After a full day of interviews, the SG-1 team returned to Anesta's Stargate headquarters in their limo. As it pulled to a stop, they were able to see the crowd that had started making its home outside the building come to life again.

"Ready to run the gauntlet?" Jack said, eyeing the crowd outside the headquarters.

"Sir, is it just me, or do they seem to be getting more belligerent every time we come here?" Sam said, looking at the crowd that was brandishing signs.

"Shut Down the Stargate," Daniel read the signs, "No Off-Worlders. Death to SG-1," he said, looking over at the others.

"I'm sure if they saw our netsite, they'd realize what really nice people we are," Jack said. "Sorry - you're right. I think it's time we talked to Tevis about going back to Earth. Besides, I think General Hammond meant for us to get more accomplished than a PR junket."

The door to the limo opened, and Jack stepped out, followed by his team. He tried to ignore the various shouts thrown the team's way as they walked into the headquarters - quickly. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Daniel's head snap back. He grabbed his arm. "You okay?" he said, rushing Daniel into the building.

"Yeah - something hit me," Daniel said, holding the side of his head. Sam and Teal'c joined them.

"What was that?" Sam asked, looking at Daniel. "I think you're going to have a bruise there."

Teal'c handed Jack a small item. "This is what was thrown at Daniel Jackson," he said.

Jack turned the object over and cursed. It was one of the action figures they'd been shown earlier that week, although this one didn't have a head or one arm - and across its chest was written "Die" in what looked like red paint.

"This is out of hand," Jack said. He caught sight of Marla Topkor coming down the hall. "Can I speak to you for a second?"

"Sure!" she said perkily, but sobered when he handed her the action figure. "Oh," she said, looking at them all apologetically. "I guess you'll want to speak with Administrator Tevis," she said.

"You bet," Jack said.

"There are certainly differences of opinion about your involvement with our program."

Jack eyed Administrator Tevis with a scalding glare. "That much is obvious. What I want to know is what you're doing about it."

"We have the best of security standing by to escort your team to your activities from now on. Commander Boknar," he nodded to the man seated next to him. "will make sure that nothing else like this happens."

Jack looked Boknar over; he had the look of a career military man who was distinctly unimpressed with the latest task assigned to him.

"Another good way of making sure nothing else happens is for us to return back to Earth," Jack offered.

The Administrator's face fell. "Colonel O'Neill, what can I do to convince you that we are taking precautions to ensure your safety while on our world?"

"That wasn't really where I was going with this. It's just - why add fuel to the fire? We'll just go back to Earth."

Tevis shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, of course that would be fine, but..."

"We're booked," Daniel added helpfully, with a glance over to Jack.

Jack sighed. "Okay - for how much longer? When can we wrap things up and get out of here?"

"Just two more days, Colonel. Contrary to what it must seem like, there are people on this world who are very interested in the program and are happy that you've become our mentors, for lack of a better word."

"We'll have someone help step up your schedule," Commander Boknar said.

Jack leaned back in his chair, looking at his team. "That okay with all of you?" he asked.

Daniel and Teal'c nodded, and Sam spoke. "It's the least we can do, sir."

"Okay," Jack agreed. "Two more days."

Jack leaned his head back against the limo's seat and sighed. "Well, campers, I would say that our sixty seconds of fame are now officially over." Without even looking at Teal'c, he continued. "Just an expression - I realize it was more like a week."

"Seems like much longer," Daniel said, looking out the window.

"I hate to say this, but it will be good to get back," Sam said. Then she caught Commander Boknar's glance out of the corner of her eye. "Not that we haven't enjoyed the time we've spent on Anesta," she quickly amended.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Major Carter," Boknar replied.

Jack looked over at him. Yeah, he's going to be damn glad to see the backs of us, he thought. Hell, I'd feel the same way if someone made our SGC a circus like we've done to his this past week.

"We do appreciate the time you and your men have given up to escort us these past few days," Daniel said diplomatically.

"Indeed," Teal'c added.

"Don't mention it. Guess I'll be seeing you guys again when you come back for the movie premiere?" Commander Boknar asked dryly.

Jack winced. "I think we'll catch it on video." The limo pulled to a stop in front of Stargate Headquarters.

"I'll get my men into place, and then we'll come back for you," Commander Boknar said, opening the door.

"Sure," Jack said. "Warm them up for us," he joked, trying to ignore the shouts that were directed their way from the crowd outside. The door slammed shut, leaving them alone.

Jack looked around at his team's tense faces. "Relax. They're harmless, I'm sure."

"Then why do we have a six man security detail following us around?" Daniel said.

Sam echoed him as she followed. "There's no place like home."

The team left the limo and started the walk toward the front doors of the headquarters. Suddenly, the crack of gunfire split the air, causing the crowd to utter a collective cry and duck down to the pavement.

Jack spun around as he heard the shots fired. "Get down, get down!" he yelled to everyone. As he turned, he saw Sam stagger.

"Major!" he yelled, trying to reach her as clutched the front of her shirt and fell backwards onto the pavement. Their escorts scattered around, trying to identify a shooter as the shots continued. Jack pushed past them as they tried to force him to the ground, ignoring the cries around him as he made his way to Sam's side. He grabbed her, pulling her out of the line of fire as a shockwave of pain sliced through his leg. He succeeded in dragging the two of them behind the car, then looked around for the rest of his team.

He then realized that one of the cries he'd heard had been Daniel, who lay in the street holding his stomach. Teal'c, already hit himself in the back, was trying to pull Daniel to safety when another shot hit him in the chest, and he crumpled to the ground.

"Daniel!" Jack cried, reaching out his hand for him. Daniel looked up and reached out for Jack, but before he could crawl Jack's way, another shot slammed into his back. He slipped to the ground beside Teal'c.

"No!" Jack said, still holding Sam close. This couldn't be happening, he told himself. His leg throbbed, but not with the pain he'd felt before when he was shot. Just a cold, numbing ache. Sam lay face down across his lap, not moving. Daniel and Teal'c lay only feet from him, sprawled in the street. God, Jack thought, so much blood....

He gasped as another shot hit him in the chest, knocking the air from him. He looked down; blood had splattered across his shirt and onto Sam from where he'd been wounded. His head spun, and he tried to stay alert as the guards in the escort crowded around him. No, his mind screamed, as he tried to pull Sam's body closer, Can't be happening, this can't be....

His head finally dropped down onto his chest as they knelt beside him.

"My God," Commander Boknar said, surveying the scene around him as the escorts knelt beside the members of SG-1. "Get them into the headquarters, to the infirmary. Now, move!" he said, looking around him. "And get those damn reporters off this street. Make sure no one else was hurt," he said.

"We didn't get the shooters, sir - they're gone," one of his men said.

"There's going to be hell to pay for this," Boknar said, looking around him.

"Colonel O'Neill."

Jack stirred as his shoulder was shaken. He opened his eyes and tried to focus. "Teal'c?"

"It is I," Teal'c said, sitting down by his bedside. "How are you feeling?"

Jack felt his chest. His shirt was still covered in blood, dried now - but there was no wound. He sat up quickly, and besides some soreness and what looked to be a mild burn, he was basically fine. Alive.

"No hole," he said to Teal'c in surprise. "What the hell happened?"

"A curious weapon," Teal'c said. "The projectiles were filled with a substance to imitate blood. There was a slight explosive force that simulated the appearance of a wound similar to your Earth rifles."

"Like a pellet gun with teeth," Jack mumbled. "So what knocked us out?"

"A topical anesthetic in the substance," Teal'c replied. "A powerful one."

He looked around. "How's..."

"I'm fine, Sir," Sam said, sitting up. "Just a little woozy."

"Daniel?"

"I'm okay," he said, covering his eyes with his hand.

"So why did someone want to do this?" Jack said. "Kidnap us, I mean - make it look like we were killed in an attack?"

"Maybe someone wants to know what we know about the Stargate," Daniel said.

"One of those groups protesting outside their headquarters," Sam said.

"No - it doesn't add up," Jack said, rubbing the bruise on his leg. "They wouldn't have been able to get us out of that crowd."

"Unless they were driving the ambulances that took us away," Daniel said, as he looked around the room. "This kind of looks like a hospital ward."

"Minus any doctors," Jack said. The room held several beds and a TV was mounted high on one wall. "See a remote for that thing?"

Daniel reached over and picked a remote up from a side table and clicked on the TV as Jack went to check the windows. Locked. Teal'c confirmed that the door was also locked.

"Uh, Jack - I think you better see this," Daniel said, turning the sound on the TV higher.

"Tragedy struck the Stargate program today as the SG-1 team from Planet Earth was gunned down in front of Stargate Headquarters downtown." The reporter cut to the footage of the shooting, in all its graphic glory.

"Ugh," Sam said, "that even looked real to me."

"Reports from authorities have confirmed that none of the team survived this brutal attack. It is indeed a great loss for us and for Earth. No one has come forward to take responsibility for the attack, and there is no word yet on the response from Earth to this atrocity."

"I hope they don't send that video through to the SGC and General Hammond," Daniel said.

"Administrator Tevis and the Stargate program commander are preparing to make a live statement. We're taking you directly to the pressroom."

"This ought to be good," Jack said.

Administrator Tevis and Commander Boknar sat grimly at a small table in the pressroom, surrounded by camera lenses and microphones.

"As you have probably heard and seen from the current TransVision stories, a great tragedy has occurred here at Stargate headquarters. A team of explorers from the Planet Earth who had been partnering with us for several months, and who had come to be known well in the public eye, were murdered today in front of our very door. Although no one has yet taken responsibility for this horrible act of violence, we must all contemplate the part we might have had in this event. By making them celebrities, we made them targets of those who had reason to hate this program and all it stands for. Our sympathies and greatest apologies have been sent to Earth, who in response have formally broken off relations with this planet. We can only hope that there will be no retaliation for the loss of this team, their best and brightest."

Commander Boknar continued where Tevis left off. "Such a tragedy has caused us to rethink the purpose and the value of the endeavors here. The program itself has not been without controversy in the past. We have therefore made the decision that the Stargate Program will be placed on indefinite suspension, pending a formal investigation of its mission and objectives."

"Whoa," Sam said. "Shut the whole program down?"

"But we're okay," Daniel said, "Once they find out....wait a minute. They do know," he finished.

"Yeah," Jack said. "They know all right, Daniel."

"Then they staged all this - why?" Sam asked.

"Maybe we were a little too popular," Jack said. He turned as the door opened and Marla walked in.

"Administrator Tevis sent me to check on you," she said. "How are you doing?"

"Oh - fine. For just having been assassinated," Jack said, kicking a chair out of his way. "After he finishes his heartfelt little speech on TV, I'd like to see Administrator Tevis. Think you can arrange that?" he spat out.

She ducked out of the room before Jack could say any more.

The SG-1 team sat around a table with Administrator Tevis and Commander Boknar, who, to their credit, did manage to look somewhat guilty.

"We needed to have a reason to shut down the program. Something as extreme as this would give us just cause," Tevis said.

"You're shutting down your program?" Jack said. "Because of a few action figures?"

"No, Colonel O'Neill - it's more than that. Since the program started, we've had leaks everywhere. I see what our teams have found on TV before I hear it in the briefing. There's no way to keep a lid on it. We're required to have press coverage of all team launches and returns. Some of our data from remote feeds goes right on PlanetNet." Tevis sighed. "We've also had breaches here - people sneaking into the facility, trying to go through the gate. We have bomb scares every other day, it seems, from radical groups who think the Stargate is undermining our way of life. For the safety of my people, I had to do something."

"You could have let us in on the plan - we would have helped," Jack said.

"We needed it to look realistic, and didn't want to depend on your acting skills," Boknar said.

"Hey - I think I'm a pretty good actor," Jack protested.

"Me too," Sam said.

"I could have done it," Daniel agreed.

"My performance might have been lacking," Teal'c said.

"The good news is that the media believed it. After the initial flurry over this, things will slowly die out, and we can restart the program in a secured situation." He stood up. "Please accept our apologies for everything that has happened here. We hope that we can maintain at least a friendly relationship with your planet in the future, if not work together on projects."

"I guess I can see things from your viewpoint, Tevis," Jack said. "I'm going to recommend that we not break off contact with Anesta for future projects. We'll just....keep a lower profile next time."

"We all will, Colonel."

"I guess this means no more dinners out at that nice little restaurant by the pier," Jack said.

Tevis gave him an apologetic smile. "The price of fame, Colonel."