Barrett stood looking at his global map, trying to understand the rationale of H.O.P.E. attacking the military installations they did. These were minor installations even for the third world countries they belonged to. Two of the installations only destroyed about fifteen thousands rounds of ammunition and didn't even kill anyone but the suicide bombers. At first, he thought it might be to grow dissension among the third world countries, but the officials in all five countries were laughing at the absurdity of the attacks.
H.O.P.E. had claimed responsibility with a video proclaiming "Humans Only On Planet Earth!" Barrett could not understand Odai Ventrell's intent with this attack. Scans on the satellites had found no devices planted on them for communication. Ventrell must be or had been on Earth to give this order. Barrett believed Ventrell to be a capable person, from his discussion with Col. Mitchell.
He had reached out to his former H.O.P.E. contacts looking for a meeting, but none had heard of any. They had gone dormant after the attack on the Asgard ship. Riots around the world had died down. Most people finding the benefits of their new reality far outweighed their fears of it. Africa and South America were both rising steadily. Free power and new medical care in those parts of the world had quickly won them over. These bombings hadn't even caused a single protest.
Three of the attacks were in Africa, with one in Asia, and the failed one in Europe. Barrett could not figure out what he was missing. These attacks made no sense to him, even in a state of war these attacks had no military gain.
Meanwhile, O'Neill was sitting in his office, when he heard a knock.
"Come in," replied O'Neill.
"Good morning sir," replied Nicole.
"Which Dr. Keller am I addressing?" asked O'Neill.
"Nicole, took your advice and went with my middle name," replied Nicole.
"Is that so. How can I help you Dr.?" asked O'Neill.
"I'd like to request a transfer," stated Nicole.
"A transfer? Let me guess getting away from Rodney?" asked O'Neill.
"That would be correct," replied Nicole.
"Where to?" asked O'Neill.
"Someplace far away?" asked Nicole.
"Hmm, how about Destiny? You would be with SG-1 and several others you know," asked O'Neill.
"That would be perfect," replied Nicole.
"Take what time you need to get ready, and then let Walter know to open the gate for you," replied O'Neill.
"I'm ready sir," replied Nicole.
"No goodbyes?" asked O'Neill.
"I've left my goodbyes. I'd just like to get away before the other me wakes up and tries to stop me," replied Nicole.
"You would know her best," replied O'Neill "Come on I'll walk you to the gate. You know we are trying to find a way to get you home."
"Thank you, Commander O'Neill. I appreciate it, but you're not confident that you can?" asked Nicole.
"Unfortunately no, we are not," replied O'Neill.
They walked silently to the gate room.
"Walter dial-up Destiny for Dr. Nicole Keller here," replied O'Neill.
"Yes sir!" replied Harriman.
The gate dialed the nine chevrons, with swosh it was open.
"I hope you find what you're looking for, Dr. Keller," spoke O'Neill.
"Thank you sir!" replied Nicole.
"Take care of SG-1 for me!" ordered O'Neill as Nicole stepped through the gate.
Back in Barrett's office, Johnson arrived.
"Any progress?" asked Johnson.
"None, these attacks make no sense," replied Barrett.
"Nothing was taken?' asked Johnson.
"Nope," replied Barrett.
"What was destroyed?" asked Johnson.
"In total 2 jeeps, 1 rocket launcher, and little over fifty thousand rounds of ammunition," replied Barrett.
"Your sure they are all destroyed?" asked Johnson.
"Yes the explosions were not to hide a theft," replied Barrett.
"Anyone killed?" asked Johnson.
"Just the bombers," replied Barrett, "Dr. Beckett is doing an autopsy on them now. But we know what killed them shouldn't be any surprises."
"Let me know how I can help?" asked Johnson.
"I will. So how did dinner go with Ronon last night?" asked Barrett.
"Oh you saw us?" asked Johnson.
"I haven't worked with you long, but long enough to know when you set your eye on something or someone," replied Barrett.
"Well muscles is certainly interesting," replied Johnson as she left the office.
A few hours later, Barrett got a request for him to come to medical, Dr. Beckett found something.
Becket seeing Barrett, "Over here Agent Barrett!"
"Tell me you have something for me, Doctor. Right now I don't have anything," spoke Barrett.
"All five of the bombers had one thing in common, they all had the ancient gene," replied Beckett.
"All five of them?" asked Barrett.
"That's right. Nothing else in common, from race, region where they were from, food, or anything that would suggest they even knew each other," replied Beckett.
"Maybe this wasn't about the attacks, but about removing those with the ancient gene," replied Barrett.
"Certainly a possibility, the attacks would be an excellent way to cover up the murder of people with the ancient gene," replied Beckett.
"Thanks, Doctor!" replied Barrett making a hasty retreat back to his office.
So Barrett had Ventrell trying to eliminate those with the ancient gene. He wondered what was the purpose behind this. The Old Ones didn't make sense they needed to eliminate the entire population, not just a handful. The Lucian Alliance could have figured out those with the Ancient Gene could control the City Ships and weapon platforms, but with Carson's upgrades to the chairs that were no longer the case, plus the Lucian Alliance was wiped out. There wasn't even a half dozen cargo ships left with them currently, those were being hunted by the Jaffa relentlessly. Even if there were rebels in the Jaffa, they would know this was useless. Atlantis wasn't hiding the fact they had made these improvements. It was time to talk to Commander O'Neill.
"Sir, I need a few minutes of your time," spoke Barrett.
"Sure, what do you need?" asked O'Neill.
"What enemies would Earth have that may not know we have advanced beyond the need for the ancient gene?" asked Barrett.
"Give me some background?" asked O'Neill.
"Odai Ventrell is using H.O.P.E. as a smoke screen to kill those with the Ancient Gene. The bombers all had the gene. I have the gene, and Dr. Beckett confirmed my conspirators have it as well," replied Barrett.
"Seriously?" asked O'Neill.
"It appears to be the case," replied Barrett.
"Well let's see here, replicators, the Asurans we almost eliminated them entirely. Could be the Aschen if they survived those gate addresses we gave them. Any Gou'alds that remain. There were these aliens we never identified that nearly took over the SGC once. The Genii as you have learned. Really that's all I can think of right now," replied O'Neill.
"So possibly anyone?" asked Barrett.
"That would be correct," replied O'Neill.
"Thanks, Commander off to see Mr. Wallace to track Odai," replied Barrett.
Barrett made his way to the lab, that Wallace shared with Ginn.
"Mr. Wallace, Odai Ventrell has appeared again, I need you monitoring for him," ordered Barrett.
"Not a problem, I have worked out a few new protocols and algorithms for this exact purpose," replied Wallace.
Two days passed with nothing, finally, on the third day, Wallace came running into Barrett's office.
"I've got him!" shouted Wallace.
"You have his coordinates?" asked Barrett.
"Not quite, it was too short, but I can tell you he was somewhere in the United States," replied Wallace.
"Excellent work, keep monitoring we need to narrow it down," replied Barrett.
Another few days passed, Wallace had summoned Barrett to his lab as quickly as possible. When Barrett entered he could see Odai Ventrell on the big screen.
"In three days we will strike at the heart of the aliens and free our world of them forever!" shouted Ventrell, "Humans Only on Planet Earth!" Then the screen went blank.
"What did I miss?" asked Barrett.
"Not a lot. Mainly him blustering about how H.O.P.E. was winning the war," replied Wallace.
"That doesn't make any sense," replied Barrett, "I have to inform Commanders O'Neill and Landry about a pending attack in three days."
Barrett found Landry first.
"Sir, we intercepted a communique from Odai Ventrell to his followers in H.O.P.E. it appears there is going to be an attack in three days at the heart of the aliens."
"Do we have a location on him?" asked Landry.
"Eli was able to narrow it down to somewhere around Montana," replied Barrett.
"Montana? He could be anywhere there," replied Landry.
An alarm sounded, and Harriman could be heard saying, "Un-scheduled off-world activation."
Landry headed toward the Gateroom, Barrett followed along to see what was going on.
"We are receiving Master Bra'tac's code sir, lowering the shield," replied Harriman.
Bra'tac passed from the Stargate with Odai Ventrell in cuffs. Landry and Barrett took off running to meet him.
"Master Bra'tac it is good to see you. It looks like you have a friend of ours, we've been looking for!" exclaimed Landry.
"Odai, you're going to pay for the crimes you have committed," spoke Barrett.
"Will someone tell me what is going on?" asked Ventrell.
"H.O.P.E. we just caught your message about an attack in three days," spoke Barrett.
"Someone here please tell me what you are talking about?" pleaded Ventrell, "I had a nice bounty I was about to collect when a couple of Jaffa grabbed me."
"The Jaffa have been keeping an eye out for him since his first attack. Two Jaffa came across him at a market place and brought him to me, yesterday. I am sorry I was not able to bring him any sooner. I am kept busy with matters at Remoc," spoke Bra'tac.
"That must have been a recording he sent out," replied Landry.
"Let's get him to interrogation, we'll hook him up to a Za'tarc machine to see how much he lies," replied Barrett.
Sgt. Greer was on duty and took Ventrell down to the interrogation room. He took a position standing guard outside.
Volker was summoned to hook up the Za'tarc machine. Greer had to insist that he submit.
Barrett entered the room.
"Look I have not messed with you all since that unfortunate misunderstanding at Col. Mitchells High School reunion. What is going on here?" asked Ventrell, "Surely he's not holding a grudge from that still?"
"No this has to do with H.O.P.E." replied Barrett.
"Well I hope someone tells me what is going on," replied Ventrell.
Barrett punched a video showing the attack on the Asgard ship, the video from the resulting call with Ventrell, the results from the attacks on the base, and the video from earlier.
"Wait a minute that is not me!" replied Ventrell.
"Sure looks like you. Have a twin brother?" asked Barrett.
"No, I don't. But I'm telling you on my honor that is not me," replied Ventrell.
"Tell me about this attack in three days, things might go better for you," replied Barrett.
"I can't tell you about something I don't know. Look I stay away from Earth. Everyone knows how powerful you all have gotten. After wiping out the Lucian Alliance, when they had an Ori ship, word gets around. No way am I messing with you all," replied Ventrell.
Barrett interrogated Ventrell for the next four hours. The Za'tarc showed he was telling the truth the entire time. Barrett was hoping for one slip up.
Barrett was meeting with O'Neill and Landry.
"I can't explain it, but the guy we have in interrogation I don't think did this," replied Barrett.
"Have we checked to see if he is from our universe?" asked O'Neill.
"First thing I had Dr. McKay do, and he belongs here," replied Landry.
"Clone? Human Replicator?" asked O'Neill.
"I guess a clone is possible, but the Human form replicator is out," replied Landry.
"Could we have an alternate universe Ventrell that is running H.O.P.E.?" asked Barrett.
"Let's talk to him, and see what he can tell us," replied O'Neil.
"Will do sir," replied Barrett.
Barrett back in interrogation with Ventrell.
"So we believe you. You're telling the truth as far as we can see. That doesn't answer the question of who that is," replied Barrett.
Ventrell sighed, "Can I go now?"
"No, for your own safety you're going to stay here. Commander O'Neill, has given the order to shoot on sight Odai Ventrell," replied Barrett.
"Shoot on sight?" asked Ventrell.
"He means for that one on the video," replied Barrett.
"So I'm your prisoner even though you know I didn't do anything?" asked Ventrell.
"I prefer to say, guest," replied Barrett.
"I've got too many weird things happening lately," replied Ventrell.
"Such as?" asked Barrett.
"A year ago I wake up, find myself hanging in a cacoon," replied Ventrell.
"What else?" asked Barrett.
"Someone who I deal with regularly said I double-crossed him on a deal, I never took, and I never would have double-crossed him to steal weapons-grade naquadah," replied Ventrell.
Just then O'Neill walked in, "When you were in the cacoon did you have anything on your head?"
"Yes it was some sort of band," replied Ventrell.
"Well, now that makes sense. We don't have a name for these aliens. They have a device that makes them look exactly like the person in the cacoon, even sound like them, and while your in that cacoon they can access your thoughts," replied O'Neill.
"Where can I find them?" asked Ventrell.
"Will have to check, we know where they went when they left here but nothing else," replied O'Neill.
"Is this typical?" asked Barrett.
"This one not so much," replied O'Neill.
"Point me in the right direction and I will take care of them," replied Ventrell.
"Not so fast, but you might get your wish," replied O'Neill.
Over the next two days, all personnel of Altera was subjected to the frequency that disrupted the alien's technology. None were found in Altera. Teams were sent out to all governments to run a scan of their governing officials, a collective sigh of relief when they all passed. The next day was the third day due for the attack.