Story By: Katharyn Powers ; Teleplay By: Joseph Mallozzi & Paul Mullie
Directed By: Peter DeLuise
Guest Stars: Colin Cunningham, Peter Fleming with Ronny Cox as Senator Kinsey and Teryl Rothery as Dr Frasier

THE PLOT

Flashbacks to Chain Reaction & 2001

Someone is unpacking a gun while Senator Kinsey is leaving a conference. They load the gun up and aim it at Kinsey, they shoot him. Jack leaves a nearby building.

At SGC, Sam, Teal'c & Jonas are watching a program about Kinsey's assassination. O'Neill arrives back from his vacation and asks what is going on. Hammond arrives with some guards and tells Jack that they are here to arrest him for Kinsey's murder.

The others go upstairs and discuss how it couldn't be Jack, he was no where near the incident. Major Davis is there with a video, it shows Jack leaving the hotel opposite the shooting. They have also questioned O'Neill's neighbours who saw him dumping something in a river near his house, upon recovering it they found it contained the gun that shot Kinsey. Teal'c says that any info to clear O'Neill would be hard to release as it could jeopardise the stargate. Hammond suspends SG-1's duties and tells them they can use SGC to get to the bottom of it.

Jonas and Teal'c go to see O'Neill, he tells them that he was totally alone on his vacation. Back at SGC they talk about the possibility of the mimic devices being used (see 'Foothold'), they are presently at Area 51. Sam goes to check them out and finds that they are fakes, all 12 have been replaced. Sam & Jonas go to see O'Neill, they tell him what they have found out. Even though they can't release the information they can use it to find the assassin.

Back at SGC, Teal'c & Jonas check out the people who had worked on the mimic devices. Sam meanwhile goes to NID headquarters to meet an Agent Barratt. Jonas & Teal'c find out that there were 8 scientists working on the devices, most of them were transferred to the X-303 project but one of them was killed in an accident before the transfer took place, they don't believe it to be a coincidence. Sam meanwhile appears to get nowhere with Barratt, however at the end of the conversation he passes her a note saying to meet in a nearby park.

Barratt tells Sam that there is a cancer in the NID and that it operates outside the law. This shadow operation was behind the Prometheus incident and after that Barratt was called to the White House, he was told to find out how far the corruption went and to clean it up. He blackmailed Kinsey who knew names of people involved, however Kinsey hadn't yet given him the information.

Frasier has been looking over the medical report of the body found when the scientist, Dr Langham, was killed. She tells Hammond, Jonas & Teal'c that it wasn't his body as Langham was an epileptic and was on drugs, the body didn't contain any. Jonas & Teal'c are tasked with finding him.

Barratt takes Sam to see an arms dealer who would be the only person who could have sold the weapon that took out Kinsey. They show him a picture of O'Neill, he says that was the man who purchased it. Sam asks if any other weapons were looked at, one other was. When she finds out that it was touched by the buyer without gloves she buys it. They find some partial prints on the weapon, they are not O'Neill's. Barratt takes the disc with the info on to check against NID records. He finds they match an NID agent called Devlin.

Jonas & Teal'c have managed to track down Dr Langham. They go to his house but a different man answers. As they leaves Jonas realises that the man was one of the guards at the SGC when he first arrived, it must be one of the mimic devices in use. They manage to catch the man, it is indeed Langham. Back at the SGC Teal'c interrogates Langham, he wants to know who wanted Kinsey dead. Langham refuses to say anything but after Teal'c just sits there staring at him he volunteers all the info.

Sam & Barratt go to see Devlin. He sees them coming and leaves the house, inside they find a bomb and get out just before it explodes. Langham meanwhile is telling Hammond, Jonas & Teal'c that a group called 'The Committee' were behind the stealing of the mimic devices. The Committee are business men who sell & develop alien technologies that come from the stargate. They are the power behind the NID.

Sam tells Barratt about the mimic devices and he tells her that Kinsey is actually not dead but in a coma. They must find the culprits. Barratt tells Sam that Major Davies is going to the hospital, however he is one of the people that can be duplicated.

Devlin goes to the hospital and puts on a mimic device, he turns into Davis. He gets into Kinsey's room and attaches a silencer to his gun.

Later Devlin is talking to The Committee, he tells them Kinsey is dead. They discuss the fact that Hammond needs to be removed from the Stargate project and replaced with someone more sympathetic. They decide that as they now know about the mimic devices they will just have to 'persuade' him to step down. They tell Devlin that if he refuses he is to be killed. Meanwhile we see that Devlin was actually captured in the hospital by Sam & Barratt, it is actually Sam impersonating Devlin. As the holographic mimic fails, she tells the men that Hammond sends his regards and a load of armed men burst in.

Kinsey has fully recovered from his ordeal and meets with Jack. He is gloating and tells Jack that he will make him a hero. They appear together at a press conference and shake hands, much to Jack's disgust. Kinsey turns to Jack and tells him that Jack has just won him the election.