When Annika walked down the ramp at the SGC, she glanced up out of habit at the control room. She stopped short as her brain comprehended the slight change in the auras surrounding the tech crew behind the glass. Her gaze flickered to the Marines stationed in the room on guard duty, then back to the glass, this time looking at her and Jack's reflections. Her heart sank, and much to the horror of her team leader, began to strip off her haz mat suit.

"Casper, what are you doing?" He lunged to grab her hand to stop her, knew that it was already too late.

"It doesn't matter, Jack. We're infected. Everyone in this room." She flapped her now exposed hand to the control room. "Everyone up there."

Though her words were quiet, there was no doubt that all the personnel heard from the way everybody stiffened.

"You're sure?"

She nodded, ripping off her other glove. "Just spent the last hour looking at that particular hue."

"But we feel fine," one of the Marines protested.

"Not a premonition?" Jack asked, his hand hesitantly resting on his neck cuff, needing to make the clarification.

As much as she'd like to say 'yes' because then there was a chance it could be prevented, she couldn't. "No. It's already embedded in everyone's auras. Auras show what's now, not what will or could be."

With an accepting sigh, Jack pulled off his helmet. "These suits chafe the crap out of me anyway."

Hammond had been watching the exchange from the briefing room window. Didn't let his expression reflect the disappointment and worry at the psychic's words. When those violet eyes focused on him, or rather on the air around him, he knew that he also hadn't escaped infection. Mentally he added his name and the others in the 'gate and control room to the list of thirty personnel who now were infected. Grimly he motioned with his head for the two members of SG-1 to come up to report in.

Within a minute, the pair were peeling off the rest of their suits and Janet and Sam were hurrying in to take their seats. As they all dialed in to the conference line to connect them to Daniel, Teal'c and Keelah, Hammond couldn't help but notice that Jack and Sam reached to hold the other's hand tightly. That the officers didn't even try to hide the maintained contact as they usually did beneath the table, told Hammond just how disturbed and worried they really were. The truth was, he felt like he needed a hand to hold as well. Had to be content with simply lacing his fingers together.

Jack and Annika quickly recounted what they had seen at the second village including her vision of how the natives and SG-5 had become infected. Daniel then brought the pair up to date on the point of contact within the base. The two independent reports confirmed once and for all how the virus was transmitted.

Hammond moved on to the next priority. "Annika, you say that this virus has an aura?"

She nodded, unconsciously twisting her wedding band on her finger in an effort to feel closer to Daniel. Their bond was starting to flicker like a battery being drained of power. Wished more than ever that their bond had been restored back to its former and steady strength, because she really needed it, even if his emotions were just as much on the edge of panic as hers were.

"Isn't that a little strange?"

The psychic shrugged. "The virus is a living thing, it doesn't have emotions or anything like that, but it is...um...determined to grow, that is its only purpose. As it grows the determination grows and the aura expands. It was too small for me to see it before we left for the planet but in the time we were gone..." she sighed, letting the sentence hang. "Even if I had seen the addition in the auras I wouldn't have recognized it for what it was, would probably have put it down to worry, but after seeing two villages coated in that horrible glow there's no denying it."

"I'd like you to look at everyone's aura, do a head count of all the infected personnel."

Janet heaved an inward sigh of relief at the request. Annika's ability, as unconventional as it was, would free up her nurses and medics to focus on treatment rather than on diagnosis. Saving time was very much a crucial issue with how aggressive the virus was.

Annika nodded. "Um...on the planet, the virus aura was much more pronounced. I'm assuming that's because the virus had progressed further than here. I can confirm that by taking another look at the survivors we brought back and at SG-5. If it is, do you want me single out those who are...um...brighter?"

Both Hammond and Janet nodded.

"We're setting up level twenty-three as a temporary ward," Janet said. "Send the more advanced cases there."

"General, how about I tag a long with Casper while she does her hocus pocus look-see?" Jack suggested. "Even the best of people have been known to act...funny...when they're told they've got a bug."

Hammond gave his approval. "Doctor Fraiser, any theories as to why the virus is progressing slower for our people than on the planet?"

"We're running DNA tests at the moment, but prelims aren't showing the Cupidians to be genetically different from us, so at the moment we're thinking it's environmental rather than genetic disposition. Specifically atmospheric. The Cupidian planet has a lower oxygen content than Earth. We've seen organisms both indigenous and alien where O levels affect development. When the survivors came through SOP was to give them oxygen and it seems to have slowed their symptoms down. Without knowing the life cycle of the virus, I can't discount that this isn't just a coincidence. They are still critical. I doubt that even if we did have a cure right now that they would survive. Their internal organs are too degenerated." She paused. "With two members of SG-5 we've increased the oxygen mix through their masks. While it's too early to say it's definitively slowed the virus down, it definitely hasn't sped its progression up."

"We can manually override the O level output of the air filtering system to the whole base," Sam suggested. "It could buy us some time."

"Do it," Hammond nodded. "Doctor Fraiser, is there anything else you have learned about this virus?"

Janet nodded. "As grim a picture as it is, with what we saw from the planet and the prelim exam of the three survivors and patient zero, we at least know what we're dealing with. It's a viral hemorrhagic fever. We've had experience with VHFs on Earth, but even the worst of them takes days to go from incubation to the final stage, not hours like it has on the Cupidian's planet."

"Are there any treatments we can have brought in?" Hammond asked. "We can have the Prometheus beam them in without risking contamination." The CO thanked the powers that be that the Asgard had come through with their long awaited promise of sharing their beaming technology. The 'thank you' gift for SG-1's assistance with the time dilation device to combat the Replicators had been installed during the minor repairs conducted after Anubis's most recent attack.

"VHFs are divided into four different families of virus. Filoviridae, Arenaviridae, Bunyaviridae and Flaviviridae. Ribavirin, an antiviral drug, when used in combination with interferon is active against two of the families, Arenaviridae and Bunyaviridae. It reduces the mortality rate. There's also a treatment with convalescent-phase plasma that has had some success with Argentine hemorrhagic fever. However, if it is of the Filoviridae family..." Janet paused as she noticed the official medical terms were going straight over Jack's head and she rephrased with examples that were more commonly known. "If it's of the family of the Ebola and Marburg viruses there is no treatment. We can only offer palliative care."

"All we can do is make them comfortable?" Jack asked, not entirely able to keep the horror from his voice.

"For now, yes." Janet didn't like the diagnosis any more than the rest of them. "We're trying to isolate the virus now and see if it's a match for any of the known VHFs of Earth. We may get lucky." She took a breath and offered the one positive thing she could, though it wasn't much. "The only thing we have going for us at the moment is that for whatever reason the virus is not as aggressive here as it is on the Cupidian planet. It's bought us some time."

"Any idea how much?" Hammond asked.

"It took three hours for the first symptoms to show in SG-5 compared to approximately fifteen minutes on the planet. Using that ratio it's twelve times slower here. The first deaths on the planet were an hour after initial symptoms, so that would make it sixty hours before we have any casualties. If the higher oxygen content is what's slowing it down then by increasing it, it should be longer."

Two and a half days was something they could work with. It was by no means great, but it was better than the alternative.

"We are also considering administering a dose of estrogen to everyone. According to the Cupidian's, the women were the last to show symptoms, even though some of them initially had contact with Doran when they were trying to clean him up. Something in the female system is more resistant to the virus, and the main difference between men and women chemically is estrogen levels. Again it will only be a delaying measure."

"Is there any way to know if this virus is naturally occurring or artificial?"

"There's no sign of synthetic markers or proteins in the blood work indicating unnatural tampering, but I couldn't rule out that this isn't some Goa'uld experiment."

Daniel added his opinion. "From what Whittiker learned, the Cupidian's immigrated to the planet over fifty generations ago, their ancestors escaping from the 'golden eyed demon'. During their scouting they found no evidence that the Goa'uld even knew about the planet."

"So patient zero just happened to stumble onto the planet while our people were there?" Jack didn't like the word 'coincidence'. In his experience there rarely was any such thing.

"From the description Ret'atti gave, the man was delirious when he arrived," Teal'c mused out loud. "Could he have entered the wrong Stargate address?"

Sam, as did the others, thought it was a possibility. "If he hit just one glyph wrong, say on either side of the correct one, then it would be possible to figure out the combination. If he hit more than one wrong or hit one of the glyphs that looks similar but was in a completely different place on the DHD, we're talking hundreds of possible combinations."

"Teal'c, have you ever heard of virus such as this?" Hammond wasn't very hopeful of a positive answer. If the Jaffa had any familiarity, even if it was just speculation or legend, he would have mentioned it as soon as he saw the state of the Cupidians.

"I have not, General Hammond," Teal'c's voice was regretful. "However, it is possible that other Jaffa have while in service to the Goa'uld."

"Keelah?" He was clutching at straws, he knew that. Yet it wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that the few planets she had been to in her life had experienced a similar epidemic. The virus had to have originated somewhere.

The former slave wished she could say yes, offer some help and hope. "I'm sorry, no, sir."

"Casper, you look like you've got something to add." Jack had noticed the redhead had been unusually quiet. Plus she had a small frown he recognized as a hocus pocus dilemma.

Annika hesitated. "It's only going to add confusion...make you start second guessing."

"Still wanna know."

"When I hear you discussing theories and cures...I keep hearing 'it's not what you think'."

"Oy."

"That's the first thing that has given hope."

"Is there something wrong with this thing?" Jack tapped at the radio-phone clipped to his hip. "Daniel, how in the world is second guessing everything 'hopeful'?"

"Not the second guessing," Daniel explained. "Annika said 'it's not what you think', which means there is a cure."

It was a bit of twisted logic, however, at that point everyone was willing to grasp at it.

"Right, unless anyone has anything more to add," Hammond looked expectantly at team around the table, then up to the camera to the members of SG-1 topside. When nobody said anything he continued on. "Let's get to work."

Annika and Jack, armed with the duty roster of everyone inside the base, started their task from level twenty-eight and worked their way up. By the time they reached level twenty-three the psychic was feeling nauseous. Not because the virus had advanced in herself, but because every person thus far had the aura of the virus hanging around them like a fog. For the most part the personnel accepted the news, trying to hide their fears. The few who wanted the false safety zone of denial, refrained from arguing after one look from Jack. The rarely seen seriousness on the 2IC's face and the no-nonsense set to his shoulders told them more than words that he wouldn't tolerate a single case of hysterics or belligerence directed at his teammate.

Stepping into the elevator to go up another level, Jack added a number one indicating the first stage of the virus next to the names of SG-7.

"Jack, you may as well make the Major stage two. He was borderline even though the only symptom he's showing is a headache."

The general nodded and changed the number. "How you doing?"

"Feeling like the Grim Reaper," she admitted. She reached into her shirt pocket and removed a small bottle of vanilla oil.

Jack watched with a concerned eye as she tipped a few drops onto her fingertips and rubbed the sweet essence into the base of her neck and temple. "We can take a break if you need it."

Giving him a grateful smile at the offer, Annika deeply breathed in the soothing scent then shook her head. "I'm okay. Just want to get it done."

He nodded in understanding as they came to a stop on the next level.

There were two Marines still on guard at the isolation rooms. They were standing next to each other quietly talking and Annika asked them to move further apart so their auras weren't overlapping. She studied the individual lights then gave a nod to Jack, holding up two fingers indicating stage two.

"For both." She addressed the Marines, motioning with her head to the isolation room. "Who's inside?"

"SG-3 and eight med staff who came in from the Alpha site."

Annika peeked through the window. Rubbed at her eyes to make sure she wasn't imagining what she was seeing. She pressed the button for the room intercom. "Gentlemen, can you please all move to the back of the room and then individually step up to the glass."

Hammond had made a general announcement over the loud speaker explaining the situation and what Annika and Jack were doing. Dutifully the men who had been confined for over five hours did as asked, trying to read from the redhead's expression what the verdict was.

"Casper?" Jack had been waiting patiently for her to rattle off the stages, his pen poised to write them down. He could see the difference in Annika's stance. The question remained, was that a good straightening of her back or was she bracing herself to deliver a stage three or even a stage four verdict.

For a long moment Annika stared at the men's auras, double and triple checking them before she spoke. She flashed the men inside a wide smile, then turned that smile to Jack. "None of them are infected."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

Jack hit the intercom button. "Congratulations, campers, you're the first to be confirmed bug free. We'll organize haz mat suits for you. They are to be worn at all times, no exceptions. If you need to pee, you only use the clean room on twenty-one, luckily it has its own facilities. We'll figure out how to get you food and drink, also to be consumed in the clean room. Once you're suited up, report to Doc Fraiser for assignment."

The relief of the eight men was tangible as they nodded at the good news and orders.

It was with a slightly more hopeful bounce to their steps that Annika and Jack moved on down the corridor, which only lasted until the next level. Two of the nursing staff had already progressed to stage three. Despite their protests that they could still keep working, Jack ordered them to report down to the Doc. When he radioed Janet to inform her, her worried surprise was evident in her voice.

"They're stage three already? But they arrived on base after I did. They've had the least exposure."

There was nothing either Jack or Annika could say to that; couldn't offer a theory other than the obvious that some people were unluckily more susceptible. It took another hour and a half for the pair to make it to the top level, finishing the count. Another ten people had progressed to stage three. The last they had found slumped in one of the bathrooms. The man was so dizzy he couldn't walk, red trails of blood were leaking from his eyes and ears. Annika and Jack fetched a stretcher and began carrying him down to level twenty-three.

"Ya' know, Casper, some warning would have been nice," he drawled.

"Yeah, tell me about it," she muttered. Getting a snippet of a vision when she hadn't even been touching anything 'new' was a pain in the ass, literally in this case, given the domino effect of her having to stop because the images had been so strong she'd been blinded to the physical world in front of her. Realized Jack was in fact referring to her feet becoming superglue and she twisted her head around to him. "Sorry, Jack, it was just an unexpected sight."

Jack raised an eyebrow at her wording. It was true enough he supposed, seeing the bay filled with beds with so many of their friends and colleagues so sick wasn't easy, though he suspected the comment was more for those around who had witnessed their 'ping pong' act. Her eyes confirmed it was a different kind of sight she was referring to, one of the hocus pocus variety. Following her lead, since it was clear she didn't want the vision to be common knowledge, he nodded for her to start moving again. "Don't sweat it, I always wanted to sing soprano."

"Ooh," Annika winced; she hadn't realized quite where Jack had been hit. "Remind me to apologize to Sam."

"Sam? I'm the one with the bruised family jewels."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry, General, but I ain't gonna kiss them better."

There were sniggers from the bedridden personnel who were in earshot. The banter, while it was a decoy to distract anyone who'd caught the double meaning to her earlier comment, also served as an unintentional morale boost. If the members of SG-1 were still slinging banter back and forth then in their minds it showed hope and confidence that things would work out.

Jack and Annika kept up the playful sexual banter as they helped their stretcher patient to a bed and then headed back out. Once in the privacy of the elevator, they immediately turned serious.

"What'd you see?" Jack asked.

"They were very strong images, but as usual were just tiny snippets." Annika quickly relayed what her third sight had shown.

When she finished Jack grimaced. "I know two people who are not going to be happy campers."

"Yeah, it's going to take some convincing," she sighed.

They refrained from discussing it further until they reached Hammond's office.

Jack first reported on their official task, handing over the labeled duty roster and giving a quick tally of the numbers in the different stages of the virus.

"There are only twelve people not infected?" Hammond tried not to let his disappointment and worry show. "Out of a hundred and twenty-six?"

"Yes, sir," Annika confirmed. "And the only reason they're not infected is because they were quarantined before SG-5 returned. Not because of a natural immunity."

Hammond had been doing a bit of research on hemorrhagic fevers. He'd only gained a basic knowledge, yet from what he'd found it was rare for a disease to spread to a hundred percent of a population. There was usually a percentage, no matter how small, who were somehow immune, barring direct contact. And even the worst of the Earth VHFs had 'only' a ninety percent mortality rate. Going by what they had witnessed in the Cupidian village, this virus wouldn't give them that ten percent survival rate if they didn't find a cure. "I'm guessing that two and a half day window is a bit optimistic for some."

"Yes, sir," Annika said softly. "How are you feeling, sir?" There was a very noticeable difference in the CO's aura since she had seen him just a little over two hours ago. It was brighter, telling her that he was another of the unlucky ones to be in stage three. Technically he should have been relieved of duty, but she wouldn't be the one to force him to a bed. Knew Jack wouldn't either. She wondered if stress exacerbated the virus.

"As well as can be expected," Hammond replied. He was already feeling the effects of the virus, though thankfully he hadn't started bleeding freely. His limbs ached, in fact his entire body was throbbing and it was becoming more difficult to concentrate on anything more than trying to remain upright in his chair. Stubbornly, he wanted to keep working as long as possible, for the simple fact that he knew how demoralizing it would be to the rest of the personnel if their commander succumbed. He took heart that Jack for the moment didn't look symptomatic, which meant that when he did have to relinquish his authority to his 2IC, something that undoubtedly would happen sooner rather than later, he'd be leaving the base in the hands of the least sick person on base aside from the twelve uninfected. However, he was still aware enough to pick up on the nuances of the two people in front of him. "There's something else?"

Both nodded, though Annika was the one to reply. "I've had a bit of an update on whatever this unrelated 'incident' Daniel and Teal'c will be needed for."

"I'm listening."

"I still don't know what 'it' will be, but I know they can't be on base."

"Not even at the mobile command?" Hammond raised an eyebrow.

She shook her head. "Whatever it is, they'll need to move quickly, be armed and do it in complete secrecy, but the secrecy isn't to do with the SGC, not directly. Oh, and somehow Jack is involved."

His surprise shifted to the team leader. "Planning a covert op that I don't know about?"

Jack shrugged. "If I am, I haven't thought of it yet."

"And this event is important?"

Her brow puckered as she tried to scrounge more details from the fragments she'd been shown. "Informative. They'll see something or learn something about..." she gave a helpless shrug, "...something. I'm sorry I can't be specific."

Hammond waved her apology aside. "I don't need to tell you that having Doctor Jackson and Teal'c leave the base before the lockdown is over, will raise suspicion."

"Yeah," Jack absently tugged on his ear. "Our well known team loyalty can suck sometimes."

"If anyone asks about their absence we'll say they're following up on a lead," Hammond suggested. "People will assume it's in relation to the virus. I take it you have a plan on how to inform them?"

"Casper was thinking she'd flitter on up."

He nodded in approval. "Annika, I'll leave it to your discretion as to when to tell them. If you gain even the slightest more information..."

"You'll be the first to know, sir," the psychic promised.

"Okay, if that's all..." Hammond looked at both of them. When neither had anything else to add, he addressed Jack. "General, there are a few things you and I need to discuss."

Annika recognized the dismissal and rose. "I'll see if I can help out on the ward."

Once the redhead had left, Hammond got straight down to business. He began by giving his 2IC his command codes and filling him in on the finer details that Jack would need for an as smooth as possible hand over of command of the SGC.