Through every speaker on the base the resounding beat from one of England’s greatest rock bands blasted into the halls.

For all intents and purposes it sounded like a fully fledged army approaching from every direction.

"Send her up, sir," Sam gave the go ahead for the general to let their package ascend.

The Jaffa on guard in the halls sprang to immediate alert, their eyes searching for the bodies that they assumed went with the clomping sounds echoing in their ears. Within the rooms, half of the Jaffa strode out to assist their comrades to fight off the as yet unseen attackers. The other half continued searching, their efforts becoming more and more frantic for they deduced they were running out of time to find the device their God sought.

The bell of the lift’s arrival wasn’t heard over the thumping beat, but the Jaffa, expecting an assault didn’t miss the doors sliding open to reveal its lone occupant. The sight of Qebehsenuef strapped to an office chair, head lolling with wide lifeless eyes sent the loyal warriors into a tailspin. There were two distinct reactions. The more experienced of the Jaffa took one look at the dead body and knew only the power of a sarcophagus would resurrect their Master. The others were gripping their staff weapons with a mix of utter disillusionment that the God whom they believed from birth was immortal, was now clearly dead and a sudden fear of what would come next.

The leader barked an order though it was drowned out by the racket still pounding from the loud speakers. Four of the Jaffa must have understood for they leapt towards the elevator cart intent on making their way down to the Stargate to transport their broken God to their home world with the sarcophagus.

The Jaffa left to defend their positions, already jittery, jumped a foot when Freddie Mercury’s voice screamed out the first fast-paced lyrics.

"Beta team your entrance is clear," Sam was watching the Jaffa movement through the security cameras. The Jaffa at the end of the corridor had left their posts with the commotion over Qebehsenuef’s body.

SG-2 and 5 pushed open the hatch and within seconds had slid into the hall, their minimal noise shrouded by the music, their positions hidden because of the side alcove where the hatch was located.

"Alpha team, go hard and fast on the hatch."

"Roger that." Jack gave Daniel a nod.

The archaeologist was griping the rungs above the manhole entry, with Annika and two members of SG-3 on the internal ladder above him. Jack, Teal’c and the rest of SG-3 were below. He booted the metal with all his might. There was a satisfying thud as the heavy iron collided with the body standing in front of it and was sent sprawling into his comrade.

The unfortunate Jaffa had drawn the mistaken conclusion that the ‘marching’ attackers couldn’t possibly be coming from the vertical tunnel from the wall. With their minds still reeling over the demise of their God it was a double shock to suddenly be blindsided from behind. By the time the two of them had staggered to their feet they had guns pointed at their heads, the people holding them wearing smirking grins.

The one with the glasses motioned for them to move to the room across the hall. They hesitated and were repaid with a nonchalant shrug from the man as he squeezed the trigger, emitting the electrical pulse that rendered them unconscious.

Charlie team, after gaining the positions of the Jaffa at their end of the corridor poured from the stairwell, efficiently taking them out or accepting their surrender as the case may be.

The teams split up, each taking one of the offices. Already separated from their searching buddies, most of the rooms only had one or two Jaffa inside. Being faced with four guns blocking the only exit point, most of the Jaffa dropped their weapons, however the sound of shots being fired told of three servants of the Gods who refused to concede defeat. As the guitar solo signaled the end of the song and the music abruptly cut off, a final round of bullets echoed out into the halls.

Daniel winced at the distinctive sound of stone shattering. "I hope that wasn’t the key to the Meaning of Life."

Annika was also gazing forlornly at the artifacts scattered haphazardly around the storage room. The Jaffa hadn’t been careful during their search and many of the delicate stone jars and tablets were cracked or smashed. She glared at the Jaffa they’d caught. "It survived tens of thousands of years only to be destroyed by you ignorant brutes."

"We’ll find you some more rocks," Jack promised, zipping a plastic cuff on the last of their cache of prisoners.

Sam reported in that the Jaffa who’d tried to make it back to the Stargate with the body of the Goa’uld had been captured.

"Hey, honey, nice choice of song," he complimented his fiancée.

"Bit clichéd but it seemed appropriate." He could hear the smile in her voice through his earpiece. "Levels twenty-five and four have normal oxygen levels."

Jack gave the order for the beta team to move on to level twenty-four, while his alpha team would take care of twenty-five. From now on taking the rest of the base should be relatively easy since there were only three or four of the hostiles on each floor. The third team he left to watch over the prisoners and to collect the other Jaffa from down below, freeing up the Russian team and SG-4 from guard duty. With the First Prime’s actions in mind he wasn’t willing to lock any of the Jaffa in an enclosed room until they had all been interrogated. After that, as far as Jack was concerned, they could kill each other to their hearts content, though he supposed that Teal’c would attempt to convince them to renounce the Goa’uld as gods.

SG-3 took the far hatch entry while SG-1 crept up the stairwell.

Jack counted down silently with his fingers and on three they flung open the door, weapons at the ready. There were three Jaffa walking the corridors, ensuring that the personnel trapped in their quarters remained that way until their God told them otherwise. They had heard the racket of the chanting song from the loud speakers but had no idea what had happened beneath their feet.

Teal’c was the first through the door, his P-90 aimed at the closest warrior. "Your false god is dead. Surrender now or suffer the same fate."

"You lie, shol’va. A god cannot die." His voice was filled with conviction, his staff gripped ready to fire in the name of his god.

"I assure you, brother, Qebehsenuef lives no more."

"Give up and we’ll show you her…his…" Jack gave an exaggerated eye roll, "…its body."

The Jaffa flicked a glance behind him, expecting to be able to call on the support of his fellow comrades, only to see them being held at gunpoint by another set of Tau’ri. Realizing he was beat he laid down his weapon and Daniel bound his hands with another set of the temporary cuffs.

Jack and Annika were making their way down the hall, checking that there were no more of the Jaffa hiding in the closed room.

Annika’s gaze fell to the one open door on the floor and her heart skipped a beat. It was the VIP room where Keelah was staying. Concern for the young woman’s safety had her forgetting SOP and she dashed into the room. She scanned the room; a rumpled bed, empty dinner tray but no sign of Keelah. Too late she saw a flash of grey from behind the door and a chain mailed arm lashed out, grabbing her against him. She felt the cold sharp edge of a knife pressed against her neck.

"Aw, dammit to hell," she grumbled, more angry at herself for such a stupid mistake than scared at being taken hostage. "Jack, I’ve hit a little snag."

"I can see that," the colonel forced himself to sound nonchalant. "Now, see, this is why we don’t just bust into a room willy nilly."

"I’ll keep that in mind next time." She didn’t try to struggle against the man who held her. Instead she was slowly gathering her will to remove the blade from her skin. Being so close to her main artery, she didn’t want to risk ‘bumping’ it and effectively cut her own throat.

"Clear a path," the Jaffa barked. "Or I’ll kill her."

"Oh, Danny," Jack singsong-ed, taking a step back from the doorway. "Come see what your wife’s gone and done."

Though fear clutched at Daniel’s heart at the sight of Annika in such a precarious position, he didn’t let it show. This game they knew, had played it countless times over the years. "Making a new friend?"

"Guess I’ll have to work on my people skills," she replied lightly.

"Back up," the Jaffa ordered, his eyes darting up and down the corridor. "You too," he added, catching sight of SG-3.

Annika carefully wrapped the tendril of air she controlled around the man’s wrist. She couldn’t just shift the knife to the side without slicing her skin; her only option was to push it back. She was just exerting the necessary pressure when the body behind her slumped and the strong grip around her waist dropped away. She immediately dodged away, spinning round to find out why he’d suddenly set her free.

If it weren’t for Annika’s telekinetic power suspending the Jaffa’s arm in midair, his now lifeless body would have crashed to the floor. They all could see a gush of blood from the vulnerable chink of his armor below his armpit.

"What the hell? Who did that?" Jack demanded from the SG personnel.

Hesitantly from within the VIP room Keelah appeared, clutching a bloody steak knife so hard her knuckles turned white. Her expression was a combination of wariness of their reaction to her act, shock like she couldn’t believe that she had actually taken a life and that confused look from the alkesh.

"Where’d you come from?" Annika gasped, relieved and yet slightly peeved that she’d missed seeing not only the Jaffa but the ex-slave as well.

"I have spent most of my life being seen only when needed."

"Uh…thanks."

The woman eyed the dead man’s arm still being unnaturally held up. "Though it seems my assistance was unnecessary."

"Huh?" The psychic followed her gaze. "Oh." She released her mind’s grip and the Jaffa finally clattered to the floor. "But it’s appreciated nonetheless."

"I could have helped sooner, but your…" Keelah struggled for the right word. "…Banter implied the situation was not serious." She was still befuddled by these Tau’ri who made a joke out of everything. "I do not understand its purpose."

"It is something you shall become accustomed to, should you choose to remain." Teal’c stepped over the body and he gently removed the knife from her clenched hand.

"It pisses them off," Jack tried to explain the motivation. "And it’s fun."

"It’s a distraction," Daniel gave a more logical answer. With the danger over, he’d immediately moved to Annika’s side and was examining her neck. Reassured that his wife was unharmed he wrapped her in a bear hug.

"I’m fine." She hugged him tightly back.

"Maybe I should have been the one to warn you to be careful," he softly scolded, placing a relieved kiss to her temple.

"I’m sorry," Annika gave him a contrite smile. "Let my emotions get the better of me."

"Eight years and I still haven’t broken Daniel out of that habit," Jack interrupted the couple. "And I got the grey hair to prove it." He took charge of the two Jaffa who had surrendered to SG-3. "We’ll take this lot downstairs and swap with SG-4. They’re itching to get in on the action."

Colonel Reynolds acknowledged the change over. He and his men were currently freeing the personnel locked up in the quarters with a master key, then after SG-4 arrived would move up to take the next level.

"Oh, and I suppose you weren’t controlled by your emotions last week on Kelowna?" Daniel teased his friend, motioning for the third Jaffa to fall into step with the others.

"At least I didn’t trap myself inside a temple," Jack fired back.

Teal’c was following behind with Keelah at his side. "However, it was not Daniel Jackson and Annika Jackson who were admitted to the infirmary."

There were too many of them to fit into the lift carriage, so they used the stairs. After depositing the prisoners with their fallen comrades, they piled into the elevator. When the doors slid shut, Annika cleared her throat.

"So, Jack, why are we really going downstairs?"

The colonel’s voice lost his happy-go-lucky tone. "Hammond wants a private word before the official debrief."

They detoured to the control room to pick up Sam and left Keelah with Harriman in the control room. The general was waiting in the briefing room with Dodger. The injured man and Janet had remained at the Alpha site until after the archaeological floor had been retaken.

Neither man looked happy as SG-1 took their usual seats.

Sam started with an update. "Sir, we’ve just secured levels twenty-three and twenty-two. We should be in full control of the base within a few minutes."

Hammond gave a short nod of acknowledgement. "Once we have the whole base secured, I’d like you all to assist with the individual debriefs of the night crew and Jaffa. There are many questions that I’d like some answers to."

Sam teed off with the first one. "Why wasn’t the alarm raised when they first came through the ‘gate?"

"The gate guards," Daniel gestured beyond the viewing window to the ‘gate room. "Unless they were knocked out by a stun device, they were taken by surprise."

"Then why did the personnel in the control room not activate the alarm?" Teal’c counteracted. "If a stun device was used they would have been protected by the glass."

"Oh, I’ve got a better one," Jack’s voice was grim. "How’d they get through the iris in the first place?"

"I’m hoping the security tapes will shed some light on that." Hammond saw Sam wince slightly. "Major?"

"I’m afraid not, General," the blond shook her head. "The tampering with the cameras, they were set on a feedback loop. They weren’t recording anything."

"For how long?"

"Not sure yet," she shrugged. "But I’d say it would be about the same time the CO2 scrubbers were switched off."

"Sam, no chance that it was some freaky coincidence and the scrubbers just broke?" Jack wasn’t very hopeful, but stranger things had happened.

"No."

"Well, it was worth a shot," he sighed.

"Captain Rogers," Hammond turned his attention to their witness. "Can you go into more detail about what happened?"

Dodger nodded. "Yes, sir. But there’s not a lot to add. I went topside for a smoke…"

"How long were you there?" Sam interrupted.

"Maybe half an hour," he shrugged, slightly confused why that was relevant. "I chatted with the guards for a bit."

"That’s probably why you weren’t affected by the high CO2 levels," she surmised. "Any oxygen deprivation you had before going up was reversed by the long dose of fresh air outside."

"I knew smoking had its benefits," the man grinned. "I went down to the mess hall. Everything was normal. Then I heard the shots."

"Dodger," Annika softly pleaded. "Please tell us you also heard staff blasts."

"I didn’t hear them, but that is what killed them." The young man hesitated. So far no one had come out and openly said what they were all thinking. "There were no bullet wounds."

There was an uneasy sigh of relief from everyone at the table.

"All right, let’s stop this pussyfooting around." Jack raked a weary hand over his face. "We’ve got a snitch in league with the snakeheads on this base."

"It’s the only possible explanation," Sam reluctantly agreed. "This was a planned strike, with help from the inside."

"So where do we go from here?" Annika asked.

Hammond started giving out orders. "Major, I want your top priority to be to determine when the video loop started with the security cameras and how it was done without anyone noticing."

The blonde nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Colonel, I’d like you to start the individual debriefs. Start with the ‘gate guards and then the control room techs once they’ve been freed. Find out how the Goa’uld came through."

"Yes, sir."

"Teal’c, you’re the best qualified to interrogate the Jaffa. See if they know which other Goa’uld are involved in this. The First Prime’s actions tell us there’s a bigger System Lord in the picture."

The dark man gave a single head tilt of agreement.

"Captain Rogers, if Doctor Fraiser agrees you’re fit enough, you’re to assist Teal’c."

The general paused before addressing the two civilians. "I’m sorry to ask this of you, tonight of all nights, but I’d like you to assist Colonel O’Neill with the debriefs."

The newly weds glanced at each other, silently reading the other’s emotions through their bond.

"We understand, sir," Daniel answered for both of them. "We wouldn’t think of leaving the way things stand."

"Our wedding night can be temporarily delayed." She gave a melodramatic sigh. "Oh, the things we do for our planet."

There was a quiet round of chuckles from their friends.

"Sir, we should let Thor and Lya know that we’re okay," Sam reminded them of their allies who were hovering in orbit. Upon depositing the SGC people at the Alpha site they had returned to Earth wanting to know how the hastily conceived mission had ended.

"I’ll do that as soon as we finish up in here," he assured. "Any questions?" He eyed his premier team.

"Just one," Daniel swiveled his seat to face Dodger. "You’re sure the Goa’uld was after the instruction manual?"

"Not a hundred percent," he admitted.

"We shall receive confirmation from the Jaffa during interrogation." Teal’c was confident.

"If they do confirm it," Daniel pressed, "sir, Sergeant Siler should be present at any future meetings."

"Doctor Jackson, this meeting and any follow ups is on a need to know basis."

"I realize that," he sighed. "But besides Annika and myself, he was the only one who knew that the holo-device had been taken off base."

Hammond realized the significance. "If he were the spy, then they would have struck your house, not the base."

"Well, that’s one suspect off the list." Annika tried to be optimistic.

"Only a couple of hundred to go," Jack said caustically. "We’ll have the case solved by breakfast."

"Okay, people," the general wrapped up the meeting. "Let’s get on with it."

They all rose with him, moving out for their individual tasks.

Daniel felt a confused and angry flutter in his solar plexus and he held Annika back from leaving. When they were alone he sat back down and pulled her onto his lap, deciding that while he found out what was bugging his wife he may as well take the opportunity to be comfortable. They more than likely wouldn’t have many free moments alone over the next day or so. "What’s the matter?"

"Besides the obvious?" Her laugh sounded brittle even to her own ears. She tried to relax into his embrace, but failed.

He simply waited for a real answer.

Annika sighed, realizing that Daniel wasn’t going to let her get away with just a smartass comment. "How did this happen?"

"We’ve had spies before," he pointed out.

"Not since I’ve been here," she said softly. "How did they get passed me?"

Comprehension dawned. "You haven’t noticed any change in anyone’s aura?"

"Not a one. My ability to read auras has never let me down, ever." Her violet eyes were filled with worry. "I don’t know why it’s done so now. And that frightens me. Of all my gifts it’s the one I rely on the most."

"Maybe it hasn’t let you down," Daniel suggested, trying to sooth the tension that held her body taut. "We don’t know enough about the situation to determine much of anything right now. For all we know it could be one of the night cleaning crew who we hardly ever see."

"You really think that?" she asked hopefully.

"I honestly have no idea. That’s what this investigation’s about, to try to solve the puzzle." After a long moment he felt her push aside her worry and fear.

"One piece at a time." Annika twisted so she could loop her arms around his neck. "And once the jigsaw’s complete, our phone in our home is going off the hook." Her mouth lifted up to capture his. "I don’t want any more interruptions to our wedding night, no matter how belated it will be."

"No arguments here," he murmured against her lips. Then indulged in another sweet taste.

"Hey," Jack poked his head around the door. "Everything alright in here?"

They nodded.

"Well, come on then, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, we got us a tattletale to catch."

THE END