A/N-I had some time before work this morning so this is coming early :-)!

Disclaimer in chapter 1

10

Daniel looked up as Charlie Kawalsky plunked a DVD on his desk. Before he could ask, Charlie answered, "Surveillance footage from nine months ago."

"I didn't. . ."

"Boys from security thought you should have a look," he shrugged.

"From nine months ago? If there's been a breech, shouldn't we have heard about it before now?"

Charlie held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, don't shoot the messenger. Lieutenant Pittman just said you should take a look."

Curious, Daniel slid the disk into his computer, making room at his desk for Kawalsky. "What's the date on the case?"

"November fifth." Charlie's brow wrinkled in concentration. "Hey, wasn't it sometime around then that weird electro-magnetic pulse fried the circuits on the Stargate? The one that had Siler cursing for days?"

Daniel tapped his lips trying to remember the events of last November. As he recalled it, there hadn't even been an announcement of an unscheduled off-world activation. A month prior to the incident, SG-1 had encountered Reese's army of Replicators on P2X-389. Although the team had been successful in stopping the mechanical bugs, the Joint Chiefs of staff, along with then Senator Kinsey, had suspended 'gate travel for an unspecified length of time in the hopes they could stop an invasion through the cosmic portal. Other than the EM pulse, the 'gate room had remained silent, and due to the ever-present budget cuts, security at the time had been at a minimum.

"Yeah, that was the event," Daniel confirmed. "Since we were on stand-down at the time, Siler had weeks to replace the conduits."

"Don't you think it was weird there hadn't been much of an investigation into that incident? I mean with the 'gate shut down after the Replicators and all?" Kawalsky asked.

Daniel shrugged. "You government dollars in inaction," he sniped. "How long have I been pushing for some kind of safeguard on the ring? You know, some type of shield that won't allow a wormhole to connect?"

"Practically since the inception of the program, I think. How's that working out for you?" Kawalsky grinned.

Daniel started to fast forward through shots of an empty corridor. "My point exactly."

"So what are we looking for, anyway? Shouldn't there have been pictures from inside the 'gate room?"

Daniel kept his eyes on the monitor. "The EM pulse knocked out the cameras along with the 'gate. Because this camera was in the corridor, outside of the 'gate room's shielding, it wasn't affected. We're looking for anything out of the ordinary."

Minutes ticked by with no change in the image displayed on the screen. "Man, aren't you glad you don't have to do this for a living? I mean how tedious do you think. . ."

"What was that?" Daniel asked, sitting up straighter. "Play that bit back, but slow it down." It wasn't much more than a flash, but there was a beat when a person in military garb paused to look up at the camera head on, then turned and ran down the hallway. They continued to watch, hoping for a better look, but the person on the screen didn't reappear.

"That look like anyone you know?" Kawalsky inquired.

Daniel shook his head, gaze never leaving the computer screen. "See if you can freeze on the image of the face." It took several tries, but Charlie managed to single out the frame of the person's visage. It was blurry, and difficult to ascertain the gender.

Charlie was squinting at the screen. "I got nothing. I can't even tell if it's a guy or a woman. The hair's kinda long for a guy, though."

Daniel pushed a few keys and the screen's resolution sharpened just a bit more. "Oh, my God," Daniel murmured. "It's her!"

A/N—Okay, I'm not going to leave you there, especially since this one is so short. Another chapter will be up later today.