Outbreak

Introduction
This Living Spycraft serial is a crossover with the Stargate SG-1 universe and several events and characters derived from this series. The main "villains" represented here are the replicators, which first appear in the Stargate SG-1 episode, "Nemesis."

Previously, in episode 3.22: "Nemesis" and 4.1: "Small Victories," the Asgard vessel Biliskner crashed into the Pacific Ocean 400 miles off the coast of California, with both the replicators and Stargate Command (SGC)'s Giza Stargate aboard. Several replicators survived the crash and took over the Russian submarine Blackbird. While SG-1 members dealt with the alien threat, the Russian Navy swept the ocean and secretly recovered the Stargate (believed by the Americans to be destroyed). The Russians also recovered three damaged replicators and slipped them into stasis before they could revive. Although the SGC later learned the Russians held the Giza Stargate (in episode 4.7: "Watergate"), they as yet remain unaware the Russians possess replicators as well.

After the Russian government acquired SGC reports of the replicator incident and realized how dangerous the creatures were, they performed a few tentative experiments then shut the project down six months later. One researcher, Karil Fedorov, was too intrigued to let go, however, and went to Katerina Forlova, a Russian Mafia boss who used drones to commit thefts. Federov negotiated with Forlova to write off her sizeable Mafia debts and continue working on the replicators in exchange for the creatures' use in the criminal's activities.

Before the Russian military program closed down completely, Karil used his security clearance to slip in and remove the three inert replicators, taking them to his apartment where he met with Forlova's henchman, Pavel Denisov. Denisov escorted Pavel to Forlova's current base of operations, and old monastery 20 miles outside of Moscow. The theft was discovered six hours later and Colonel Chekov, head of the Russian Stargate program launched an immediate investigation (see Stargate SG-1 episodes 6.1-6.2: "Redemption" and 6.17 "Disclosure" for more about Chekov).

Unsure of the situation and the number of traitors within the project and his organization, Chekov appealed to Senator Kinsey as head of the Oversight Committee for the American National Intelligence Department (NID). He asked Kinsey to send a team of trusted U.S. agents to Moscow to find the missing replicators, knowing that he could trust the loyalties of outsiders more than his own men. Rather than risk valued NID operatives, Kinsey used his governmental pull to "borrow" an Agency team for the mission.

The team's escort in Moscow is Dr. Svetlana Markov, one of Chekov's few absolutely trustworthy allies and someone who's worked with the SGC in the past (in the episode, "Watergate").

Unfortunately for Chekov, his superiors have authorized operatives of their own to follow the Agency's team, and Karil continues to work with the replicators, unaware of how dangerous they are and how close he is to inadvertently reactivating them...