Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to Gekko Film Corp., Double Secret Productions, MGM, and Stargate Productions. Roswell belongs to Melinda Metz, the WB, and many others. Any copyright infringements were not intended. This story was written for entertainment and not for profit.

Spoilers and Timing: For Stargate, this takes place in late season six, with spoilers for those eps and heavy ones for "Meridian." For Roswell, this takes place a few years after "Graduation".

Background: Max, Isabel, and Michael have kicked the Skins off of Antar, but they're still a threat. Ava makes up the fourth member of the Royal Four. Kyle, Maria, and Liz helped them liberate Antar, and the old Roswell gang has continuous contact with their parents, who are still in Roswell. Even though Vilandra is supposed to be with Rath, Isabel and Jesse are still married. Jesse has fully accepted who Isabel is and has even helped them fight the Skins.

Summary: The Skins have invaded the SGC…but only Jonas Quinn and Princess Vilandra of the Royal Four are aware of the fact. No one else at the base can see or hear them. However, neither Jonas nor Vilandra can warn the SGC about the foothold situation because the two of them are practically invisible.

*****

He was up roaming the halls of the SGC late again. It had become routine for the airmen assigned to guard duty during the graveyard shift to greet Jonas Quinn as he walked past. The alien was usually seen nursing a Styrofoam cup of coffee or tea. No matter what time of the night it was, Jonas was as cheerful as always, and he had quickly made friends with many of the people working the night shifts.

This time, Jonas left his office and headed for the commissary. His hands were empty of Styrofoam cups; it was alright to assume that he was looking for more tea. He was carrying a notebook filled with notes and diagrams, so it was likely that he planned to stay in the commissary for some time.

Jonas smiled and nodded at many of the guards he passed and stopped to chat with a few of them. Finally, he reached the commissary doors and pushed his way through them.

It was three AM in the morning, so Jonas was not expecting to see anyone sitting at the tables. He was surprised to see the two airmen standing on either side of the door, and was even more surprised to see the airmen's charge, a thirty-something, blonde-haired woman wearing alien-like robes sitting alone at one of the tables.

He recognized her at once, of course. She was Princess Vilandra, one of the Royal Four of the planet-wide Kingdom of Antar. Unlike so many other instances, when SG-1 established an alliance with a race after visiting their world, the Antarians contacted the SGC first. They were a race with advanced technology, and they wished to form an alliance with the people of Earth. The President and the Chiefs of Staff had leapt at the chance of acquiring technology and had okayed opening communications with the planet of Antar. After several visits to Antar through the Stargate, SG-1 had escorted the princess through the gate back to the base. That fifteen hours ago. They had given Princess Vilandra a tour of the military base before adjourning to the briefing room to begin the talks.

Jonas smiled and nodded politely to the princess and she smiled back. Jonas walked over to the far wall and poured a cup of tea. He went over all of his observations of the princess during the day. She had seemed to be nervous about being in a military compound, more nervous than Jonas would have expected. That wasn't the oddest part. Princess Vilandra had been a little too familiar with the technology throughout the base. Jonas had seen her planet several times; there were quite a few differences between the two worlds. On Antar, there were communication devices that could be hung on chains around the neck. Alien powers every Antarian possessed could be utilized to heal wounds; hospitals were a myth. Energy blasters were common street weapons, and everyone wore a different type of robe according to their job or their station, to name a few.

During the tour of Stargate Command, Jonas had noticed that Princess Vilandra hadn't been nearly as surprised and intrigued as she would have been, if the feelings were genuine. He could just tell that the alien woman had been lying about never seeing an infirmary before. She had flinched briefly when Col. O'Neill gave her a demonstration of how to use a simple handgun. During that second, she had clutched her stomach, as if remembering some forgotten pain.

Jonas had been theorizing for hours about what all of it could mean. He'd come up with a theory that was a little far-fetched. He needed more evidence to support it. The Antarians had given them a brief history of how the Royal Four had come back into power only half a decade beforehand. According to the Antarians, several years ago, the Royal Four of Antar had been overthrown by the dictator known as Kivar. The Royal Four had been forced into exile on another planet for years. During that time, Antar had been at war with the neighboring planets. This inter-planetary war had continued off and on for over a century, and thousands were dying every year. Five years ago, the Royal Four had taken back their planet. The four of them had managed to restore peace, however temporary, with Antar's neighbors. However, they had another concern, and that was the Goa'uld. The Royal Four had heard about SG-1's reputation and had contacted the SGC in hopes of an alliance.

SG-1, during their visits on Antar, had asked what planet the Royal Four had hidden on. However, the Royal Four skirted around the issue. Jonas' theory was that the Royal Four had hidden on Earth during their exile. It would explain, somewhat, why the princess acted the way she did at the base.

He headed over to her table. When he had reached it, he bowed down low. "Good morning, Princess Vilandra."

"Good morning, Mr. Quinn," she said. She waved at the seat across from her. "Please, sit."

Jonas did so. "Why are you up so late, Mr. Quinn?" she asked him curiously. Jonas couldn't help notice that there was some suspicion in there as well.

Jonas shrugged. "I like the night hours," he said. "Everything's quieter. It's peaceful." He took a sip of his tea. "What about you, if you don’t mind me asking?"

Vilandra smiled. "I couldn't sleep," she said. She wouldn't explain why.

She lifted her own cup to her lips. "Mr. Quinn-"

"Call me Jonas."

"All right. Jonas, you aren't a originally from this planet, right?"

He nodded. "Right."

"Why did you come here, then? Why join Earth's Stargate Command?"

"My people, the Kolownans, had discovered a mineral on our planet called Naquadria. My government had began research into using naquadria. I was assigned to that project when SG-1 visited our planet. There was an accident in a lab. Dr. Jackson, one of SG-1's members, was subjected to radioactive material." Jonas swallowed. "He died a few days later. My government blamed him for the accident. Only I knew the real story, and they ordered me to silence. I couldn't live with that, so I stole the naquadria from the labs and came here through the Stargate. I've been here ever since."

After a few moments of sympathetic silence, Vilandra asked, "What's do you think about the people here?"

Jonas cleared his throat. He forced down the feelings of guilt, sadness, and anger that always surfaced whenever he thought of how he came to seek asylum at the SGC. "They're good people. The SGC has set up successful alliances with several alien races that have beneficial to both sides. I'm sure that if there is an alliance with Antar, your people will also benefit-"

The claxons blared. Sgt. Peterson's voice came through the intercom. "Unscheduled gate activation! Repeat! Unscheduled gate activation!"

Jonas and Princess Vilandra exchanged startled glances. As far as Jonas knew, none of the teams currently off world were due back for days. The two aliens stood up and headed out the commissary doors with Vilandra's MP's on their heels.

They took the elevator down to the control room. The marines that always came running whenever the gate was activated were in position down in the gate room. The stargate's iris was closed.

Colonel Jack O'Neill and Teal'c entered the control room. "Receiving SG-9's iris code, sir," Sgt. Peterson reported.

"Open the iris," ordered Jack.

The iris slid open with a screech of titanium alloy. All eyes were on the shimmering, water-like surface of the wormhole's event horizon as the waited for the telltale ripple that proceeded someone through the stargate.

Nothing happened. Then, a tiny ripple appeared near the center. A small, square metal box fell through and clattered onto the ramp.

Vilandra's eyes widened. "Prel'est!" she cried. The nanites in Jonas' brain, the ones that allowed him to speak and understand English and several other languages, couldn't translate what she had said, but Jonas knew it wasn't pleasant.

His eyes went from her back to the metal cube. He stared as alien symbols appeared on the cube's faces. The symbols glowed blue, and glow intensified with every passing microsecond.

Vilandra cried out, "Destroy it! Now!" But it was too late. A shock wave of some sort rippled out from the box. It headed straight for the marines down in the gate room.

"Get down!" Colonel O'Neill ordered over the intercom. The wave moved faster than sound, however, and it passed through each and every marine almost immediately. Each man jerked on contact before collapsing unconscious onto the floor.

The wave continued up into the control room. Everyone hit the deck, trying to escape the wave. Fearing for her safety, Jonas tackled the princess to the ground.

The wave passed through everyone in the control room, knocking everyone unconscious before moving on.

Everyone, that is, except for one Jonas Quinn and one Princess Vilandra. Neither of them were knocked out. Instead, both disappeared as the wave passed through them.

When the wave passed, no sign of either alien remained.

The wave continued to spread throughout each level of the SGC. It knocked every single person unconscious. Then, it continued upwards and into the NORAD base. The personnel on the lower levels of the NORAD base were knocked out, but as the wave continued throughout the rest of the mountain, less and less people were knocked out.

The wave continued into Colorado Springs and (Manitou?) Springs. By that time, it's power had deflated somehow; no one noticed it now, and no one was knocked unconscious. However, although it was now invisible, it continued on its journey.

Within an hour, it had passed through Colorado and the surrounding states. Within four hours, it had encompassed the United States, half of Canada, and the entirety of Mexico and the Caribbean. Only a day went by before the wave had successfully passed through the rest of the planet.

When it had completed its task, the device lying on the ramp in the SGC's gate room alerted its creators by sending a radio signal to a very distant planet.

*****

Jack O'Neill's head was killing him. It felt like he'd been hit by ten hangovers. He struggled to his feet. Around him, technicians and MP's were also struggling awake. Beside him, Teal'c was clutching his head. Obviously, Junior was having a hard time taking care of the Jaffa.

A few minutes passed before the pain faded somewhat, although not much. Jack checked his watch; they'd been unconscious for two minutes. "Sergeant," Jack said, addressing Peterson, who was rubbing his temples with one hand and checking the gate systems with the other. Peterson glanced over at him and winced. Jack said, "Get a medical team in here." As soon as he got something for the pain, he'd be able to think straight.

He glanced around. All of the marines in the gate room were waking up. He counted them; none of them were missing. He glanced around the control room to see if he could spot everyone he remembered seeing upon entering the room.

"Where's Jonas and the princess?" he asked the room in general. "Teal'c, did you see them go anywhere?"

Teal'c didn't seem to hear him. The Jaffa glanced around the room with a frown marring his features. "Teal'c?"

Teal'c's gaze snapped to him. "O'Neill," he said.

Jack raised a concerned eyebrow. "You all right, big guy?" he asked. "You know, besides the killer headache."

Teal'c said something, only it wasn't in English. He spoke in his native language, the same one that was spoken by the Goa'uld.

"Er…could you repeat that in English, Teal'c?" Jack asked.

Teal'c glanced at him. Jack had a sinking feeling that, although Teal'c had heard the words, he couldn't understand a word of it.

*****

"What's going on?" Jonas demanded, putting a hand on his forehead as it continued to throb. Around him, the people in the control room were regaining consciousness. O'Neill barked a few orders to Sgt. Peterson, but whatever the colonel said, Jonas couldn't make out a word of it. He couldn't understand a word Peterson said back to the colonel; all of it sounded like gibberish.

The colonel said his name, only he seemed to be addressing Teal'c.

"Colonel?" Jonas asked him. His commanding officer didn't seem to notice him.

"Damnit!" Jonas spun around to see Princess Vilandra pacing. "We should have known something like this would happen," she said.

He could understand her. "Your highness?" he asked tentatively.

She stopped and turned to him, startled. "You can understand me?" she asked.

Jonas nodded. "Yes. Do you know what's going on?"

"I might." She glanced around worriedly.

"Why can't I understand anyone?" Jonas asked. He waved his hand in front of Sgt. Peterson's face. The officer didn’t react. "Am I invisible?"

"We both are," Vilandra told him solemnly. "To them, anyway. The Skins must be behind this." She waved at the box still lying on the ramp.

"The Skins? The Antarians' enemy?"

"Yes. They must have found out about the negotiations between my government and Earth's."

"What exactly has happened?"

"The entire planet has been knocked out of whack," Vilandra explained. "That energy wave has probably spread to the entire planet by now. Earth is now in its own pocket dimension. While those outside that dimension, like us, can look in, they can't look out."

Jonas remembered going over SG-1's mission reports from before he joined the team. Jonas easily recalled what he had read about their mission to ____, where Dr. Jackson had somehow become invisible to everyone around him. What Vilandra was describing sounded like Dr. Jackson's description and Major Carter's explanation of the experience.

"That doesn't explain why it sounds like they're speaking gibberish," Jonas pointed out.

"That might have something to do with your nanites," Vilandra answered. "The energy wave may have forced them off-line. Until you can use them again, English will sound like gibberish to you unless you learn the language."

"What about you? If my nanites aren't working, how can we even talk to each other? Do you know Kolownan?"

"No, uh, we use different translation technology," she said quickly.

"Oh. Do you understand what they're saying?"

Vilandra nodded. "Colonel O'Neill has just ordered that all personnel report in."

Jonas glanced back at his friends and teammates. "If I can't understand them, then Teal'c…"

"He can't understand them either," Vilandra confirmed. "Both he and the colonel are just beginning to realize that." She began to pace again. "This is not good. If the Skins did send that device through the stargate, then we don't have a lot of time before the Skins come through themselves."

Hold up. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? "The Skins are coming?"

Vilandra nodded. "They might very well be."

"What plane of existence will they be on?" Jonas asked her.

"That depends. If they want to eliminate one of the Royal Four, then they'll be on the same plane as the two of us. If they wish to inflict damage to Stargate Command. Or, they come be on another plane of existence, one where neither the humans nor we can touch them, and they'll be able to sabotage the SGC and perhaps the rest of the planet without anyone even knowing they're there."

Jonas sat down in the closest empty chair-

-only to fall straight through it onto the ground. Jonas froze as he took it all in. His body was halfway through the seat part of the piece of furniture while his legs were merged with the bottom half of the chair.

Vilandra winced. "Sorry. I guess that answers that question."

Jonas watched, eyes wide, as a technician sat down in the chair, completely unaware that Jonas' head was now sticking up through the man's thighs. "What question?" he asked Vilandra as he tried to stand up. His entire body tingled as he passed through the tech on Jonas' way to his feet. The technician wasn't (phased/fazed) in the least. Jonas' arm tickled.

"Whether we can touch solid objects."

It certainly did, he thought, feeling embarrassed. "Why us?" he asked Vilandra, since she seemed to have a grasp on the situation.

The princess frowned. "I would say that it was because we are aliens, but Teal'c is not on the same plane as us."

"That might have to do with his symbiote," Jonas theorized. "We've encountered technologies that don't work in the presence of a goa'uld-this might be one of them."

Vilandra shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

Jonas glanced hopelessly around at everyone. He really wished he could at least understand what everyone was saying.

He glanced back at the alien princess. He hoped the two of them would be enough to stop whatever came through the Stargate. There was no way the two of them would be able to tell the others about the potential threat from the Skins. Hopefully, they would be able to figure it out on their own. In the meantime, he and Vilandra needed to prepare as much as they could for the Skin's arrival, along with a way to place everyone back on the same plane.

He didn't like their chances.

*****

Weapons…check.

Food, clothing, medicine, and other supplies…check.

Systems…check.

Power outages…none.

Stargate dialing computers…check.

All personnel present and accounted for…big no.

Everyone had reported in as ordered. General Hammond, Sam Carter, and all other necessary personnel had been phoned, woken up, and ordered back to the base. Only two people were missing: Jonas Quinn and Princess Vilandra of Antar's Royal Four.

The Antarians would have to be contacted. General George Hammond, commanding officer of the SGC, wasn't looking forward to that conversation with Prince Rath, the Commander of Antarian Troops. At the moment, an inter-level search was being conducted in search of the two aliens. Col. O'Neill lead one of the two search teams while Major Carter, along with several assistants, was in her lab, studying the alien device that had set off whatever it was. Many NORAD soldiers had been knocked out by the blast from the alien device. Hammond had a meeting with General (look in book) in an hour, and that was another conversation he was not looking forward to.

There was a knock on his door. Hammond called, "Enter." Col. O'Neill walked into his office. "Anything?" the general asked him.

"No, sir," the colonel answered. "Neither Jonas Quinn nor Princess Vilandra are anywhere in Stargate Command."

Hammond sighed. "I was just about to head down to the infirmary to see what Dr. Fraiser has found out concerning Teal'c, then I was going to Major Carter's lab. Care to join me?"

Jonas and Vilandra watched the three men leave the office. "What are they saying?" Jonas asked her, feeling more and more frustrated every minute because he couldn't understand anyone.

"They're going to have to contact Rath eventually," Vilandra said.

"Will they even be able to?" Jonas asked.

"Probably not. That's why we need to be there when they go meet up with them, so we can travel through the Stargate with them and talk to Rath. Since everyone on Earth is out of phase with the rest of the universe, any teams sent through the Stargate to anywhere in the galaxy aren't going to find squat on the other end."

Jonas raised an eyebrow at her phrasing but decided to file it away for later, along with the rest of the Princess Vilandra puzzle. "We should check on Sam," he said. "Er-Major Carter. See if she's found a way to reverse that device's effects."

Jonas was worried about what would happen if they didn't find a way to restore his nanites. He was a linguist, sure, but he wasn't as good as Dr. Jackson-he didn't learn a new language in only a few days. It would take him a month, maybe more, to learn English well enough to speak it and understand it.

Meanwhile, in the infirmary, Dr. Fraiser was giving her report to Jack and Hammond. "It's his nanites, sir," she told the general.

"Care to explain, please?" Jack asked, glancing from her to his friend. The Jaffa glanced at the three of them. His expression was blank.

"As we all know, when the Goa'uld and the Asgard relocated humans from Earth, they planted pieces of nano-technology into their brains," Dr. Fraiser reminded them. "These nanites are harmless. They serve as translators. That is how we are able to communicate with many of the races we meet on a daily basis."

"I thought the theory was that the Stargate had something to do with it?" General Hammond questioned.

Dr. Fraiser nodded. "That was one of the theories, sir, but I don't think that's anything more than a theory. That's not my area of expertise, so I couldn't say that for sure. What I do know is that something went wrong with Teal'c's set of nanites. They've completely switched off."

"Switched off?" Jack repeated, alarmed.

Hammond looked just as concerned. "So they're not translating anything anymore. Teal'c can't understand a word we're saying, and he can't speak a word of English?"

"Afraid not, sir. And, I think it's safe to say that, wherever Jonas is, he might be having the same problem."

"Jonas?" Jack asked, skeptical. "The guy's a linguist, isn't he? He probably doesn’t need any nanites."

Dr. Fraiser shook her head. "He was using them to talk to us just as much as Teal'c was."

Sam walked into the infirmary. Dr. Fraiser told her everything she'd told the general and the colonel, then Sam gave them her report. "I have no idea what that device did, sir, or even how to reverse it," she told them with a despairing look in Teal'c's direction. "There's nothing to go by on the outside except for the symbols, and ___ and ___ (bumbling scientists from 'The Other Guys') can't figure out what they mean."

"I wouldn't trust those two to find the gate room even with a detailed map of the base," Jack muttered.

"Colonel," General Hammond said sternly.

"Sorry, sir," Jack said. He didn't sound very sincere.

"Any theories, Major?" Hammond asked Sam.

"I'm not sure, sir. The device set off some sort of energy wave that effected all SGC personnel and some NORAD personnel as well. What it did, besides deactivate Teal'c's nanites, I can't say for sure until I know more about the device, sir."

"Keep working on it, Major," Hammond told Sam.

"Yes, sir."

*****

"You seem to be very comfortable with Earth-based technology," Jonas commented.

Vilandra gave him a raised eyebrow. "Oh?"

He waved his hand around at his office. The two of them had trailed around after the members of SG-1 for awhile, but once Major Carter had once again settled down in her lab and it looked like Jack and Teal'c were going to be wrestling for awhile, they had left and wondered around the base. They'd eventually wound up in his office.

Jonas nodded. "Yeah. I mean, coming from such an advanced society as yours, I'd expect your reaction to be, uh, different."

Vilandra shrugged slightly, not meeting his eyes. Jonas added that to the growing list of suspicious things about the princess.

Suddenly, the claxons began to blare, accompanied by Sgt. Peterson's warning of, "Unscheduled gate activation!"

Vilandra's eyes went wide. "Damnit! They're here."

Jonas' eyes went wide. "The Skins?" he asked.

She nodded. "Do you know where the surveillance room is?" she asked him.

He blinked in surprise. There was no way she'd know about a room where the security camera's were kept. There were no cameras on her home world…

He nodded. "Let's go, then," she said. "We need to figure out where the Skins will go and what their plan is."

They arrived at the surveillance center and ran straight through the door. Inside, two MP's set in front of television screens, monitoring the cameras set up throughout the base. Jonas pointed out the television that constantly monitored the gate room. One of the MP's sat in front of it, watching it closely for anything that he might spot that the marines in the gate room wouldn't.

Jonas and Vilandra watched as a group of twenty robed figures walked straight through the closed iris and down the ramp. None of the marines lined up at the ramp's base were even aware of the robed aliens' presence.

The aliens walked around or through the marines before walking through the closed doors. Four of the Skins stayed behind to guard the Stargate.

The Skins split up in the two corridors. Two of them headed for the armory. Two entered the control room, one taking up position behind the general while the other stationed himself near the door.

The rest split up, heading for different parts of the SGC: the infirmary, General Hammond's office, Colonel O'Neill's office, the commissary, Major Carter's lab…

…and the surveillance room.

"We need to get out of here," Jonas said unnecessarily. They didn't have any advantages against this group of aliens.

"No time," Vilandra told him. Jonas watched in confusion as Vilandra turned to face the closed door. She raised her hand, palm out. What was she doing?

"Your highness?"

One of the aliens stepped through the door. Jonas immediately took in details. He was humanoid in appearance. Like Vilandra, the Skin wore robes, only his looked lightweight, good for combat. He carried some sort of pistol in his hand.

When he saw Vilandra, he immediately pointed his pistol at her. Before he could fire, though, something Jonas least expected happened.

Vilandra's palm glowed, and suddenly the Skin was flying back through the air and, consequently, through the door. Vilandra ran after him, and Jonas followed.

The Skin lay in the middle of the corridor. He raised himself partially off of the floor, aimed, and fired.

Energy blasts left the barrel, heading straight for them. Jonas and Vilandra both ducked out of the way.

Vilandra raised her hand again, and the alien's weapon flew out of his hand. It landed a few feet away. Jonas glanced at it only to see a heap of steaming molten metal. The alien tried to get to his feet. Jonas kicked him, sending the man sprawling. It was nice to know that all those hours with Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill in the gym were finally paying off.

The Skin was finally unconscious. Jonas glanced up and down the hallway, but no other Skins appeared. Two lieutenants did, though; they turned the corner and walked down, getting closer to Jonas, Vilandra, and the unconscious alien with every footfall. Jonas knew they couldn’t see them, although he really wished they did; he was in the middle of a foothold situation and no one knew it.

"Let's get him into that closet over there," Vilandra said, nodding at the utility closet across the corridor.

"Hold on." Jonas patted the man down and came back with what looked like a remote control of some kind. It was a small box made out of the same material as the device the Skins had initially sent through the gate. The symbols decorating that device were represented on each button on the remote control.

"This looks like it could be a remote for the device in Major Carter's lab," he said.

"It probably is," Vilandra agreed. "Are you going to help me or not?" she asked impatiently.

They dragged the man into the closet. "What did you do to him, anyway?" Jonas asked Vilandra as they reentered the surveillance room. "You know, with your hand."

"My people have special powers," she explained. "I apologize for not sharing them with you before now, but we weren't sure we could trust the SGC with everything. We're still not sure if we can, but under the circumstances…"

"So what kind of powers do you have?"

"Mostly defensive ones," she admitted. "Like the ones you saw."

They turned their attention to the monitors. "We need a plan," Jonas pointed out. "There's still nineteen of them to worry about."

"At least we don't have to worry about any more coming here for now." Vilandra motioned to the screen displaying the gate room. The wormhole had thankfully disengaged.

"Can you read this?" Jonas handed the princess the remote.

Vilandra shook her head. "They're encrypted. The glyphs are Antarian, but the meanings don’t make any sense."

"It's a start. If you tell me what the glyphs mean, I might figure something out, hopefully before the others have a chance to use their remotes on the device and reverse the effects."

"All right. The plan is this: we put them in a position where they're least likely to do the people at the SGC any harm, then we reverse the device's effects. Then we might all have a chance of getting out of this mess."

"Sounds good to me," Jonas agreed.

*****

"Sergeant?" Hammond prompted from behind the technician. He, Teal'c, and O'Neill stood behind Sgt. Peterson in the control room.

"Nothing came through, sir, not even radio waves," the sergeant reported. "Whoever dialed us up decided not to come over, sir."

"Any way of knowing if it was our friends, the senders of the alien device thing?" Colonel O'Neill asked.

"No, sir."

Meanwhile, in Major Carter's lab, Carter was on the brink of hurling the alien device across the room in frustration. The simple fact that she didn't know what it was capable of was all that kept her from carrying out the idea.

On the table beside her computer was a pile of Jonas' notes on the Antarian's language. The symbols, one each on every face of the metal cube, were similar to the glyphs that made up Princess Vilandra's language. Sam recalled every bit of information on translating languages she'd acquired listening, or helping, Daniel. It wasn't enough. The glyphs were similar, but not so alike any of the glyphs recorded in Jonas' notes that they just screamed a connection. Without Jonas, Sam wouldn't get anywhere in that direction. The unfortunate part was that she wasn't getting anywhere in any other directions, either. In other words, she was going nowhere fast.

*****

Jonas and Vilandra peeked around the bend in the corridor. "They've got explosives," Vilandra said, dread in her voice.

They'd had to leave the surveillance room when two of the Skins came searching for their missing man. Now they were at a distinct disadvantage, wondering about without any clue of what they might run into.

Vilandra met Jonas' eyes. "If we're going to pull this off, we have to work together, Mr. Quinn," the princess told him.

Jonas raised an eyebrow. They'd been working together so far…only now they were entrusting their lives to each other for the first time. Jonas had always been a good judge of character, and with the extended amount of time he'd had to study Princess Vilandra's character, he was pretty sure that the Antarian princess wasn't the type to betray those around her.

He gave her one of his smiles. "Your highness, just call me Jonas. Mr. Quinn just sounds wrong."

Vilandra relaxed a little and gave him a small smile. "In that case, stop calling me 'highness' or 'majesty' or any other title. I am not your princess, Jonas. Call me Is-I mean, call me Vilandra."

Jonas gave her a puzzled smile but nodded. She had almost given him a different name than Vilandra; he was sure of it. However, it was not the time to solve that puzzle.

They had to stop the Skins from planting those explosives all over the base before taking over the SGC. They had a plan to carry out, and they had no more time to waste.

"Ready, your…Vilandra?" he asked her. She nodded. Jonas took a deep breath. Then he stepped forward, turned, and started walking down the adjoining corridor.

A pair of Skins knelt in the middle of the hallway, setting up explosives that would have caused minimum damage to the base…if they weren't placing the explosives just outside the door to the armory.

As he walked, Jonas kept his eyes on the ground in front of him and whistled a tune he'd heard on the sci-fi channel the other day. The title of the television had been Star Travels or something…he hadn't really caught the title, although he reminded the tune perfectly. Although if anyone listened to him whistle, that person never would have guessed that.

Jonas pretended not to notice the two aliens as he approached them. Just as he and Vilandra had suspected, the Skins did not know what Jonas looked like, and therefore did not know who to look out for. Vilandra suspected that the Skins were aware that she and Jonas were hiding from them on the base but knew very little else.

He was almost upon them when Jonas suddenly stopped. "Stop what you're doing and it'll be in your favor," he said.

He had their attention. They started in surprise, cursing in Antarian before reaching for their weapons.

Vilandra stepped through the wall behind the two Skins', effectively blocking off both ends of the corridor. She said something back to them before she raised her hand.

The two Skins' weapons went flying out of their grasps. The Skins didn't waste any time on surprise. One rushed at Vilandra, only to go soaring backwards via Vilandra's alien power.

The other Skin used a sweep kick to knock Jonas on his back. The Skin tried to deliver another kick to Jonas' face, but Jonas caught the other alien's leg and pulled. The Skin toppled to the ground on Jonas' left. Jonas rolled over and had to punch the alien several times before he was unconscious.

Jonas took a spare wire from a pile next to the half-assembled bombs and tied the alien's wrists and ankles together. Vilandra approached, looking angry. "He got away," she reported.

That was not good news. With an ability to walk through solid matter, the alien would return to his commander extremely quickly.

Jonas stuffed the explosive materials into a bag the Skins had brought along, then the two of them disappeared through a wall.

The guard stationed just outside the armory glanced from one end of the corridor to the other. It had been silent all night. Even the excitement with the energy wave hadn't been enough to liven his rather boring shift.

*****

"We don't have much time," Vilandra said. "We've already taken care of the bomb squad in the commissary; whatever other bombs they've planted in here will have to wait.

They split up. Jonas headed for the elevators, managing miraculously to catch it before it descended to the lowest level of the SGC. Although he and Vilandra could walk through walls, they had trouble falling through floors - which was a good thing overall.

Jonas just hoped he would get to the general before it was too late.

He had to get to the general before any of the Skins switched on the device sitting in Major Carter's lab. If the Skins did so, they would be at an advantage when Earth was returned to the same dimension as the rest of the cosmos.

The elevator finally stopped on the last floor. Jonas didn't even wait for the doors to open. He ran through them into the corridor, rushing straight through SG teams members and SGC personnel until he reached the steps that led up into the control room. He hurried up them and scanned the cramped space for either aliens in robes or General Hammond.

General Hammond, Teal'c, and Colonel O'Neill stood behind Sgt. Peterson, gazing at the Stargate in the room beyond the glass partition. The Skin that had escaped earlier stood behind them. He was conversing in Antarian with another Skin. The second alien had a pistol aimed at Hammond's back.

Before they even knew he was there, Jonas had rushed them. In three strides, he was pushing the talking Skin aside. The man disappeared into some of the gate equipment. The other Skin began to turn his gun so it was pointed at Jonas, but Jonas wasn't planning on giving him that chance. Jonas tackled him. The two of them fell to the ground with the pistol between them and pointed at the legs of a technician sitting in front of the partition.

The Skin slammed the barrel of the pistol into Jonas' face. Jonas released his hold on the alien to clutch his head and the Skin pushed Jonas off of him. Jonas landed on his back on the ground. His opponent stood up quickly and took aim. Jonas saw the weapon in time to roll out of the way of the blast that exploded from the pistol's barrel.

The deadly surge of energy impacted with the concrete floor…and passed straight through it without leaving any marks. At least the device's effects haven't been reversed yet, Jonas thought. If they had, the alien across from him was still in a position to do major damage.

Jonas rolled completely into the same equipment the third alien had disappeared into. He tried to ignore the motherboards and wires he could imagine sticking out of his body, invisible because there was no light source inside the machinery, and listened.

In the control room, his opponent grasped a pendant hanging from a chain around his neck. He spoke into it, giving a command in Antarian. "Garin, turn it on, now! Everyone into position, mission change #3!"

Jonas rolled into the next room, intending to reenter the control room behind his opponent. He found the third alien lying on the floor in the next room, unconscious. It appeared that he'd banged his head on the concrete.

His pistol lay on the floor next to him.

*****

Vilandra, also known to some as Isabel, ran as fast as she could into Major Carter's lab. She cursed the day she'd agreed to wear the heavy things on formal occasions. If she'd known that the negotiations would become a full-fledged battle with old enemies, she would have been better prepared.

She entered the lab. Major Carter sat bent over the device, studying it intently. The physicist was completely unaware of the alien, Garin, standing behind her, pointing his remote at the device.