The President was sitting at the head of the table while General Amos and Schwartz sat to his right. Hammond and Sam sat to the Presidents left while SG-1 sat furthest away. The team wasn't needed for Sam's briefing and they simply sat while she finished reporting on the outpost.

"There's still a great deal more research that needs to be done Sir, years worth. While we haven't had any incidence or need for military personnel I think it would be unwise to turn the outpost over to civilian hands. We have no idea of how many Goa'uld remain or who may know of Ba'al's death or even the location of the planet."

"Thank you Sam. You don't need to worry about civilians getting a hold of Eleftheria. The Joint Chiefs have all made the same argument. And this incident with Sneed and Kinsey has only solidified that argument. We'll maintain the same arrangement for now but, we'll review the setup in case we need to make changes to accommodate the needs we'll have to consider for the long run."

"Thank you Sir."

"Now on another note, Sam, why don't you bring SG-1 up to date on Sneed and Kinsey."

Sam gave the President a nod before she turned to face Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c; and tried to ignore Mal'tec and Ead'ogar standing behind her. "When I first took command of Eleftheria you all remember the personnel that were coming and going as we made assignments. I picked more than half the staff myself."

"Try 90%," Amos chuckled from his seat.

"Yes," Sam smiled at him. "All the same those that I didn't pick were generally military, there were hardly any scientists, three in fact, that I didn't either choose myself or approve of. Sneed was one of the three. I ran backgrounds on everyone I didn't pick, even the military. While I was waiting to hear back from people I kept a close eye on everyone. Sneed I watched the most. He seemed to have the most difficulties accepting everything. He also had rather sloppy reports and none of my staff had anything promising to say about him. By the end of his first week he'd nearly destroyed an entire lab. A week later I had managed to trace his relation back to Kinsey. While I don't trust Kinsey it wasn't enough to toss Sneed out. But, I got references on Sneed and everyone I talked to told me about his drug issues, the crimes that they knew he had committed, against them or their employer that had miraculously been swept under the rug. You don't get your criminal charges dropped without having to pay the price for it later.

"For the four months that Sneed 'worked' at the outpost he was the only person involved in the variety of accidents and near disasters that we had. Mal'tec and Ead'ogar helped me to keep an eye on him and they witnessed him intentionally moving crystals around or 'misplacing' other sensitive material.

"Thanks to them I knew that Sneed was going to try and blow up the ship. I took preemptive measures to prevent that. I was afraid that if we didn't actually catch Sneed in the act then Kinsey would explain it away. You and I both know he would have tried to convince others that Mal'tec and Ead'ogar were the actual culprits. Or even me for that matter.

"I informed the President of the situation and of my plan, which he approved of. I was given authorization to set a trap. I programmed in a firewall and a simulation so that if anyone attempted to blow the ship the way I knew Sneed was attempting to then the ship would filter out his commands but, non-critical system's would continue to malfunction as though the command's had succeeded."

"Wait," Daniel jumped in. "You're telling me that the entire time we were standing on this side of the Gate thinking that you were about to be blown up you were just running a simulation?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you but the President and I agreed to keep it quiet. We wanted to run an investigation after the fact in case anyone else was involved but, we couldn't alert anyone else to the situation. Only the President, General Hammond, Dr. Lee, and I knew the full extent of the situation. Mal'tec and Ead'ogar only knew that I suspected Sneed but, even they didn't know about the simulation until after the fact."

"Oh I'm sure you boys had a fun time learning you had tried to protect her from a fake disaster," Jack chimed.

"We were relieved to learn that we had not failed our duty," Mal'tec offered.

"Though we did not have to remove Colonel Carter the simulation made it evident that she is unlikely to behave any differently in a real crisis. It was a valuable learning experience," Ead'ogar nodded.

Sam looked behind her long enough to spare the two Jaffa a smile before she looked to SG-1. "When the President requested me to report a month early we were supposed to discuss exactly what I had done. I had just finalized the simulation but I hadn't had the opportunity to inform him of the details of the 'disaster' I created. When I met with him after the fact I informed him of the situation and that the firewall and simulation did what I wanted them to."

"Luckily," Jack commented.

"Yes Sir, luckily. We discussed how we wanted to carry out the investigation and the timeline we would like it to be completed in. Considering the trap I laid for Sneed, the evidence I had previously gathered implementing Kinsey, and Sneed's confession, we managed to wrap everything up over this past month."

"And you've done a very good job with everything Samantha."

Sam looked up to find Oma standing just behind the Joint Chiefs. No one else had reacted and Sam knew that she was the only one who could see Oma but, she stood from her chair all the same as she faced the woman. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk," Oma offered as she moved around the table to where SG-1 sat. Sam followed her movements while the men in the room looked around them, trying to see what she saw. Mal'tec and Ead'ogar automatically moved in closer and though she knew it wouldn't stop Oma she felt better for their presence.

"Now is not a good time."

"Now is never a good time Samantha. You've been brushing me off for months now."

"Because I don't care to hear anything you have to say. I don't want anything to do with you or the rest of the Ancients; I thought I made myself clear on that."

"Oma," Daniel offered as he continued to look around for her.

There was a flash of a bright light and there stood Oma for everyone to see. "Hello Daniel."

"Oma?"

Sam looked behind her to find the President paying rather close attention and Sam closed her eyes for a minute, trying to prepare herself for what was about to happen. "Mr. President," Sam started with a clipped tone, unable to hide her annoyance. "Meet Oma Desala, one of the ascended Ancients."

Oma smiled at him before she looked down to Daniel. "It's good to see you Daniel."

"It's good to see you Oma. Here," he said as he stood up, have my seat. This time when Oma smiled it was a teasing smile but she took Daniel's seat all the same. "Oma, what are you doing here?"

"I have been trying to talk with Samantha for months now but, she's been rather busy protecting her people. I thought that since she had completed her task that we could talk now."

"You thought wrong," Sam said harshly.

"Colonel." Sam looked up to see Hammond silently order her to calm down and against her will she took up her seat again. "What is it that you want to talk to the Colonel about Oma," Hammond asked with ease.

Oma just smiled and Daniel jumped in. "You said that Sam had the ability to ascend on her own, that's what you want to talk about."

"She does have that ability. I know she's told you that she doesn't know anything about ascension, which is partly true Daniel. But what she does know about, and what I am more interested in, is not her ability to ascend but her ability to keep from ascending."

"Oma, English please," Jack said.

"I told you that I offered ascension to her while Ba'al held her captive. What I did not tell you was that the other Ancients tried to force Samantha to ascend."

A/N: Oh and there is more to come! ;)