Five days to zero hour: Brig. Gen. Jack O'Neill is having a busy time managing his new duties as head of Stargate Command — even with Radar O'Reilly-like help from the familiar 'gate-room technician, Sgt. Walter Harriman (whose surname in previous episodes was Davis). The president is coming, and O'Neill is up to his behind in paperwork, in food and bunting approvals and in debriefing SG-2, just back from its mission to planet P8F-809.
But at least O'Neill has a new administrative aide: former CIA analyst Mark Gilmor, assigned to this post by former SGC commanding officer Gen. George Hammond. After O'Neill leaves for yet another meeting, Gilmor places a mysterious phone call, telling the person at the other end that O'Neill doesn't suspect a thing.
Later, after cajoling from SG scientist Dr. Seymour Lee, O'Neill reluctantly authorizes the arrival of an alien plant that SG-8 brought from P6J-908 for analysis.
Lt. Col. Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Teal'c inform O'Neill they have a stargate address in the former domain of the recently defeated Goa'uld system lord Anubis — a site that his power-mad rival Ba'al apparently hasn't claimed yet and which might be home to an abandoned base where a cache of Goa'uld weapons might exist. Teal'c has a Jaffa ring-activation device that should give them access into the base. But with 14 SG teams all offworld and unavailable for backup, O'Neill holds the mission back one day — which irritates his old teammates, who believe even that might be too long a delay.
O'Neill has enough problems: Dr. Lee's seedling has become a full-grown plant in just a few hours, and SG-5, led by Maj. Davis, has just brought two delegates from the planet Amra to negotiate a trade agreement with Earth. After an hour of the two bickering with each other, O'Neill locks them in a room until they come to an agreement. That doesn't turn out well.
Four days to zero hour: SG-1 embarks, with the marine-combat unit SG-3, led by Col. Reynolds, as backup. On the planet, Carter order SG-3 to guard the stargate while she, Teal'c, and Daniel move out. Shortly afterward, unable to raise SG-1 on radio, Reynolds and two of his men, Peterson and Bosco, find themselves buzzed by a Goa'uld Alkesh fighter. O'Neill sends SG-10 and SG-12 to the planet as backup.
Meanwhile, Dr. Lee's plant has grown to immense portions, seemingly reacting to light. It has taken over the entire level and is using the ventilation shafts to spread airborne spoors. Then Ba'al projects his holographic image through the stargate to tell O'Neill that he has captured SG-1 and will exchange them for system lord Camulus, who had requested asylum on Earth.
Three days to zero hour: Camulus won't cooperate. O'Neill plays a gambit and ushers Camulus to the stargate, but Camulus seems perfectly willing to be given to his enemy. After O'Neill locks him back up, Camulus, saying he didn't expect asylum would mean imprisonment, tells O'Neill of a planet with an Ancient device. Camulus had bragged about it, and this is probably what Ba'al is after.
SG-3 goes to the planet and returns with a half-charged Zero Point Module (ZPM) — the Ancient power source that is the only thing powerful enough to activate the Ancient weapons SG-1 found at Antarctica. Then the lights go out. The plant is now in the walls and is interfering with power and communication. That's when Ba'al comes through to say time is up. O'Neill says some of the stargate systems are fried and dialing out is impossible — buying SGC another day.
Later, Reynolds and Maj. Davis remind O'Neill of the poison formula that the Tok'ra developed to kill Goa'uld, and which was provided to SGC two years ago. There is enough at Area 51 to negate a sizable enemy force on three planets. The problem is, no one knows on which planet SG-1 is being held. The attack would be a major one and could provoke another attack on Earth. But Stargate Command now possesses the ZPM that could power up the ultimate Ancient weapon.
Dr. Lee learns that gamma radiation seems to work on the plant, and he prepares a method of delivering a strong enough level to the entire base. Nonessential personnel have to be evacuated and everyone who remains will need to wear protective suits. The president's visit is cancelled. O'Neill, overwhelmed, finishes writing up his resignation letter to Hammond.
Gilmor informs O'Neill that the plant has been eradicated and stargate dial-up restored. O'Neill is about to keep his word and send Camulus through when Dr. Lee suddenly informs O'Neill that the radiation used to kill the plant has illuminated a foreign substance in the ZPM. An electrical charge applied to samples scraped off the ZPM causes the fragments to explode — the ZPM is booby-trapped and, if placed in the Ancient chair in Antarctica, would explode with enough force to destroy the planet. That's why Camulus was so eager to leave: Not having been able to make the device work, he'd made sure no one else could, either.
O'Neill confronts Camulus and strikes a deal: Trade the Ancient device for the lives of SG-1 and have Camulus use it to kill Ba'al. Reynolds escorts Camulus to a neutral planet where he and the ZPM are turned over. However, SG-1 is not returned.
One day to zero hour: The invasion is set to begin. Just then, SG-1 makes contact via radio. They're under heavy fire, and their Dial-Home Device (DHD) is inaccessible. Carter requests the iris be opened. O'Neill hesitates — they've been in enemy hands and their iris codes might have been compromised. Daniel replies they were never near Ba'al — they're on P2X-887, and have been trapped inside Anubis' secret base all this time. When they finally got out, there was a Jaffa ambush waiting for them.
O'Neill reconsiders and opens the iris. SG-1 comes home. Later, Carter informs O'Neill that, after reviewing Dr. Lee's notes, the booby-trapped ZPM now in Ba'al's possession turns out to be powerful enough to destroy the entire solar system. Which is exactly, O'Neill explains, why he instead gave Camulus the depleted ZPM they had on hand. Ba'al really won't like Camulus handing him that.
As O'Neill gets ready to prepare for the president's arrival, Gilmor reveals that he himself was sent by the president to evaluate O'Neill's performance before the change in command was officially announced. O'Neill, however, already knew that — Hammond had warned him.
O'Neill revises his resignation letter to read, "Never mind."
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STEVE BACIC | ...... | Camulus |
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DAVID KAUFMAN | ...... | Mark Gilmor |
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BILL DOW | ...... | Dr. Seymour Lee |
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ERIC BREKER | ...... | Col. Reynolds (SG-3) |
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COLIN CUNNINGHAM | ...... | Maj. Davis (SG-5) |
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CLIFF SIMON | ...... | Ba'al |
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MICHAEL RYAN | ...... | John Prior
(President's Advance Man) |
JESAI JAYHMES,
JAMES ASHCROFT | ...... | Amra Delegates |
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DAN SHEA | ...... | Sgt. Siler |
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GARY JONES | ...... | Sgt. Walter Harriman (Technician) |
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PIERRE BERNARD | ...... | Technician #2 |
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KEN KIRZINGER | ...... | Jaffa |
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Written by | ...... | Robert Cooper |
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Director | ...... | Peter Woeste |
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