasn't aged as gracefully as he wished. If he was really up to it, he could probably take you out in hand to hand combat. Blind rage attack that is. I saw, literally, what you did to Jack all those years ago, with the knives and acid as you tried to find out information about a Tok'ra that was in him. You remember? You tortured him pretty badly. Made him stay stuck to a wall that was trying to suck him into space if I'm correct."

Ba'al was sitting with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Though it went away quickly.

"There's no way you could have seen that. You weren't even in this universe then."

"Ah. So you've finally noticed where I came from. Don't matter. Point is, I know and saw what you did. And Jack has always wanted a little pay back, and so have I." he said cracking his knuckles. "There's nineteen other Ba'als we can talk to, so one less is fine with me. Besides that, I need to work off some frustration. And as much as I kinda hate to say it, I do get a pretty good kick out of beating the hell out of people I hate. Even better if I can kill them."

"You're bluffing."

"No one is in here and no one is watching. Except K-9. And barely anyone knows I'm here with you. So you can either talk, or defend yourself if you wish. I really don't give a damn right now."

Ba'al still thought he was bluffing until he was knocked over the table with a seriously hard backhand. Ba'al started screaming seconds later.

Ford did give her permission and she was being watched just in case anything happened. Not that Ba'al could do much other than kill her, but not permanently. So Vala was allowed to question one of them. She entered the room as Ba'al was pacing around the table. She smiled and gave the guard a gesture. He heard she was coming and went outside.

"So." she said as she walked past him. "Having a tough day are we?"

"What do you want Quetesh?" he asked impatiently.

"Is that a way to greet a old friend?" she asked as she continued walking around the table he sat on.

"Is that what we were?" he asked with the same angry tone.

"I admit, we had our differences."

"You attacked my fleet at Selenis, crippled my flagship and killed ten thousand of my best Jaffa."

"So I did." she said looking him in the face as she walked in front of him. "But it was nothing personal. Anyway, that is all in the past. I'm here to talk about our future."

"Our future?" he asked with a small chuckle as he stood up.

"You must admit there has always been something between us, even when we wanted to kill each other." she said walking closer. "There was always a certain, spark."

"Perhaps." he said eyeing her. "But you have made your new allegiance clear."

"Have I?" she asked looking briefly at the glass window behind Ba'al. She then whispered very quietly. "Or have I just been waiting for the right opportunity?"

He stepped to the right looking at her curiously.

"What sort of opportunity?"

"You know how to find the address. I have access to the database."

He looked up at the empty room above then back at her.

"You would betray your Tauri friends?"

"Friends, come and go. Besides, what use are they going to be to me when they are on their knees before the army of the Ori? You tell me what you know, I'll find the location of Merlin's weapon and we will make our escape. And then we will be free to share in the pleasure of each other's company." she said with a certain smile.

"An excellent plan."

"Hmm."

"But why wait?" he said shoving the plate of food that was on the table off. "Merlin's weapon isn't going anywhere. We have nothing but time."

"What, here?" she asked as he pushed her onto the table. "On this rather uncomfortable table?"

"Why not?" he said caressing her face.

"Well, the security camera's for starters. There is no way they'd trust me after seeing something like this. Ford would probably take my head off."

"You could tell him it was part of your interrogation technique." he said briefly looking at the camera.

"Oh come on, be serious." she said knocking his hand away.

He shoved her back and she smacked his face. Then he grabbed her throat.

"I am being serious." he said now caressing her face again. "Aren't you?"

He walked away as she stayed sitting on the table.

"Your time amongst the Tauri is making you soft. You used to be a much better liar."

Landry and Barret were watching the exchange on one of the screens that was set up to watch the different Ba'als as they were talked to.

"Don't say it." Landry said walking to the desk.

"Your people aren't getting anywhere General. Need I remind you that General Carter killed one of them. Brutally from what I understand. Whether he got any info hasn't been confirmed. What is there stopping him from killing them all before we learn anything?"

"His team. Me and the higher ups. One less Ba'al isn't really a big thing." Landry said as he sat down. "General Carter gave you a chance and we saw he wasn't talking. None of them would."

"I'm not allowed to speak face to face with him. I have to do it from the upper room. Me and my people were training in interrogation. They could be here tomorrow and we'd have our answers."

"Doubtful. Look Agent Barret, you're talking to the wrong General. Until I am told by my superiors that they want me to take over or try something else, General Carter and SG-1 are in charge of this. And I trust them. You and the rest of the N.I.D. will just have to wait like the rest of us."

Barret muttered something and walked out.

"Putz."

Carter was in the mess hall drinking a cup of coffee. She wasn't really hungry despite the food Ford had made earlier. Not many people were really into eating much. They ate, but it was out of necessity. A lot of people were nervous because of the amount of Ba'als on the base and the fact they were still alive. Many people believed them to be a serious security risk. There was a lot of people who wanted to see them dead for the stuff Ba'al did to Jack those years ago. Ford agreed, but procedures had to followed. She was thinking as Barret came up with a cup of his own coffee and sat across from her.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Well, since you're already seated, why not."

"Thanks. So, how are the interrogations coming?"

"You really have to ask?" she said with a small smile. "Personally, they are tiring. But you've been monitoring them. I can tell you think we are wasting our time. Ford and Landry have both stated you've asked to have your people come in and interrogate him, or them. Whatever."

"No, not completely to the first part. Last part is true. Look, you guys are all out there fighting the war, right? We're fighting it down here. Believe me, it's a war. Do you remember two years ago when the Goa'uld almost took over the Russian government? Do you want to see that again?"

"No." she said shaking her head. "Of course not."

"Then help me. Get General Carter to allow me to talk to one of them in person or at least take one to one of our facilities."

"Malcom, it's not like we are going to keep the Ba'als here forever. We can't. Moral is kinda on edge right now as it is. As for talking to Ford, I agree with him. Ba'al is too dangerous for certain people to be around much less be let off the base. Just give us a few more days…."

"A few more days." he muttered with a slightly angry tone as he looked away. "No, this is way too important!"

Everyone including her was shocked when he yelled and slammed his hand on the table.

"Are you…uh oh."

He started turning around when he was hauled out of his chair rather roughly.

"I don't like other's yelling at my people, especially her. Doesn't matter where they come from. If the President himself was here yelling at one of my people, I'd stop him as well and ask what the reason was. You want to work out frustrations, go to the gym." he said very forcefully.

Barret opened his mouth, looked around and then stormed off.

"That was really strange." she said getting up.

"His superiors are pressuring him to get me to give one of them up. I can't figure out why he wants to talk to Ba'al face to face, alone. Kinda bothered me when Vala asked to do it alone, but I let her. She was being watched just in case."

"You get anything from the Ba'al you killed?" she asked.

"No. Either he and the rest are all lying about the location or they do know and are willing to die to keep it quiet. I really can't tell. You okay?"

"A little startled, but otherwise, just fine."

"You eat yet?"

"Not really hungry."

"Me either. Don't even have a chocolate fix lately." he said as they left.

Barret was tired of being run around and went to one of the rooms where a single Ba'al was being kept. More interrogations were planned for later so that Ba'al and a couple other's were in separate rooms. There was one guard outside at the moment.

"I need to see the prisoner."

"Not happening sir."

"Now." he said flashing his badge. "I don't care what General Carter says or thinks. I'm going in there to interrogate him. If Ba'al kills me, you can tell the General I waved my right to live or whatever."

The guard considered it. Ironically, he was just posted to this facility almost a week ago, so he along with more than a dozen or so other men and women were still learning the ropes of the place. And the rules. He figured if the guy was waving his life, what could it hurt. A camera was pointed at the door recording everything said and seen, so. He fished out the card and slid it through the slot. Barret walked in finding Ba'al sitting against the wall.

Vala was having a sort of, arm wresting contest with Teal'c. Teal'c was seated in the chair to the right of the one whoever was in command. His arm was in the air, resting on the table. She was sitting in the chair by his, using both hands to try and pull it back. And she was failing miserably. Mitchell was sitting across from Teal'c holding a folder as Landry came in.

"Can anyone give me some good news?"

"Sorry sir. We still haven't found out anything useful." Mitchell said.

"I didn't even make it to first base." Vala said after backing off when Landry came in.

"Where are the other two?"

"From what I understand, she was just finishing up, but I doubt she has anything either. I'm guessing from what I heard that General Carter got nothing despite killing one of them?"

"No. Though that Ba'al did try and fight back. I didn't get to see the tape, but he did show it to the other Ba'als. Couldn't tell if it had any effect on them though."

"Unfortunately we are running out of time. The N.I.D. are hounding the President and me to give up the prisoners. He'll only be able to hold out for so long before they find some way to make the President order us to give them up."

"Hounding you sir?"

"Your beloved commander refuses to listen to them. He's hung up on them more than once, to which I have been on the receiving end of their anger."

"I think they decided to try a new tactic." Mitchell said worried as he looked at one of the monitors for a room that one of the single Ba'als was in.

"What?" Landry said turning.

Barret was talking to one of the Ba'als, alone.

"I doubt that General Carter gave authorization for that. I wouldn't." Landry said as Barret and Ba'al started fighting. Ba'al took him out rather easily and took the gun that Barret had in his jacket. "Walter!"

Ford and Carter were walking down one of the hallways when they heard gun fire. A few of the guards that Ford had stationed on this level were standing guard as they walked past.

"I need your radio airman." she said holding out her hand as Ford pulled his gun. "This is Colonel Carter. We've heard gunfire. We need backup, Corridor 16, level B."

"Is General Carter with you?"

"Yes." she said.

Ba'al, who had taken out the guard outside, used the card to open another door and let another Ba'al out. That Ba'al picked up the gun from the guard that was taken out near that door. Landry was watching it unfold on the screens.

"We're losing containment." Mitchell said.

"This is General Landry. I need a full security lockdown of levels 15 through 17, now." he said after grabbing a phone. Seconds later, the alarms went off.

"And there goes the feed. We're blind." Mitchell said as the screens shut off.

"Go." Landry said pointing past the office.

The slowly came around the corner, with two guards finding a guard on the ground and Barret down as well. The two guards went in with her as Ford watched from the doorway.

"Barret?" she asked.

"Oh, he got away. He took my gun." he grunted out in pain.

"You had your gun on you?" Ford said angry. "I told the guards to take it away."

"Sorry General, this one didn't make it." one of the guards said.

"Damn. We'll inform his family later." he said as Carter helped Barret to his feet.

They took off around the corner while Barret was rubbing his neck. Ford had both weapons out and in front of him.

"Going some…."

Ford heard it was Ba'als voice behind them. Ba'al never got to finish what he was saying though. Sam moved out of his line of fire standing behind him as the guards got down. The Ba'al that was trying to talk ducked and rolled away as the wall exploded into shards as bullets ripped into it.

"Your other side!" Carter exclaimed firing the opposite direction.

Two more Ba'als came out that side and fired their zats. One of the guards fell and so did Barret. They ducked back again as Ford firing his other gun into that wall as well. The lights flickered slightly.

"The stairs." he said firing a few more times in both directions.

She ran for them firing down the hall as he followed doing the same. They made it up the stairs quickly as the Ba'als started firing. Unfortunately the other guard was hit and fell.

"Damn, they got away. We do have this one though. Put the guards with the others." one of the Ba'als that had a MP-5 said.

Landry was walking down one of the corridors with what there was of SG-1. Those three were in vest and had their weapons ready.

"We have emergency forces at all access points sir. All three levels are locked down and secure." Mitchell said as they arrived at Lee's lab.

A guard opened the door letting them in.

"What have you got?" Landry asked.

"Well, we are thinking that our best bet is the symbiont poisoning." Lee said sitting at his computer. "We can introduce it into all three levels in a gas form. It won't harm any of our people, but it will kill any Goa'uld it comes in contact with."

"Excellent. Do it."

"It's not that simple." Lee said getting a harsh look that demanded a good explanation. "You see we'll have to use the ventilation system to distribute the gas. But it's not really designed for that sort of thing."

"What are you saying?"

"I can run some simulations and determine the optimum points in which to seal off the levels." he said turning to a different computer. "But even at optimum efficiency, we won't be able to distribute it evenly. There is bound to be dead pockets where is going to take long for the gas to take effect."

Mitchell quickly interrupted the man before he could continue.

"Okay, so what you are saying is depending on the locations, some of the Ba'al's might get an advanced warning?"

"Yeah."

"As soon as they realize what is happening, they are going to kill the hostages." Vala said.

"The we must be prepared to provide a distraction the moment the gas is released." Teal'c stated.

"Go." Landry ordered.

"Any ideas yet? A plan?" Carter asked after they managed to get into one of the labs and close the door.

"I tried to get K-9, but he isn't responding."

"He's at home, with Sally."

"Oh, right. Jacob came and got him earlier. I forgot he's helping her learn things. Almost kinda weird that a dog is teaching her instead of a school."

"I hate to say it, but she'd stick out in a school." Carter said picking up a phone. "Lines dead."

"She's not even five yet so she can't get into school anyway."

Carter shrugged as she set the phone down.

"Got an idea yet?"

"We need info. And only one person knows what we need to know. The only problem is, will you like what I have to do?"

"I saw you practically tear apart a Kull warrior. After what happened to Jack, seeing you do what you did on that tape is nothing new."

"Most women would think I'm homicidal."

"I'm not most women. Besides, given the chance, Ba'al would probably do worse to me if I was the one captured instead of Jack back then." she said rubbing her arms at the thought.

Ba'al entered the room where the hostages were placed and he grabbed Barret off the floor.

"We need your help Agent Barret."

"I won't help you." he said struggling to get away despite his hands being tied behind his back.

"Ah, but you will. You'll see."

"Remember, we can't afford to be seen until Doctor Lee gives us the signal." Mitchell said as they traversed a corridor.

"Got it." Vala said.

"No improvising this time. We stick to the plan. Try to act like you can die like the rest of us, in a sense."

"Despite the fact my improvisations have been extremely useful in the past?"

"That's your entry point." he said pointing at one of the doors that lead to the ladder system. He kept walking forward as she and several men followed her in.

Ba'al entered one of the storage rooms that had a computer linked to the rest of the base system. Several other Ba'als were in the room and they aimed their weapons as the door opened. They were dropped just as quickly. Barret was placed in the chair and then things got kinda worse for him.

Mitchell and a small group of men with him was hiding next to a wall as one of the Ba'als walked past with a MP-5. After he passed by, Mitchell and the group slowly went in.

In another corridor, Teal'c and his group were going down one of the longer hallways. They passed a small flight of stairs and then Teal'c signaled the men to hide next to the wall in the branching hallway. He got by the wall keeping quiet as one of the Ba'als came and looked down the path they were just on. He proceeded forward with the small assault rifle and looked up the stairs. Seeing nothing he kept going forward.

"What are you doing?" another Ba'al asked coming up from around the corner behind him. "We need to join the others."

He lowered the weapon figuring he thought he saw someone.

"Alright, I'm coming."

The other Ba'al opened a door at the end of the hallway and they both went through. Only then did Teal'c and the group relax and head out to their objective point.

It didn't take too long and Barret gave up the code he knew to get in the base system. Then the Ba'als started to download all the address sites from the base computer.

One of the vents were open and Siler was going through them. He was taking orders from Doctor Lee on where to go and close off areas and open others to get it ready for being vented.

As the slow progress of the download was taking place, the leader Ba'al had the other's check the perimeter.

Vala and her group rounded a corner near a set of stairs leading to one of the upper observation rooms. Several large cargo crates where sitting in the hallway, still in the process of being unpacked. Vala heard someone coming and they all got down hiding behind the large crates.

In another area, one of the Ba'als looked down a corridor and seeing nothing he moved on. But Mitchell saw him from a small mirror he had looking down the hallway.

"Teal'c, Vala, we've got a bit of a dead end here. Anything on either Carter's?"

"Negative. I am similarly immobilized." Teal'c stated as one of the Ba'als was just down from them looking around. "I have not seen any indication of their presence."

"Doctor…." Landry began.

"We are setting up five access points. They all have to be ready to go simultaneously. It will just take a minute."

One of the Ba'als was looking around passing a few empty rooms when he heard something fall in one of them. He slowly walked forward and looked into the small storage unit room. Carter was there trying to get one of the phones on the wall to work.

"I think that you can stop now Colonel."

She set the phone down and turned around. She had a little fear on her face, on purpose as he slowly entered the room. Once inside the room, she smiled. Only then did he realize he walked into a trap. He went to pull the trigger when the gun was snatched from his hand so quick that the trigger guard broke one of his fingers from the hard yank.

"Hello Ba'al." Ford said tossing the gun to her. "Remember the video I showed you and the others."

"If I don't show…."

"Oh that's bullshit and you know it." he said covering Ba'als mouth with one hand and picking him off the floor.

Carter closed the door as Ford tossed him into one of the shelves.

"Time we found out your real plan now. What you saw on that tape was nothing. I've done much worse. And that was with needles."

Vala could have sworn that she heard a crash noise in one of the rooms. She looked at the people with her and they nodded in saying they heard it.

Ba'al took the small device that had the information they needed after it got finished. One of the other Ba'als took Barret, tied him back up and had him placed back in the hostage room. As that was happening, Ba'al vaporized the computer, the table and everything on it. After that he left the room with the others.

"Where the hell is that gas?" Mitchell asked as he noticed the Ba'als making their move.

"I don't mean to rush you boys, but we are about to be discovered." Vala whispered quietly as she glanced out enough to see three Ba'als.

"We know you are back there." one of them said.

"So much for the plan." she said pointing her zat out and firing.

That one went down as the other two fired back. One had a zat also and the other had a assault rifle. The men fired back with her and one of the guys got hit by the Ba'al with the assault rifle.

"Ah hell." Mitchell muttered as he heard the gun fire.

He and his group pointed their guns around the corner and fired as the two Ba'als they saw fired back and ducked against small sections of the wall that jutted out. One of Mitchell's men went down from a zat blast.

"We've got weapons fire, level sixteen." a com unit said in Lee's lab.

"Siler, this is General Landry. Forget about a coordinated attack, just hit them with as much gas as you can, now!"

Siler feed a hose into the vent and opened up five large blue bottles of the lethal gas.

Vala's Ba'al's backed off as fire kept coming at them. They rounded a corner and turned to find another one of them firing another direction.

Mitchell waited a moment and then ducked out firing. He hit one of the Ba'als in the chest a few times. He died almost instantly as the other ran off firing his zat.

The Ba'al that Teal'c was shooting at was the one that met up with Vala's. They all nodded to each other and took off to the meeting spot. Teal'c came over to meet up with her.

"We have a man down, are you alright?"

"We are uninjured."

"And Mitchell?"

Mitchell came across a storage room to find a few desk found items on the floor. He thought it was strange to see, but dismissed it quickly and continued on with the other men.

Teal'c and Vala's team caught up with some of them and were hiding behind another section of crates firing at them as Mitchell and his men came running up.

"Teal'c, you seen either of the Carter's yet?"

"I have not." he said firing back.

"Where the hell are they?" Mitchell muttered firing. "You kinda figure that they would have done something by now."

"It is possible they were captured and detained with other hostages." Teal'c said.

There was one Ba'al firing his MP-5 at the group while the other Ba'als were heading into one of the observation rooms. Another Ba'al was keeping his weapon trained on the other direction that SG-1 and the other men were not at as the Ba'als passed him. Two of them were left to go before he followed into the room. They didn't make it and neither did he as Ford and Carter came around the corner firing. She had the MP-5 they had taken from the other Ba'al. They other's quickly headed into the room. Carter ran passed the door as a burst of ammo came through it. Mitchell and the other's came running up as Ford pointed both weapons around the edge of the door and opened fire until his clips ran out. She did the same.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Mitchell asked as Ford was reloading. She tossed the MP-5 aside and pulled the nine she had.

"Busy." they said pointing their weapons in the room.

Ford looked slowly to find the room empty. The other's slowly came in as he did.

"Damn. We're too late. I can't believe I let this happen."

"It's all our fault. We didn't think about the fact that he had a hidden agenda like this." Carter said grimacing slightly at the blood stains on the walls and floor.

"Can you let the rest of the team in on what just happened?" Mitchell asked.

"One of the Ba'als actually talked."

"After Ford tortured it out of him. Good thing too. Unfortunately we didn't stop the plan. Ba'al needed a large group of his clones with those transponders. Enough of them could and did get through our inhibitors."

"What was he after?"

"All the addresses in our database." Ford said picking up his spent casings. "Can someone call Landry or Walter or whoever and have this gas stopped and to shut down the alarms."

"How did he get them? Did he get them?"

"Yeah. He got them. And Barret helped." Carter said.

"Agent Barret was working with Ba'al?!" Mitchell exclaimed. The surprise went away quickly. "No wonder he wanted to take one of them away, all of them actually."

"Yep. Have medical get down here and get these bodies. Whatever Lam and the other's want to do with the bodies, let them. But they are not to leave this base at all."

The Ba'als, the ones that survived anyway, beamed onto the bridge of a cloaked ship. One of the Ba'als went forward and had the Jaffa at the controls get them out of there as the other Ba'als took the injured and dead ones to the back to get treated by the sarcophagus.

Barret was seated in one of the observation rooms with his briefcase on the table. A few guards inside and outside the room.

"Agent Barret." Ford said as they entered.

"General. Colonels. Why was I placed in here?" he asked standing up.

"Well, that's very easy to answer. Unfortunate for you."

"Barret, did you read the reports on Ba'als attempts to gain control of the Jaffa High Council?" Carter asked.

"Dealing with the mind control thing specifically." Ford said.

"Yeah. What about it?" he asked crossing his arms.

"What were you doing in there with Ba'al then?" Mitchell asked.

"I was interrogating him, what else?"

"I gave you orders not to go in and talk to him directly." Ford said very sternly.

"And I told that guard I wanted to talk to him despite what you said. Even if anything happened to me, such as my death, which I doubted he would cause because you would do him drastic harm. Something I hear you did to one of them anyway."

"That guard was killed because you entered that room. And with your gun. No one else on the base, not even any of SG-1 is allowed to do so."

"You have yours."

"Yes, because mine only work for me. The best he could try doing is clubbing me with them."

"Okay, I took the weapon in by mistake. I should have left it with the guard. I didn't think first. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. There's a problem with that…" Carter began.

"Look, I'm sorry the man died. What else do you want me to say?"

"That's not what I'm getting at Barret. The problem is that you did something I know you normally wouldn't do." Carter said.

"Yeah. I've read your file Agent Barret. You're a strictly by the book sort of guy. What you did…." Mitchell said then looked at Ford who had a curious look.

"What?"

"You did something only he would try if he wasn't in charge. Kinda like some of those stunts you pulled back on your first mission General."

"Oh, like jumping through the gate to get those Jaffa way back then. I get it."

"You all think that I have been brainwashed?" he asked with a tone that said it sounded insane.

"No. We know you have been." Ford said.

"Ba'al, one of them anyway, told us the plan. He said that he was hoping that one of SG-1 would help him get that data. He planned on using me or another hostage to make Ford do it. Instead he had you and Ba'al used that brainwashing to make you get into our system. I don't know how you knew that password Barret, but you gave him that info. Ba'al got rid of the computer you used, but the camera's show you did it. Also, there was no way he could know how to get through our, transporter inhibitors." she said seeing Ford smile. "Unless someone gave him the technical specs."

Barret started sweating as he was not sure what to do. Ford pulled a zat from his pocket and shot him as he reached for his briefcase.

"Why did you did you do that?" Mitchell asked.

"Better safe than sorry. Besides, what if he was given a hidden suggestion to fight back and kill as many people as possible when he was found out. Take him away Sergeant."

Teal'c and Vala followed as the other three sat down.

"You think he's going to find anything?" Mitchell asked.

"Doubtful. Look at it this way, even if he finds this weapon, more than likely only a Ancient can use it. Descended Ancient."

"That and the other thing. Anubis knew all those addresses and he never found it." Carter said.

"I doubt he ever would. From what I understand, only certain ascended Ancients actually know where it is."

"Why wouldn't they all know?" Mitchell asked.

"We know how they bend and use the rules to their own will. If they knew where it was, they'd go and take it away even though it would interfere with all of us. Just because it would effect them. That's want I believe anyway. Morgan knew where it was but she couldn't say anything because they wouldn't let her and she won't tell them because they might get rid of her then. And the won't get rid of her, unless she had been since helping us, but I think because if they did so, it would look bad to other ascended. Might cause a fight among them or something."

"Would your parents tell us or you if they knew?" Carter asked.

"They would. They told me they would and even though they would get in serious trouble for doing so, possibly….deleted for a lack of term, they would be able to tell me before they were, killed or whatever. No offense to anyone, but thankfully they don't know."

"He did mention that he knew, hidden clues or something like that to finding the weapon." Mitchell said.

"I still think a Ancient needs to be there to get it and or use it."

"We can hope." Mitchell said as he got up. "We can hope."