The Roman Touch [Ant+Harb]

[Harbinger]

It was hours later before a call came for Jack to come to the Infirmary. The place was somewhat busy and as soon as Lam saw him enter, she moved over. The Airman that Jack had helped was on a bed hooked up the machine where it ran with a slow beeping sound. Lam's expression looked grim.

[Anteyra]

Jack did not look happy. Seeing the airman in such a condition was certainly not a good sign. He sighed heavily and move to Doctor Lam. "All right, Doc." He placed his hands in his trouser pockets as he waited. "What's the news?" He queried and removed one hand to rub his eyes.

[Harbinger]

She glanced at the prostrate airman and then waved Jack to one side, "I've not seen anything like this since the disease that the Ori orchestrated," she said quietly which spoke volumes about the gravity of the situation. "It's been a nightmare trying to isolate what it is exactly that's causing it, but I think it's a virus and one that can hide itself well enough to appear as if normal til it reaches a certain stage" she frowned.

[Anteyra]

With a slight frown, Jack followed Carolyn and hung his head as he listened to her report on the situation. "Damn it." He muttered, it was what he had feared. "Let me guess, our Roman guests brought it with them?" He didn't wait for an answer as he asked another question. "How is it transmitted?"

[Harbinger]

She nodded, "I thought that as well. This airman's had the most contact with them. I've asked them to be brought down see if it's affecting them or whether they have a natural immunity we can use. "

She frowned and shrugged, "I think touch or by air is most likely"

[Anteyra]

"Great." He rubbed a hand down his face. "I'll contact SG1, they've also had a lot of contact with Vorenus. Thanks Doc." He turned and began heading back up to his office, spotting Daniel along the corridor up ahead of him. "Hey, Daniel!" He called out, still with one hand in his pocket.

[Harbinger]

She gave a rueful and sad smile before glancing back to trying to keep the airman alive.

Daniel walked along, that photograph very much a thought on his mind and he held a book in his hand, idly reading as he walked. He glanced up and strolled to a stop, "Hey Jack." it was then he noticed the dour expression. "What's up?" he asked softly, worried notes in his inflections.

[Anteyra]

"You and the rest of your team need to get down to the infirmary. We've got a virus on the base, looks like Vorenus and his men brought it through, so anyone whose had contact with them needs to get checked out." He replied, passing on the relevant information to his good friend. "One Airman's already in a bad way, so get there quick."

[Harbinger]

"What?" he blinked and scowled, eyes pressing to see if this was some kind of joke but the expression on his friend's face said it all. "sure, I'll get right to it." he nodded "You letting Sam and Valla know?" he asked, not knowing if Teal'c or Cameron had much contact with the Centurion and his two legionaries.

[Anteyra]

"Yeah, if you see them before though, pass it on. It's either an airborne or contact transmission, so try not to touch anyone." He patted Daniel on the shoulder, in the hopes of giving some sort of comfort to his friend and to himself. "I'll be getting looked at once I've passed the message on to all the necessary people."

[Harbinger]

Daniel nodded, "See that you do," the comment of wary concern. He continued on to the infirmary and he frowned when he saw the Airman, the same one that had escorted Vorenus to and from his cell and room. He sighed heavily and shook his head. He turned and spotted Lam, "When did this all happen?"

[Anteyra]

Doctor Lam moved over to Daniel, already starting to feel a little weary from all the tests she was having to do. "About four hours ago." She replied, her hands in the pockets of her white lab coat. "And judging by how few people have come down with this, meaning one so far, I've got to say it's being transmitted by contact. Getting SG1 tested is my top priority right now as I know your team's had the most contact with them."

[Harbinger]

Daniel nodded, "Then it's best to get this done then" he replied moving with her to another bed, hopping up onto it before allowing her to take what she needed. A virus that spread by touch... He din't recal touching Vorenus or his men but he had handled the man's scrunched up piece of parchment and the trinket Vala had stolen. He frowned in thought.

[Anteyra]

Carolyn managed a small smile as Daniel hopped up onto the bed without any fuss. He was definitely one of the easiest patients she had ever had. After rolling up his left sleeve and wrapping an elastic band around his upper band she grabbed the needle and held his arm, carefully injecting the needle into the crook of the elbow, hitting the vein without any problem. She then carefully withdrew the amount of blood she'd need for testing and then withdrew the needle, grabbing a cotton bud and holding it against the injection site. "Make sure that you tell anyone that you've had contact with to come and see me so that I can test them too. The sooner we get this contained and dealt with the better."

[Harbinger]

He watched as she worked, not making any kind of fuss at all. He nodded, and then thought for a moment, "I, um, had dinner with a friend of mine last night," he recalled and frowned at the complications if he had given whatever this was to her. If he was a carrier at all. Movement caught his eye as Vorenus and his two Legionaries entered. They looked strange just wearing their tunics. He frowned before looking back to Carolyn.

[Anteyra]

"A friend?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you have any..." She paused to try and think of the most delicate way of wording her question. "... physical contact?" She asked as she passed the vial to one of her nurses. "Get this tested right away."

"Yes doctor." The nurse replied, and headed off to a back room where the testing could be done.

[Harbinger]

He tried to think back and winced, "I can't remember, might have done," why the hell couldn;t he remember something so trivial

[Anteyra]

"I'm guessing this friend doesn't know anything about the Stargate?" She asked. the situation was already starting to turn into a very bad one if it was already off the base and with a civilian who had no idea of what went on in the old missile silo under Cheyenne Mountain. Getting her tested could prove very difficult and a cover story was most likely going to have to be invented.

[Harbinger]

"Pretty much, though her grandfather was involved in the dig at Giza, weirdly enough," he replied, sighing

[Anteyra]

"Great." She sighed sarcastically. "You're gonna have to get permission from General O'Neill to get off base and get her." Her eyes glanced up as she detected movement by the door. "Speak of the devil." She moved away from Daniel and over to the rest of the SGC's flag team, and the General.

[Harbinger]

Vorenus na dhis men had since been moved to apart of the infirmary where they were in isolation with no understanding asto what was going on

Daniel sighed and nodded, flexing his arm onc the bleeding stopped. He glanced behind him and frowned, this was going to go down well. He slowly followed as Jack frowned back. "Well?" Jack asked, eyespeering to Daniel.

[Anteyra]

Carolyn indicated the spare beds to each of the patients. "This won't take long. Just need to get a blood sample from each of you." She replied.

"Do I need to put the base on lockdown?" Jack queried as he was the first to make his way to an empty bed. That was his main concern. He didn't like it when he had to do that, and the President certainly didn't like it when the base had to go on lockdown.

Thinking for a second or two she shook her head. "Not yet." She looked to Daniel. "But I think Doctor Jackson has a question for you."

"Oh? Daniel?" He sat and waited for the question as Doctor Lam began the process for extracting a sample of blood from Jack.

[Harbinger]

They sat and awaited turn.

Daniel shifted his stance and nodded, "Yeah... I had dinner with someone last night... It's possible she might have whatever this is. There is question of making sure she's all right," he replied with concern. If she wasn't seen to and she had it then she would carry it on.

[Anteyra]

Jack sighed a little bit. He was happy that Daniel had had a good evening, but for now he'd have to ignore that as they had a bigger problem. He scratched the top of his head as the good doctor drew his blood and then moved onto Colonel Mitchell.

"A date, Jackson, good for you!" Cam smiled.

Jack only nodded his head at the younger man's comment.... obviously Mitchell didn't quite share the General's concerns. "You'd better go and find her then." He sighed heavily, now racking his brains to try and come up with an on-the-spot excuse for bringing a civilian down here. it was too dangerous to go to a regular hospital with something that wasn't indigenous to Earth, but he was having great difficulty trying to think of anything.

Sam stepped forward with an idea and she perched on her bed awaiting her turn. "You could say you're inviting Miss Donovan here to look at your archaeology research." She suggested. "And the whole blood testing thing could just be a precaution." Sam added and Doctor Lam moved to her, letting Mitchell leave and Teal'c took his place on the bed.

"Sounds good to me!" Jack called as he moved to the phone and rang Sergeant Harriman. "Walter... I need you to start contacting all off world teams, and inform them that they need to use the Beta Site until further notice." He replaced the receiver back and turned to look at the group. "You've got one hour Daniel. If you're not back by then there'll be trouble!" And with that he left for his office.

[Harbinger]

Daniel nodded with a glum expression that only lit up briefly at Sam's suggestion. The idea he had given Taryn some unknown disease with no known cure but it was imperative she was brought back to base. He gave Mitchell a glance, blushing before before he left the infirmary, getting his phone out and texted Taryn. "Hey Taryn, I have a free day, would you like to come and see my archaeological research. Could help with that photograph." he sent it as he made his way to get his keys and made his ways to the top level.

Vorenus paced in their isolation looking a little more than simply miffed. The manner in which they had been retrieved and brought here had been suspicious and they hadn't been informed as to why they had been confined again. He came to the door, arms crossed against his chest. he was clad simply in his tunic and frowned before one of his men sputtered and coughed behind him. He turned as Marcus moved to help his comrade. The man collapsed heavily to the ground and Vorenus scowled before he banged on the door. "I need help in here! Now!" he hollered urgently, glancing with concern that only increased as the man trembled and convulsed slightly, crying out incoherently.

[Anteyra]

For Daniel's entire journey to her house, he got no reply to his text. It was left unanswered, and for Taryn Donovan, that was not normal.

During the morning, whilst she had been going about her daily chores, she had suddenly began to feel quite strange. She made her way over to the kitchen sink and poured out some water, thinking she was just getting a little dehydrated. After taking a couple of sips and moving way, blackness enveloped her and she collapsed to the floor, hitting her head on the edge of the counter on her way down. The glass in her hand fell and the contents spilled as it rolled on the floor without breaking. There she lay. Her phone soon buzzed, but she couldn't answer it.


The airmen's response was quick as they opened the door and allowed the nurses, who were wearing gloves, to enter the room. "What happened?" One of the nurses queried as she bent down and began to look over the man.

[Harbinger]

He tried once. He tried twice and more times before he chucked the phone into the passenger seat and put hid foot on the gas. It seemed an age before he arrived and ran up to her front door. He pressed the buzzer and go response. he tried to peer through the letterbox to see if she was there even if he could see her, "TAryn! You there!?"

Vorenus moved out of the way as did Marcus, of whom answered in answer to Vorenius' nod, "I don't know! Quintus was fine a moment ago, and he then he gets this look. Like when you stare but don't see all the same. He then coughed and collapsed," the young man ran a hand through his hair with clear worry. It was clear that Quintus was close to him. Lucius frowned before he looked at the nurse.

"Is there something I should know, orderly?" he asked in that tone than demanded truth. If whatever this was that was affected their people was cause for his man's demise then he had a right to know.

[Anteyra]

The nurse just looked at Vorenus. "I don't know." She replied. she was just a nurse. If there was anything to tell then it was up to Doctor Lam or General O'Neill to tell them. She then turned her attention back to the patient checking him over for any responses or what his symptoms were in order to try and treat him. "Quintus? Quintus, can you hear me?" She asked, having picked up the man's name from his friend. "Get Doctor Lam here immediately!" She spoke to one of the airmen and he dashed off to fulfil the order.



There was no response. The house was quiet, but by looking in through the letterbox, it was possible to see the phone sitting on the table, a phone that Taryn took everywhere with her. It was also possible to just about see the glass lying on the floor and the small pool of water on the floor.

[Harbinger]

It was enough to gain response from Daniel who searched under the mat and pots before giving up and slammed the door open. It took several attempts but the lock gave and the door swung open. He surged forwards and found her, his hand going to her neck to check her pulse before he phoned the base and informed them of what happened and that he was on his way. He then collected her from the floor before hurrying back to his waiting car and got her back to the SGC as fast as traffic would let him.



"Then get someone who does!" he advanced before he caught the added advance of one of the airmen and his ears tinged with the rebuke. The downed man gave no response to the nurse and his skin had become like a soft wet sheen to it that didnt look healthy at all. Moments later Lam entered and took one look. "Get him on a bed, now!" Vorenus and Marcus both moved to help lift the stocky man from the floor.

[Anteyra]

The doctor sighed heavily and looked at the other two Romans. "Have either of you seen symptoms like this before?" She asked as she took the stethoscope from around her neck and put one end against Quintus' chest and the other end into her ears to listen to both his heart beat and his breathing.


Taryn's pulse was slightly slower than normal but it was still easily detectable. Her skin had also paled but was warmer to the touch, obviously she was fighting off something foreign to her immune system, and right now it looked like whatever it was was winning the battle. She was completely unresponsive to anything around her. Her body hung limply as Daniel carried her to his car, and she didn't stir. Unknown to Doctor Jackson as he drove back to the base, her heart beat was slowly decreasing.