Department of Homeworld Security, 1523 hours.
General Jack O'Neill was in his office at the Pentagon when he received a phone call from General Landry about something he thought wouldn't happen; his people were directly attacked on Earth by the Lucien Alliance, and in the crossfire his house was destroyed. The General's heart fell when he heard that Willow was still unconscious after taking the brunt of an explosion caused by an assassin who had come to attack Willow and Faith. General Landry told the man, as he got up and signalled his Personal Aide, that Faith had given him very little information before she was taken in for a scan.
"They want to make sure that there's no lasting impact on Faith, Jack," said General Landry, "and there's one major thing we do know - something that Major Rosenberg told Faith before the explosion; the Alliance blames us for Netan's death."
"What?" asked General O'Neill shaking his head, "Hank, we didn't kill Netan. We'd definitely have heard about it if we did."
"I know, Jack," said General Landry, "Faith said that he's dead. And it's a given that the Alliance blames us for something we didn't do."
"We'll deal with this," said General O'Neill before asking about Willow, "and Red? Any news?"
General Landry was standing with a phone in his ear looking through a window down at the medical staff attaching leads onto Willow's chest under the shirt she was wearing. He then sighed in relief when the machine started to beep, complete with the wavy lines that indicated a heartbeat. He told General O'Neill over the phone that Willow was alive, and that with her healing abilities, he hoped that she would be able to recover quickly.
"Faith will be briefing me in an hour," said the General as he watched Dr. Lam open Willow's eyes lids, shine a flashlight, and then turn around looking back at him with a thumbs-up sign. The General nodded his head at his daughter, who went back to taking care of Willow, "and Jack, maybe you'd want to be here for the briefing."
"I'm headed there now, Hank," General O'Neill replied before putting the phone down just as his Personal Aide walked into the office. The General told the man to reschedule his meetings with the Joint Chiefs and the President, "I'm heading down to the SGC."
"Understood, sir," said the young man nodding his head before he left the General's office. General O'Neill then picked up another phone and contacted Walter at the SGC. He had the bald technician beam him to the SGC from the Pentagon.
It would only be a few seconds later that the General appeared next to an expectant General Landry, who was looking out at Willow. The both of them received assurances that the redhead was going to be alright, before leaving to check-in on Faith. In the meantime, General Landry had Walter contact the rest of SG-1 to inform them of what was happening.
As of right now, he had no idea what Willow had seen in the assassin's mind. And neither did Faith. All they could do now was warn SG-1 given that both Faith and Willow were targeted, and wait until Willow regained consciousness. It was General Landry who suggested that the other SG teams who participated in action against the Lucien Alliance be on their guard. With General O'Neill's agreement, General Landry contacted Walter and had him contact all the SG teams that had been in contact with the Lucien Alliance in the past six months.
The Carter home, Santa Barbara, 1540 hours.
The sun was shining down in a cloudless sky as a bikini clad Colonel Carter was in the backyard swimming pool at her Brother's house in Santa Barbara. With General Carter and Mark cooking some barbeque, the Carter children, Mark's wife, and Debbie were in the poll with the blonde Air force officer. Colonel Carter was laughing at Debbie treading water, her pudgy arms encircled by pink-orange polka doted inflatable floats. She and Kris were leaning against the wall as the children swam to their laughing cousin, and then pulled her along while still staying close by the Colonel and their mother.
"So, Sam," said Kris as she sunk her body lower into the water until it was chin high while looking at her sister-in-law, "what's the news?"
"What news?" asked Colonel Carter before she went under the water, and then rose back and shook her head, "you mean about the… you know… stuff out there?" Colonel carter discreetly pointed up to the sky before Kris chuckled while shaking her head. The both of them then turned their heads at the sound of splashing water and giggling as the Carter children were gently splashing water on the toddler.
"No, no," said Kris after a soft giggle when Colonel Carter noticed General Carter heading into the house. She then turned back to Kris who had an eye-brow raised, "your dating life."
Colonel Carter started to cough while Kris couldn't help but chuckle at her reaction.
"I'm too busy with Debbie and work, Kris," was the reply after the Colonel got a hold of herself, "I'm just lucky that dad's working with us in Colorado Springs. I'm spending a lot of time at the SGC, then off-world, and I've got just a few good hours left with Debbie. I don't have time for anyone else."
"How about that one guy we met on Prometheus?" asked Kris with a wink.
"Who? Daniel?" asked the Colonel confused, "he's already with someone else and he's like a brother to me."
"No, no, not that guy," Kirs said waving her hands, the guy dad introduced us to after you showed us the Prometheus. He was at the hospital when Debbie was born? The grey haired guy… I saw him looking at you."
"Kris!" hissed the Colonel as her face turned red from embarrassment.
"What's his name now?" asked Kris mocking as she snapped her fingers while the Colonel shook her head at the woman while chuckling, "something O'Neill? Is it? With Two 'L's?"
"Sam!" yelled the General after he rushed out of the house carrying the cordless phone in his left hand, "it's Jack."
"Right, Jack O'Neill," grinned Kris while the Colonel playfully punched her sister-in-law's arm. Kris rubbed her arm while saying, "speak of the devil. Sam, you do know what this means, don't you?"
"You are a devil," chuckled the Colonel before the smile on her face vanished upon seeing the serious look on the General's face, "dad?"
"Something's happened," said the bald General while handing the phone to his daughter. The woman placed it on her ear while General Carter crouched down at the edge of the pool while looking at his nephew, niece, and grand-daughter. He then turned to Kris whose eyes were narrowed at the old man as she asked what was going on.
"Sir?" asked the Colonel as everyone turned towards her, while Mark was walking towards them, "General, can you repeat that?"
"There was an explosion at Red and Faith's house," said the General who was standing next to General Landry with Faith sitting up on the bed after having been told that she wasn't injured badly. All she had were some scratches on her arms. The General placed his hand on her shoulder while telling Colonel Carter that the Lucien Alliance sent someone to kill the both of them, "and it's possible that every off-world team that faced the Lucien Alliance is in danger. And that includes SG-1."
"How did the assassin find Willow and Faith?" asked the Colonel while Kris wordlessly mouthed 'assassin' to the Colonel, and then looked at General O'Neill who nodded his head before saying that General O'Neill had just told him the same thing as well. In the meantime, Mark looked on in concern at the Colonel, and then at Debbie, and back at his older sister- he now knew what Colonel Carter did for a living, he understood why she had to do what she did… but it didn't make it easier for Mark to imagine someday losing his sister, and his niece growing up without a mother.
And now there was an assassin targeting her colleagues. He wondered if there would be one coming after her. And then a frightening thought entered his mind; would the assassin be coming after her family.
As if reading his mind, the Colonel asked General O'Neill if her family was going to be in danger.
"I don't know, Carter," said the General as Faith hopped off the bed while General Landry called , "but we're going to send a car to pick you and your family up. Then you'll be…"
Before the General could finish talking, the tall wooden fence that separated the backyard from the street outside exploded inwards. Everyone took cover while the children screamed.. the two Carter children pulled their crying cousin towards the Colonel and Kris, all of whom were being helped out of the pool by General Carter and Mark. As the splinters of wood feel onto the grass and the pool, in walked two figured dressed head to toe in black. They were pointing a weapon each as the one of the left nodded at the other figure to head to the backdoor.
"We want you, Colonel Samantha Carter," said the first figure in a deep voice. The Colonel and the others pushed Mark and his family out of the way behind them; Kris was tearing up as she shield her children while Mark held the crying Debbie close to him. All of them could her a concerned General O'Neill calling for Colonel Carter multiple times from the dropped phone that lay at the edge of the pool.
A phone which was blown apart when an orange energy pulse was fire from the weapon being held by the figure who was standing on the other side of the pool. He was right across from them while his partner covered the door back into the house while pointing a larger plasma weapon at the group.
"Either you surrender and come with us," said the first figure as Debbie bawled, "or else we kill everyone here."
"No!" yelled the Colonel as she put her hands up while the General looked at her and then back at the two figures who were wearing masks, "I'll come with you. But my family leaves first."
"You are not in the position to negotiate," said the figure at the door, "we have orders to take you in dead or alive. If dead, then we kill the others."
"If you kill them," hissed the Colonel, "then we'll come after the Alliance. We'll hunt each and every one of you down until…"
"Silence!" yelled the first figure as he fired at the pool and then remained his weapon at the Colonel, "if you leave alive, then every one stay breathing. It's completely your choice, Colonel."
"Mommy," whimpered the Carter kids as they hugged Kris, who was on a knee as she held them tight while glaring at the figures in black.
"Well?" asked the second figure at the door to the house, "alive or dead?"
The Colonel just glared at the both of t hem before sighing, and then nodding her head. She looked back at her daughter who was looking back at her with a face stained with falling tears. The Colonel was about to move toward her daughter when the figure right across from them fired a warning shot right next to General Carter; making Kris yelp, and the children scream.
"Walk towards us," said the figure as the Colonel nodded her head and tore her eyes away from her daughter who was flailing her arms at her. The Colonel then looked at Mark, and remembered the papers she signed that would turn over custody of Debbie to Mark and his family if anything were to happen to her. The Colonel looked up at Mark as her bottom lip quivered while her heart raced and her mind was running at hyper speed, hoping that the Prometheus would be able to lock onto them and get them out of here.
The Colonel knew that she had to draw out for more time so that the SGC would be able to send a response team. However, with her family in the line of fire.. all that went out the window. All she hoped was that the SGC could track her subcutaneous transmitter.
As she started to walk slowly towards the figure at the door, she walked past the General who whispered that help was on the way.
"Jack wouldn't let you go, not this way," said the General. The Colonel could see that he was about to make a move to go after the two figures, so she stopped walking while the figures ordered her to keep on moving.
"Stay with Debbie, dad," said the Colonel as she moved again. The General heard the seriousness in her voice while he wondered to himself on what was taking so long for a response. However, only two minutes had passed by since the initial attack when General O'Neill heard the sound of the explosion on the phone, and then he called out through the phone on his ear when he heard the thud of the phone dropping onto the pool's edge, followed by the screams of Kris and the children. Faith heard the screams as well through General O'Neill's phone. She rushed out of the room while General O'Neill put the phone back into his pocket. In the meantime, General Landry rushed to a phone on the wall and ordered Walter to contact the Prometheus station and give them a situation report on what was going on. It was a few seconds later that Faith rushed back into the room holding two Zats she took from the S.F's who were guarding the scanning room she was in.
"I'm guessing you're going too, Big G?" asked Faith as the General took off his coat and placed it on a chair while General Landry was listening to Walter telling him that he was getting a live feed courtesy of the Prometheus station. Faith then handed him the second Zat. A few seconds later, the monitors in the Control room were connected with the live feed showing the Colonel, in the backyard of the house, walking towards the figures in black. Walter then notified General Landry through the phone of Colonel Carter's movements.
"You ready?" asked General Landry as he looked at General O'Neill, and then at Faith; both of whom nodded their heads as they activated their Zats. General Landry had a few seconds to decide what would be the best course of action to take. He could have beamed the two figures out of the backyard, but he had no idea if the transport beam would react with whatever it was that made the assassin that attacked Willow and Faith explode. His other choice was to beam them out into space, but the SGC would lose intelligence on how many assassins were coming. So he went with his third option, sending both General O'Neill and Faith into the Carter house.
"Get SG-19 ready to move out," said General Landry into the phone. Walter then told the man that Colonel Carter had stopped next to General Carter, after which General O'Neill said that she was trying to buy some time. Once Walter said that the Colonel had started to move again, General Landry ordered Walter to have the Prometheus station beam General O'Neill and Faith into the ground floor of the Carter house.
General Landry put the phone down after telling Walter to warn Daniel, Teal'c, Vala, and Colonel Mitchell that they could be in danger as well just as there was a whining sound around them. The General then turned towards General O'Neill and said, "keep them safe."
General O'Neill nodded his head just before he and faith vanished in a flash of white light. Once they were gone, General Landry dashed out of the room for the Control Room. In the meantime, the foot of the staircase in the foyer saw two bright lights deposit Faith and General O'Neill.
"They're in the backyard," said Faith.
"Get out the front, and then round the back," said the General as they heard the sound of sirens in the distance. The General knew that this meant that some of the neighbours must have made a call to the police, which meant that the both of them needed to take the two figures down as fast as possible, "Hank said that there was a hole in the fencing around back, take cover there until you hear my voice."
"Got it," nodded Faith before she rushed out of the house through the front door. She cautiously walked along the edge of the house towards the backyard while keeping the Zat activated. Once she reached the wooden fence, Faith crept towards the hole as silently as possible on the soft green grass. Once she reached the hole, Faith stopped and looked through one of the many tiny gaps in the fencing. She could tell the one of the figures had his back turned towards her, and so.. she waited while keeping ready to fire as the sounds of sirens got closer.
In the meantime, General O'Neill threw his tie onto the couch while running towards the kitchen. He looked at the wooden back door, and then at the island where there were bowls of salad and potatoes. The General got the smell of grilling meat wafting into his nostrils as he rolled up his sleeves to pretend to be as causal as possible before he placed his Zat into the rear of his trousers. He then rushed forward and opened the fridge before grabbing four bottles of beer.
The General knew he was going in blind, but the Carters were under attack and there was no time for a briefing on what they had to do back at the SGC. He knew that they were about to wing it; the best that he could do was surprise the two assassins by getting out the door with handfuls of beer, and then take them down. The General then walked to the wooden door with the four bottles of beers being cradled to his chest by one arm, and the other arm grabbing onto the doorknob when he heard General Carter yelling, "Sam!"
"Here we go," whispered General O'Neill as he pushed the door open.
"Hey Sam!" said General O'Neill nonchalantly as he walked onto the porch while looking down at the bottles cradled against his chest. The two figures, one of whom was gripping tight to Colonel Carter, turned and looked at the newcomer in surprise; as did the other members of the Carter family. General Carter wondered what was going on when he noticed movement from behind the fence as the figure on the other side of the pool stepped forward while raising his weapon at General O'Neill. He looked back at his family, and signalled at them to cover the eyes of the children so that they did not see what was about to happen. General Carter then turned to the sound of smashing glass as a visibly surprised General O'Neill raised his arms into the air.. the brown coloured bottles crashing onto the wooden porch.
"Sam? What.. what's going on? I…"
"Who are you?" asked the figure holding onto Colonel Carter just as Faith turned into to the pool area through the hole and shot the first assassin with the Zat. The figure crumbled to the ground with a thud. The second figure heard the thud, and then turned.. however, his grip on the Colonel slightly loosened. She managed to jerk her arm away and then dove to the left just as General O'Neill brought out the Zat and fired at the surprised figure.
"Jack!" yelled General Carter as he rushed to Colonel Carter's side and helped her up. The woman was in tears as she wordlessly got to her feet and then rushed to Mark. She grabbed the crying Debbie and held into her tight while General Carter then rushed to the fallen figure and picked up his weapon.
"Faith?" asked General O'Neill as he looked up at the dark-haired Slayer who crouched down and took the assassin's weapons away.
"We're good," said the Slayer.
"Everyone into the house!" yelled General O'Neill, "come on, everyone into the house!"
"Go," said Colonel Carter as she waved her brother and his family towards the house while holding on tight to her own daughter. Mark and Kris carried their children into the house, careful not to step in the broken glass on the porch, and was soon followed by the Colonel carrying her crying toddler who was crying out for her 'mommy' into the house. However, before she stepped through the door, General O'Neill told Colonel Carter that everything was going to be fine, and to have any questions referred to him if the police had any questions.
The Colonel nodded her head while Debbie lay her head in the crook of her mother's neck.
"You should take Debbie inside, Carter," said the General gently before she rushed into the house.
"Jack, what are we doing about these clowns?" asked General Carter as he nodded at the figure he was pointing the weapon as General O'Neill turned around.
"First we deal with the police," sighed General O'Neill as two officers arrived through the hole in the fence with guns drawn. Faith slowly dropped her Zat and raised her hands while General O'Neill and General Carter did the same. General O'Neill identified himself as the head of DARPA's Intelligence Division and gave them a number to call while he was handcuffed, along with Faith and General Carter, and made to sit on the grass while two more police walked in through the hole, and three more walked into the house after being let in by Mark, who was visibly shaken. Kris and the kids were sitting down next to Colonel Carter and Debbie… the two of them trying to console their frightened children.
While Mark was showing the officers to the living room, General O'Neill gently warned one of the officers who was reaching down towards one of the figures.
"Son," he said as the officer looked up, "that stolen technology he's got on is classified. If you touch it without clearance, you can be prosecuted for treason."
The officer quickly pulled his hand back and stood up while looking at the body, and then at the three people on the glass. The officers in the backyard were just waiting around while two of them started to take statements from the neighbours. One of the remaining officers then started to take statements from Faith and the two Generals. It was not long after another officer called the number that General O'Neill provided when three high ranking police officers themselves arrived at the house and ordered all questioning to stop.
While waiting for SG-19 to secure the prisoners, the officers left the Carter house. General O'Neill walked back into the house while Faith stayed guarding the two unconscious assassins who were handcuffed. The General walked into the living room with General Carter and the first person her noticed was Colonel Carter In her blue bikini comforting Debbie. While General Carter made sure that Mark and the others were alright, General O'Neill walked over to the Colonel and asked her if she was alright.
"No, sir," said the officer as the General pursed his lips, "how did they know where to find us?"
"Who were they?" asked Mark, whose expression screamed out a demand for answers, "we deserve to know."
"Hey kids," said General Carter as he held onto his older grandchildren who were wiping their eyes, "How about we go freshen up, and then I'll take you out for some ice-cream? That's if your mother's okay with that."
"They really don't want to hear this," said General O'Neill.
"Alright," nodded Kris before General Carter held the children's' hands and took them up the stairs. He brought them to their room and then waited at the top of the stairs while they changed. In the meantime, General O'Neill told Kris and Mark what happened in Colorado Springs, and that all teams that had faced the Lucien Alliance was on high alert.
"I can promise you that this won't happen again," ensured General O'Neill with a steely resolve in his voice that scared Mark, "we'll find the people who did this."
While the General continued to talk to the family, Faith fired her zat at the assassins when there were signs that they were regaining consciousness. It would be thirty minutes later that SG-19, who were beamed down to the nearest military base, arrived to take the two unconscious assassins away while General Carter was out comforting his older grandchildren with ice-cream. As for Faith and General O'Neill, they were due to leave with SG-19, leaving Colonel Carter with her family; with General O'Neill telling Mark and Kris that he'll have someone come by to fix the fence.
Just before General O'Neill and Faith were about to leave, he received a call from General Landry saying that while Vala and Colonel Mitchell were beamed to the SGC without any problems, there was an attack by an assassin on Daniel. General O'Neill listened as he was briefed on Daniel, Anya, Giles, Buffy, Amy, and Xander being threatened by an assassin.
"Is Daniel alright?" asked the General while Colonel Carter looked on in concern, as did Faith who had her arms folded over her chest.
"Miss Summers and Miss Madison were able to stop him," said General Landry, "with Miss Maclay still out of it after performing the soul restoration on New Kobol, Miss Madison was able to put the assassin in a form of stasis sleep after she was knocked out by Miss Summers. We're sending a team from the Sunnydale Army Base to collect he body and bring it back to the SGC for questioning.
"Any news from Teal'c?" asked General O'Neill.
"Not yet, but we've informed him of the attacks, he said he'll be returning o the SGC in a few hours," answered General Landry.
"And any news on Red?" asked General O'Neill.
"Dr. Lam said that she just woke up on the way to the infirmary from the scanning room," said General Landry, "I'm was heading there when I got the call from Dr. Jackson that he was attacked."
"I'll meet you there, Hank," said General O'Neill before he put the phone down and told Faith that Willow was going to be alright. Faith released a sigh of relief as General O'Neill gently squeezed her shoulder. The General was relieved that Willow was going to be alright before he turned to Colonel Carter.
But before he could say anything, the Colonel pre-empted him by saying that she was going to be staying with her family for the time being. The General looked at Debbie, who had stopped crying, wrapping her arms around the Colonel's neck while the blonde officer was holding on to her daughter tightly.
"We'll take care of it, Carter," said the General gently while the Colonel nodded her head. He then told her to be with her family just when his phone started to ring. General O'Neill brought the phone to his ear and listened to General Landry saying that Willow had just awakened, and that she was having a huge headache. The SGC commander said that Willow had information that they were unaware of and he was ordering SG-1, and the two other teams who had sabotaged the Kassa plant and space-sport a few weeks ago, back to the SGC for their protection.
"We're running another blood test," said General Landry, "Major Rosenberg said something about getting a glimpse of the new Lucien Alliance leader telling his bounty hunters that the people who blew up the factory had trackers in their bodies. Jack, that's referring to SG-1 and the others."
"I see," said General O'Neill as he looked at Colonel Carter and Debbie, "what are the odds that more are coming after our people?"
"I don't know," said General Landry as he stood over Willow who was rubbing her forehead, "all I know is that we need to keep everyone away from their friends and family until we can deal with this."
"Understood," said General O'Neill before putting the phone down. He looked at Colonel Carter, with regret on his face as he thought about what must have been going through her head given what just happened in front of her family. But he also knew that no matter what happens, she would want to protect her family.. and so he asked Colonel Carter to leave with him and Faith. He explained to them about the trackers in Faith and Colonel Carter's bodies that could lead more assassins to them. The General then stepped forward with his arm by his side and said, "please, Carter. With you and Red working together, we can get something done to neutralise the trackers and then we find a way to stop the alliance from sending more people after you and the others."
"What about Debbie, sir?" asked Carter as she held on tight to her daughter.
"I'm sorry, Carter," said the General as Colonel Carter closed her eyes and held tighter to her daughter, "but her life is in danger. She can't be anywhere near SG-1 for now at least. I… I can't imagine how you're feeling right now, but what I can tell you is that if it were Charlie… I'd leave him with Sara so that the both of them would be safe."
"And you know Red, Sam," said Faith, "you and her together? Oh boy, I give you guys two days to come up with something."
"But.." said the Colonel just before she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"We can get Dave's wife to babysit," said the General referring to Colonel Dixon's wife who absolutely adored Debbie, "and you can be in contact with Debbie through video chat. In the meantime, we keep you and the others protected until we find a wway to stop any more attempts at assassinations."
"And then once you find the people who did this," said Mark as the Colonel turned around towards him, "I'd like you to kick their butts. And then come back here with our niece."
"Mark's right," said Faith before she nodded at the S.F's who was taking the unconscious assassins away, "we got two live ones who will be singing a soon to be hit song. Once we find out everything we need to know, we'll stop this."
"Carter?" asked General O'Neill.
"Let's go, sir" said the Colonel nodding her head, "let's go."
TBC.