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shanachie_quillTitle: Handbook to Inter-Agency Cooperation
Characters: Evan Lorne/Aiden Bancroft-Lorne, Jonas MacFadden, Deke Zulu, Murray, Wall, Megan Reeves, Don Eppes, Charlie Eppes, David Sinclair, Colby Granger/Meredy Eppes-Granger
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis, Numb3rs
Series:
Written For:
Prompt:
Summary: Past and Present collide when Lorne and Aiden travel to LA to track down a goa'uld and meet with the Numb3rs team. Can everyone put their personal issues aside to find the bad guy in time?
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: anything aired is fair game, but we went a bit AU
Warnings: swearing, violence, hey Aiden
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me; Meredy doesn’t belong to me either.
Author's Note: So I started this a few years ago with a friend whom I’ve since lost contact with. Since there’s only a couple of chapters left, I’ve decided I want to finish it. It’s going to take me a bit to get the next chapter after this I’ve had this one almost finished for a while and I just had to tighten it up and finish a couple of parts. The next two chapters I actually have to write. If you need to refresh your memory, you can find the last posted chapter here and the entire story from the beginning here. Eventually I’ll edit it and post all of it here.
Yay I got in touch with my co-author and we’re working on finishing up this story!! We’ve gotten this chapter finished and I got half of the next chapter finished. She’s working on her part. Special thanks to illfindmyway who with no prior knowledge read this through and helped out with it.
Chapter 15 Step Fifteen: Escape/Rescue from Ba’al
Characters: Evan Lorne/Aiden Bancroft-Lorne, Jonas MacFadden, Deke Zulu, Murray, Wall, Megan Reeves, Don Eppes, Charlie Eppes, David Sinclair, Colby Granger/Meredy Eppes-Granger
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis, Numb3rs
Series:
Written For:
Prompt:
Summary: Past and Present collide when Lorne and Aiden travel to LA to track down a goa'uld and meet with the Numb3rs team. Can everyone put their personal issues aside to find the bad guy in time?
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: anything aired is fair game, but we went a bit AU
Warnings: swearing, violence, hey Aiden
Disclaimer: No one recognizable belongs to me; Meredy doesn’t belong to me either.
Author's Note: So I started this a few years ago with a friend whom I’ve since lost contact with. Since there’s only a couple of chapters left, I’ve decided I want to finish it. It’s going to take me a bit to get the next chapter after this I’ve had this one almost finished for a while and I just had to tighten it up and finish a couple of parts. The next two chapters I actually have to write. If you need to refresh your memory, you can find the last posted chapter here and the entire story from the beginning here. Eventually I’ll edit it and post all of it here.
Yay I got in touch with my co-author and we’re working on finishing up this story!! We’ve gotten this chapter finished and I got half of the next chapter finished. She’s working on her part. Special thanks to illfindmyway who with no prior knowledge read this through and helped out with it.
Chapter 15 Step Fifteen: Escape/Rescue from Ba’al
Meredy’s consciousness could sense the Goa’uld trying to take over her body and the young woman fought the snake-like creature with everything she had.
“You will not defeat me!” Qetesh taunted. “I am far stronger and powerful than you.”
“Why does such a powerful and strong snake like you need a host?” Meredy snarked.
“You do not question me! I am your God!” Qetesh shouted in anger.
“A pretend one!” Meredy retorted. “Ba’al only picked me because he thought I was beautiful. You both must be vain and insecure Gods.”
“We are not vain and insecure,” Qetesh disagreed. “I will squash you like one of your pet bugs.”
“If I had one of my pet bugs we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Meredy replied angrily. She knew that sounded stupid, but she didn’t care. The young FBI agent was growing tired of this conversation; she found the snake arrogant and self-centred, plus not very smart.
Meredy wasn’t sure how long they had been on Ba’al’s ship; whether it had been only days or if it had been weeks. She’d lost track of time since arriving here. She missed her family and friends a lot, and she couldn’t stop thinking about Owein. The thought of them kept her strong and kept her fighting. The young woman knew that they wouldn’t give up looking for her, and that Alan and Millie would look after Owein so that Colby help find her.
A cold, harsh laugh erupted from Qetesh. “Your family will never find you for we have cloaked our ship above your pathetic planet,” Qetesh said with contempt. “You should just give up hope now for they won’t know where to look and they will not want you back once they know what has happened to you.”
Meredy would roll her eyes if she could. “My family won’t give up looking for me and they have ways to find me. Humans have changed since you last visited our so-called pathetic planet.”
“I grow weary of this conversation,” Qetesh remarked.
“By all means set me free then so I can get out of your… well, not hair,” she snickered at her own internal bald joke.
Qetesh only laughed some more. “I like your body and have grown fond of it. I look beautiful in it and I want to keep it. I will not give it up so easily.”
Meredy tried to sigh, but it was impossible. She’d had enough too. She stayed quiet for a long time, which was hard for her. Meredy was the sort of person who spoke her mind and didn’t hold back, which had led her into trouble on more than one occasion. She didn’t believe in beating around the bush. She wanted to let Qetesh think she had won while she thought of something deep in her mind. She tried to keep her thoughts to herself, for she believed the Goa’uld could hear them.
When the door to Evan’s cell opened, he was astonished to see Meredy standing in front of him. The Air Force officer wasn’t sure what was happening and he glanced hesitantly at the FBI woman’s eyes. He involuntarily took a few steps back when he saw her eyes glow. As he watched, he could almost see the inner struggle going on between Meredy and the Goa’uld that had obviously been implanted in her.
“Evan,” Meredy finally spoke, wrenching control of her body from the Goa’uld for the moment.
Evan took another closer look at her eyes and indeed saw that it was Meredy looking back at him, not the Goa’uld.
“I don’t have much time, it’s taken me a lot of work to get this far,” Meredy told him, speaking quickly. “I have no idea how long we have been on this ship. Qetesh, the Goa’uld who has forced me to be her host, says the ship is cloaked. I assume that means our friends won’t be able to find it. I don’t know much about these ships, but maybe you know more about them then you are letting on. I had to let Qetesh believe that she had won over me.” Meredy held up her right hand which Evan could see held a zat. “I got this weapon off one of those Jaffas you told us about. I’m figuring it’ll do you some good? I don’t have much time before Qetesh takes over again. You have my permission to knock me out and ignore any abuse I may throw at you later.” Meredy tossed him the weapon.
Meredy could feel her hold slipping as an enraged Qetesh emerged, and took hold of her again. Qetesh was furious at being tricked by her host. This had never happened to her before and she had allowed her confidence to get the better of her. The Goa’uld heard a zat fire and before she could react she was stunned, falling into a world of blackness as she collapsed onto the floor.
Evan glanced down at the unconscious Meredy and sighed. Picking up the young woman, he carried her in his arms. He slowly walked down the halls of the Goa’uld mothership, ducking and hiding wherever he could. There were a lot of Jaffa walking around, plus all the different humans that served the Goa’ulds were going on about their daily business. After sometime the FBI woman was starting to get heavy for someone who was reasonably fit and she was a tall woman, taller than him.
Evan knew that the zat effect would eventually wear off and Qetesh would rear her ugly head again, she would not be pleased with him. Qetesh would cause a commotion, bringing unwanted attention to them as he tried to find his way to a control room. He knew that he had to get there and somehow find a way to bring the cloak down, so the others could find them and rescue them. If he could do that much; it would help.
The young air force officer leaned against the wall, taking a quick break when all of a sudden part of the wall opened up. He wasn’t very good at reading Goa’uld (Ancient was much more useful at the moment), but had picked up enough of the basics from Aiden to realise that he was now looking at a map. He became excited since he excelled at reading maps. It wasn’t long before he found the control room of the mothership and smiled; the axillary control room wouldn’t be far. Unfortunately he could see dots moving along the screen in several hallways and a small frown appeared across his face.
That can’t be good, he thought. I hope Ba’al isn’t planning anything.
He studied the map for a bit longer, trying to find the quickest way to the axillary control room, but each way was filled with people, or most likely Jaffa, who outnumbered him and had more weapons then him. He sighed in frustration, but then he remembered he had something that they would want; Qetesh. If worse came to worse, he could use her as a shield or a bargaining chip to get where he wanted to go. Evan took another look at the screen, but couldn’t find any secret passageways.
Where’s McKay or Zelenka when you need them? he thought, thinking of the two scientists who were safely back on Atlantis.
Evan took a deep breath and continued on his way with a lot more confidence in where he was going than before. It wasn’t long before he had to move out into the open as he got closer to the control room. He took out the two guards in front of the door to the axillary control room of the mothership. The lieutenant colonel then took out the two guards on the inside of the door. Quickly he found something to hide behind - a console of some sort. He didn’t care what it was if it provided shelter from the Jaffas firing at him. Evan took out a few more guards with his zat as he felt Qetesh beginning to stir from all the noise around her. Rapidly he stunned the last few remaining Jaffas and was only left with the one standing over the main console, the one where he would hopefully find the control for the cloaking device.
“You will not escape, human,” the Jaffa told him confidently, aiming his own zat once he realised who Evan was holding. He didn’t want to harm his Queen, but he would fire at the human to prevent his escape.
“I need you to turn off the cloaking device so that my friends can find us,” Evan ordered.
The Jaffa snorted. “I do not think you are in a position to demand anything,” the Jaffa refused.
“I have your Queen and you won’t fire at me because you are afraid that you may hurt her.”
“Fear is for weaklings and I am not afraid!”
“Then why don’t you pull the trigger? It’s because you know Ba’al will have your head if you hurt his Queen,” Evan taunted, moving closer to the Jaffa.
“Stay where you are, human!”
“I don’t have time for friendly banter,” Evan snapped, his patience thinning. “Just press the button and we’re done!”
“No,” the Jaffa refused, glancing at Evan and then down at a circular button on the console that stood out among the other shapes. His eyes flicked back to Evan, making sure he hadn’t moved any closer.
Evan rolled his eyes, not sure how the Jaffa seemed to get stupider. Lifting his zat, he stunned the soldier. He glanced down at Meredy/Qetesh to see she hadn’t moved, although she was still twitching and pressed the button that would lower the cloak.
Aiden glared at Deke as he came over to her, holding a nine millimetre out to her. “I don’t want to hear it,” she informed him.
“Who said I was going to say anything?” he replied.
“Okay. You weren’t going to say anything, but the boom twins,” she said.
“Maybe we just like our happy family the way it is,” Deke told her.
Aiden snorted. “I’m telling Evan you described us as a ‘happy family’.”
“Damn it,” Deke groaned.
“Did he say it?” Murray asked from where he was checking Wall over.
“He said it,” Aiden confirmed.
The two blonde Marines high-fived with wide grins before turning back to their preparations. Colby watched the interaction with a confused look. “’Happy family’?” he questioned as he finished his own gearing up.
“We’re… our base… is kinda… isolated,” Aiden attempted. “We don’t get to see our families often so our teams become in a way family. Deke is…”
“Deke doesn’t like to admit he loves us,” McFadden broke in. “We’ve been trying to get him to admit he likes our happy family for months. Or even just say ‘happy family’.”
“Are we going to keep discussing this or go rescue my sister and your husband?” Don demanded.
Aiden shoved the nine millimetre into the holster on her hip and picked up a P-90. “We’re going to get them.” She turned towards Colonel Stone. “Is everything ready for us?”
The colonel nodded in reply. “The math has been fed into the computers and as soon as your…” she paused awkwardly. “I guess you give the word, we’ll do a test.”
The linguist shook her head. “No test. It’ll give them warning that we’re on our way.”
Stone glared at her. “I’m not having you transported over there blind.”
“And I’m not giving them warning that we’re coming. I’m not giving them a chance to kill the hostages,” Aiden growled. “We’re going on my mark with no warning.”
“And if the calculations are off?” Stone demanded.
“I’ll take that chance so we don’t alert them and…” Aiden paused as McFadden suddenly grabbed for the detector on the table, shoving it at Deke. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
“We gotta go! Now!” Deke exclaimed as his entire team stared at him in confusion.
“What? Why?” Aiden questioned, even as she grabbed a last clip, shoving it into her pocket.
“Someone took the shield out,” McFadden said, hefting his own pack and motioning for Deke to grab his. “If we go now, we won’t be going in completely blind.”
Hurriedly the group gathered up the last of their supplies as Aiden turned to Colonel Stone. “Are you going to transport us? We need to go now.”
For a moment, Stone stared at her and Aiden didn’t think she was going to give the order. Then the captain was turning away and ordering the transporter. Quicker than Aiden expected, her boys were surrounding her with the FBI team also in the protective circle and the familiar blue glow was taking hold of them.
The FBI team looked slightly green when the group rematerialized on board the ha’tak. “Does that ever get easier?” Don asked.
“You get used to it. Sorta,” McFadden said. Even as he spoke, the Marines were scanning the area. Aiden tried to peer over and around the larger men.
She smacked Wall in the back. “Let me see.”
“Not until we’re sure it’s safe,” the blonde Marine answered.
“Seriously? We’re on a ha’tak. It’s never going to be safe.” She shoved her way out as another team materialized to the right of theirs. “Holy fuck,” she blurted out when she got a good look at the room they were in. “Rodney would shit a brick.”
Colby grinned at the profanity as most of the rest of the FBI team looked a bit taken aback. None of the military even blinked. When Megan turned to question Wall about it, he just grinned. “That was minor for Doc,” he told her. “And it was in English.” He tapped Aiden on the top of her helmet. “What’s going on?”
“Look around.” Aiden pointed at the tech that surrounded them on all sides. “Ancient tech.” She turned to the secondary team. “Slap locators on as many things as you can before you move out. When they beam us out, the tech will go with us.”
The major who was in command of the second team looked at Aiden for a minute, then shrugged and nodded to his men. “You heard the woman,” he ordered. “Ten minutes. Then we move out.”
“We’re moving out now,” Aiden said.
“I don’t advise that, ma’am,” the major replied.
Deke slapped his hand over Aiden’s mouth before the linguist could respond to the major’s comment. “We’ve got it,” he assured the military man. Deke looked at the FBI contingent. “Let’s get moving.”
“Ten minutes like your major said,” Aiden agreed. “Then catch up.” She motioned to her team and the FBI. “Let’s find our people.”
As they moved out of the room, the two blonde Marines bracketed Aiden on either side. She glared at them, but didn’t say a word, knowing it was useless. Even before they’d found out she was pregnant, that was their usual position when they were off-world. The FBI team moved easily into position with the rest of the SG team, all of them alert for trouble.
“Any idea where they’d be?” Don asked in a low voice.
“Cells would be…” McFadden paused to consult the diagram on the handheld. He pointed. “Thataway.” Both Deke and Aiden stared at him for a moment. “I swear. It’s right.”
“Let me see.” Wall took the handheld from the other Marine and nodded. “He’s got it.”
“Okay, let’s move out,” Deke ordered. “And let’s try to avoid contact until we find our people.”
“So why are you questioning McFadden?” Megan asked as she kept pace with Aiden as the group hurried down the hall.
“Mac’s fine when he’s in a building, but his landnav skills are kinda rusty,” Aiden answered. “We don’t generally let him navigate when we’re out in the wild.”
“He got us lost in our own backyard,” Murray chimed in.
“Cut the chatter,” McFadden growled.
The two Marines looked over Aiden’s head, shrugging, as they rounded the corner. Both of them yelped almost in unison as staff blasts just missed them. Wall returned fire as Murray grabbed the back of Aiden’s tac vest, hauling her out of the line of fire and back around the corner. “Contact!” he yelled, pulling Aiden down.
“Take cover!” Don yelled as the rest of the team ducked into alcoves, pulling their P-90s up and returning fire.
Bullets pinged off the armour of the Jaffa as the SG and FBI team returned fire. “Don’t they go down?” David yelled over the sound of their fire.
“You gotta hit ‘em just right,” McFadden yelled back.
“Just keep pouring lead into ‘em,” Wall added. “They’ll go down eventually.”
As he said that, the Jaffa began to go down. Aiden crowed as they toppled over one by one.
Deke held up a fist as the last one tipped over. Slowly the firing tapered off as they realized they weren't being shot at. "We good?" Colby asked.
Aiden tried to peer over the backs of the two Marines who'd blocked her view as they protected her. "I think it's safe, boys," she commented as there continued to be no fire.
Deke and McFadden exchanged glances with Don and David before the four of them began to move forward. Wall hung onto the back of Aiden's tac vest, holding her in place as the four men cleared the hall ahead of them.
"What do you normally do?" Colby asked in a low voice as he watches the others work.
Murray answered, "Normally the colonel stays with Doc when we run into a situation like this. It's just better on all of us."
Colby grinned as Aiden rolled her eyes. “Somehow I can see that.”
“Is it clear? Can we keep moving?” she demanded. “I’d like to find my husband now.”
“Is that…?” McFadden asked.
Deke sighed. “No and I don’t recommend blaming the pregnancy hormones. She’s always cranky and she takes it as an insult to her finely honed “take no shit” personality if you suggest otherwise.”
“She can hear you. And she’s gonna kick your ass if we don’t get moving,” Aiden snapped.
Megan looked from the barely five foot Aiden to the well over six foot Deke. “That’s not an idle threat, is it?” she questioned.
None of the team answered her as McFadden nodded that they could keep moving. “Any idea where they could be?” Colby asked.
“Have we gotten a ping on Evan’s beacon?” Aiden asked in response.
“Nnn… Yes.” There was triumph in McFadden’s voice as he changed his answer.
“Where?” Colby and Aiden demanded in unison.
“Looks like axillary control,” Deke answered.
“Let’s go,” Colby said.
Wall and Murray leaned down, scooping up the staff weapons that lay idle now that the Jaffa were sprawled in ungainly piles. Aiden started to push one of the bodies over and Colby gave her a hand. “Here.” She pointed to the weapon on the man’s belt. “Grab that, but watch out for his pouch.”
“Pouch?” Colby questioned as he snagged the weapon in question.
Wall lifted the armour at the waist, revealing an X cut into the man’s stomach. “Pouch. Holds a larval Gou’ald. Put it this way, you really don’t want to come in contact with that.”
“Especially not a mature one,” McFadden pointed out. “Watch it. They jump.”
Aiden rolled her eyes as Colby jerked his hand away. “I think you’re okay,” she commented. She held her hand out for the weapon. Clicking the button, she showed Colby how to activate it. “One shot knocks out. Two kills. Three disintegrates.”
“Um… handy?” Colby suggested.
“You don’t even know,” Wall told him. “Just try not to shoot any of us twice. Okay?”
Colby nodded as the rest of the SG team began rolling bodies, clearly looking for more of the weapons. Soon they had enough to supply the entire FBI team and Aiden. The rest of the SG team reloaded their clips and hefted the staffs, clicking them open. “That’s what was firing at us?” Don questioned.
McFadden hefted one around, checking the charge. “Staff weapons, useful for all sorts of things. And they go through the armour a lot better than our more conventional weapons.”
“The zats work pretty well, too,” Aiden assured the FBI team, “and they’re a lot more user friendly.”
“Stunners would be nice right about now,” Wall commented.
“Can’t use what we don’t have,” Deke said. “Let’s get moving. We aren’t doing the colonel any good standing around.”
They encountered surprisingly little resistance as they made their way to the room McFadden and Deke had indicated. Although they did come across some Jaffa, the majority seemed to have gone elsewhere. The SG team exchanged shrugs as they tried to figure out what was going on. “Suggestions?” Deke asked as they convened outside their destination.
“Have Doc call out?” Wall suggested in a low voice.
When the rest of the team turned to look at her, Aiden sighed. “Cause that’s not going to end badly,” she commented. The team continued to look at her. “Okay. Fine.” She stepped out from behind Wall and Murray (who’d once again formed a blockade in front of her) and called, “Ev? A gra?” When there was no reply, she looked at the team before raising her voice a little, “Evan?”
“Aiden?” a familiar voice replied. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Aiden snorted. “Clearly spending way too much time with me.” She raised her voice again, “You didn’t think I was gonna leave you with Ba’al, did you?”
“You didn’t need to come,” he answered.
“Not like I came alone, a gra,” she told him. “Clear to come in?”
“Yeah. Just us chickens,” he answered.
“We have got to come up with a better code phrase,” Deke grumbled.
“Meanwhile. Back on the enemy spaceship,” Colby said.
“Can we go in?” Don questioned.
“Yeah,” Wall answered. “That was the all clear.”
McFadden motioned the group forward and they quickly moved into the room, Deke pausing to shut the door behind them. The three Marines blocked the advance of the FBI team as they took in the room. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” McFadden said. “Sir?” he questioned as they took in the tableau of Evan holding a zat on Meredy.
“Anyone got cuffs on them?” Evan asked. “I’d really prefer not to shoot her again.”
“Again?” Colby and Don demanded. “Why did you shoot my wife?” Colby added.
“We can discuss…” Wall started.
“Really?” Aiden said. “Just tell it straight. She’s been infected. And we can help her. But not here. So let my boys cuff her. And let’s get off this bloody ship.”
“Been infected by what?” Don asked.
“I’d say it’s not important, but it is. But there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Aiden said. “So let the boys do their jobs. I promise we will do everything we can to help her.”
“Colby?” Don questioned.
“It’s been years, Don. I told you that, but I’ve got no reason not to trust her. And they know more about this than we do,” Colby responded.
“Look. At the best, we cuff Meredy and get transported back to Earth,” Aiden said. “Where she gets turned free. At worst, we have to get a snake out of her head.”
“I hope you don’t mean that literally…” Don started.
“You will bow before your Queen,” Qetesh snarled, speaking through Meredy for the first time.
“Okay so worst case scenario,” Aiden said.
“Cuffs,” Evan snapped. “Now.”
Wall and Murray moved forward in unison. Wall grabbed Meredy’s arms as firmly as he could while Murray snapped the cuffs on her. Then each of them grabbed an arm, bracing her. “Ready, sir.”
“Stone?” Evan questioned.
“Yes,” Aiden said mulishly.
Evan sighed. “Please tell me you didn’t insult the captain.”
“No. Just… might have threatened to pull rank on her a bit,” Aiden admitted.
Evan sighed. “We’ll discuss that later. McFadden, get us out of here.”
The Marine in question reached for his radio, triggering the transmitter button. “Athena, this is McFadden. Lock onto transmitter beacons and beam directly to SGC. Prepare for containment.”
“Copy, McFadden. Stand-by,” the communications officer replied.
A moment later, a blue glow enveloped the teams and they vanished from sight.
“You will not defeat me!” Qetesh taunted. “I am far stronger and powerful than you.”
“Why does such a powerful and strong snake like you need a host?” Meredy snarked.
“You do not question me! I am your God!” Qetesh shouted in anger.
“A pretend one!” Meredy retorted. “Ba’al only picked me because he thought I was beautiful. You both must be vain and insecure Gods.”
“We are not vain and insecure,” Qetesh disagreed. “I will squash you like one of your pet bugs.”
“If I had one of my pet bugs we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Meredy replied angrily. She knew that sounded stupid, but she didn’t care. The young FBI agent was growing tired of this conversation; she found the snake arrogant and self-centred, plus not very smart.
Meredy wasn’t sure how long they had been on Ba’al’s ship; whether it had been only days or if it had been weeks. She’d lost track of time since arriving here. She missed her family and friends a lot, and she couldn’t stop thinking about Owein. The thought of them kept her strong and kept her fighting. The young woman knew that they wouldn’t give up looking for her, and that Alan and Millie would look after Owein so that Colby help find her.
A cold, harsh laugh erupted from Qetesh. “Your family will never find you for we have cloaked our ship above your pathetic planet,” Qetesh said with contempt. “You should just give up hope now for they won’t know where to look and they will not want you back once they know what has happened to you.”
Meredy would roll her eyes if she could. “My family won’t give up looking for me and they have ways to find me. Humans have changed since you last visited our so-called pathetic planet.”
“I grow weary of this conversation,” Qetesh remarked.
“By all means set me free then so I can get out of your… well, not hair,” she snickered at her own internal bald joke.
Qetesh only laughed some more. “I like your body and have grown fond of it. I look beautiful in it and I want to keep it. I will not give it up so easily.”
Meredy tried to sigh, but it was impossible. She’d had enough too. She stayed quiet for a long time, which was hard for her. Meredy was the sort of person who spoke her mind and didn’t hold back, which had led her into trouble on more than one occasion. She didn’t believe in beating around the bush. She wanted to let Qetesh think she had won while she thought of something deep in her mind. She tried to keep her thoughts to herself, for she believed the Goa’uld could hear them.
When the door to Evan’s cell opened, he was astonished to see Meredy standing in front of him. The Air Force officer wasn’t sure what was happening and he glanced hesitantly at the FBI woman’s eyes. He involuntarily took a few steps back when he saw her eyes glow. As he watched, he could almost see the inner struggle going on between Meredy and the Goa’uld that had obviously been implanted in her.
“Evan,” Meredy finally spoke, wrenching control of her body from the Goa’uld for the moment.
Evan took another closer look at her eyes and indeed saw that it was Meredy looking back at him, not the Goa’uld.
“I don’t have much time, it’s taken me a lot of work to get this far,” Meredy told him, speaking quickly. “I have no idea how long we have been on this ship. Qetesh, the Goa’uld who has forced me to be her host, says the ship is cloaked. I assume that means our friends won’t be able to find it. I don’t know much about these ships, but maybe you know more about them then you are letting on. I had to let Qetesh believe that she had won over me.” Meredy held up her right hand which Evan could see held a zat. “I got this weapon off one of those Jaffas you told us about. I’m figuring it’ll do you some good? I don’t have much time before Qetesh takes over again. You have my permission to knock me out and ignore any abuse I may throw at you later.” Meredy tossed him the weapon.
Meredy could feel her hold slipping as an enraged Qetesh emerged, and took hold of her again. Qetesh was furious at being tricked by her host. This had never happened to her before and she had allowed her confidence to get the better of her. The Goa’uld heard a zat fire and before she could react she was stunned, falling into a world of blackness as she collapsed onto the floor.
Evan glanced down at the unconscious Meredy and sighed. Picking up the young woman, he carried her in his arms. He slowly walked down the halls of the Goa’uld mothership, ducking and hiding wherever he could. There were a lot of Jaffa walking around, plus all the different humans that served the Goa’ulds were going on about their daily business. After sometime the FBI woman was starting to get heavy for someone who was reasonably fit and she was a tall woman, taller than him.
Evan knew that the zat effect would eventually wear off and Qetesh would rear her ugly head again, she would not be pleased with him. Qetesh would cause a commotion, bringing unwanted attention to them as he tried to find his way to a control room. He knew that he had to get there and somehow find a way to bring the cloak down, so the others could find them and rescue them. If he could do that much; it would help.
The young air force officer leaned against the wall, taking a quick break when all of a sudden part of the wall opened up. He wasn’t very good at reading Goa’uld (Ancient was much more useful at the moment), but had picked up enough of the basics from Aiden to realise that he was now looking at a map. He became excited since he excelled at reading maps. It wasn’t long before he found the control room of the mothership and smiled; the axillary control room wouldn’t be far. Unfortunately he could see dots moving along the screen in several hallways and a small frown appeared across his face.
That can’t be good, he thought. I hope Ba’al isn’t planning anything.
He studied the map for a bit longer, trying to find the quickest way to the axillary control room, but each way was filled with people, or most likely Jaffa, who outnumbered him and had more weapons then him. He sighed in frustration, but then he remembered he had something that they would want; Qetesh. If worse came to worse, he could use her as a shield or a bargaining chip to get where he wanted to go. Evan took another look at the screen, but couldn’t find any secret passageways.
Where’s McKay or Zelenka when you need them? he thought, thinking of the two scientists who were safely back on Atlantis.
Evan took a deep breath and continued on his way with a lot more confidence in where he was going than before. It wasn’t long before he had to move out into the open as he got closer to the control room. He took out the two guards in front of the door to the axillary control room of the mothership. The lieutenant colonel then took out the two guards on the inside of the door. Quickly he found something to hide behind - a console of some sort. He didn’t care what it was if it provided shelter from the Jaffas firing at him. Evan took out a few more guards with his zat as he felt Qetesh beginning to stir from all the noise around her. Rapidly he stunned the last few remaining Jaffas and was only left with the one standing over the main console, the one where he would hopefully find the control for the cloaking device.
“You will not escape, human,” the Jaffa told him confidently, aiming his own zat once he realised who Evan was holding. He didn’t want to harm his Queen, but he would fire at the human to prevent his escape.
“I need you to turn off the cloaking device so that my friends can find us,” Evan ordered.
The Jaffa snorted. “I do not think you are in a position to demand anything,” the Jaffa refused.
“I have your Queen and you won’t fire at me because you are afraid that you may hurt her.”
“Fear is for weaklings and I am not afraid!”
“Then why don’t you pull the trigger? It’s because you know Ba’al will have your head if you hurt his Queen,” Evan taunted, moving closer to the Jaffa.
“Stay where you are, human!”
“I don’t have time for friendly banter,” Evan snapped, his patience thinning. “Just press the button and we’re done!”
“No,” the Jaffa refused, glancing at Evan and then down at a circular button on the console that stood out among the other shapes. His eyes flicked back to Evan, making sure he hadn’t moved any closer.
Evan rolled his eyes, not sure how the Jaffa seemed to get stupider. Lifting his zat, he stunned the soldier. He glanced down at Meredy/Qetesh to see she hadn’t moved, although she was still twitching and pressed the button that would lower the cloak.
Aiden glared at Deke as he came over to her, holding a nine millimetre out to her. “I don’t want to hear it,” she informed him.
“Who said I was going to say anything?” he replied.
“Okay. You weren’t going to say anything, but the boom twins,” she said.
“Maybe we just like our happy family the way it is,” Deke told her.
Aiden snorted. “I’m telling Evan you described us as a ‘happy family’.”
“Damn it,” Deke groaned.
“Did he say it?” Murray asked from where he was checking Wall over.
“He said it,” Aiden confirmed.
The two blonde Marines high-fived with wide grins before turning back to their preparations. Colby watched the interaction with a confused look. “’Happy family’?” he questioned as he finished his own gearing up.
“We’re… our base… is kinda… isolated,” Aiden attempted. “We don’t get to see our families often so our teams become in a way family. Deke is…”
“Deke doesn’t like to admit he loves us,” McFadden broke in. “We’ve been trying to get him to admit he likes our happy family for months. Or even just say ‘happy family’.”
“Are we going to keep discussing this or go rescue my sister and your husband?” Don demanded.
Aiden shoved the nine millimetre into the holster on her hip and picked up a P-90. “We’re going to get them.” She turned towards Colonel Stone. “Is everything ready for us?”
The colonel nodded in reply. “The math has been fed into the computers and as soon as your…” she paused awkwardly. “I guess you give the word, we’ll do a test.”
The linguist shook her head. “No test. It’ll give them warning that we’re on our way.”
Stone glared at her. “I’m not having you transported over there blind.”
“And I’m not giving them warning that we’re coming. I’m not giving them a chance to kill the hostages,” Aiden growled. “We’re going on my mark with no warning.”
“And if the calculations are off?” Stone demanded.
“I’ll take that chance so we don’t alert them and…” Aiden paused as McFadden suddenly grabbed for the detector on the table, shoving it at Deke. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
“We gotta go! Now!” Deke exclaimed as his entire team stared at him in confusion.
“What? Why?” Aiden questioned, even as she grabbed a last clip, shoving it into her pocket.
“Someone took the shield out,” McFadden said, hefting his own pack and motioning for Deke to grab his. “If we go now, we won’t be going in completely blind.”
Hurriedly the group gathered up the last of their supplies as Aiden turned to Colonel Stone. “Are you going to transport us? We need to go now.”
For a moment, Stone stared at her and Aiden didn’t think she was going to give the order. Then the captain was turning away and ordering the transporter. Quicker than Aiden expected, her boys were surrounding her with the FBI team also in the protective circle and the familiar blue glow was taking hold of them.
The FBI team looked slightly green when the group rematerialized on board the ha’tak. “Does that ever get easier?” Don asked.
“You get used to it. Sorta,” McFadden said. Even as he spoke, the Marines were scanning the area. Aiden tried to peer over and around the larger men.
She smacked Wall in the back. “Let me see.”
“Not until we’re sure it’s safe,” the blonde Marine answered.
“Seriously? We’re on a ha’tak. It’s never going to be safe.” She shoved her way out as another team materialized to the right of theirs. “Holy fuck,” she blurted out when she got a good look at the room they were in. “Rodney would shit a brick.”
Colby grinned at the profanity as most of the rest of the FBI team looked a bit taken aback. None of the military even blinked. When Megan turned to question Wall about it, he just grinned. “That was minor for Doc,” he told her. “And it was in English.” He tapped Aiden on the top of her helmet. “What’s going on?”
“Look around.” Aiden pointed at the tech that surrounded them on all sides. “Ancient tech.” She turned to the secondary team. “Slap locators on as many things as you can before you move out. When they beam us out, the tech will go with us.”
The major who was in command of the second team looked at Aiden for a minute, then shrugged and nodded to his men. “You heard the woman,” he ordered. “Ten minutes. Then we move out.”
“We’re moving out now,” Aiden said.
“I don’t advise that, ma’am,” the major replied.
Deke slapped his hand over Aiden’s mouth before the linguist could respond to the major’s comment. “We’ve got it,” he assured the military man. Deke looked at the FBI contingent. “Let’s get moving.”
“Ten minutes like your major said,” Aiden agreed. “Then catch up.” She motioned to her team and the FBI. “Let’s find our people.”
As they moved out of the room, the two blonde Marines bracketed Aiden on either side. She glared at them, but didn’t say a word, knowing it was useless. Even before they’d found out she was pregnant, that was their usual position when they were off-world. The FBI team moved easily into position with the rest of the SG team, all of them alert for trouble.
“Any idea where they’d be?” Don asked in a low voice.
“Cells would be…” McFadden paused to consult the diagram on the handheld. He pointed. “Thataway.” Both Deke and Aiden stared at him for a moment. “I swear. It’s right.”
“Let me see.” Wall took the handheld from the other Marine and nodded. “He’s got it.”
“Okay, let’s move out,” Deke ordered. “And let’s try to avoid contact until we find our people.”
“So why are you questioning McFadden?” Megan asked as she kept pace with Aiden as the group hurried down the hall.
“Mac’s fine when he’s in a building, but his landnav skills are kinda rusty,” Aiden answered. “We don’t generally let him navigate when we’re out in the wild.”
“He got us lost in our own backyard,” Murray chimed in.
“Cut the chatter,” McFadden growled.
The two Marines looked over Aiden’s head, shrugging, as they rounded the corner. Both of them yelped almost in unison as staff blasts just missed them. Wall returned fire as Murray grabbed the back of Aiden’s tac vest, hauling her out of the line of fire and back around the corner. “Contact!” he yelled, pulling Aiden down.
“Take cover!” Don yelled as the rest of the team ducked into alcoves, pulling their P-90s up and returning fire.
Bullets pinged off the armour of the Jaffa as the SG and FBI team returned fire. “Don’t they go down?” David yelled over the sound of their fire.
“You gotta hit ‘em just right,” McFadden yelled back.
“Just keep pouring lead into ‘em,” Wall added. “They’ll go down eventually.”
As he said that, the Jaffa began to go down. Aiden crowed as they toppled over one by one.
Deke held up a fist as the last one tipped over. Slowly the firing tapered off as they realized they weren't being shot at. "We good?" Colby asked.
Aiden tried to peer over the backs of the two Marines who'd blocked her view as they protected her. "I think it's safe, boys," she commented as there continued to be no fire.
Deke and McFadden exchanged glances with Don and David before the four of them began to move forward. Wall hung onto the back of Aiden's tac vest, holding her in place as the four men cleared the hall ahead of them.
"What do you normally do?" Colby asked in a low voice as he watches the others work.
Murray answered, "Normally the colonel stays with Doc when we run into a situation like this. It's just better on all of us."
Colby grinned as Aiden rolled her eyes. “Somehow I can see that.”
“Is it clear? Can we keep moving?” she demanded. “I’d like to find my husband now.”
“Is that…?” McFadden asked.
Deke sighed. “No and I don’t recommend blaming the pregnancy hormones. She’s always cranky and she takes it as an insult to her finely honed “take no shit” personality if you suggest otherwise.”
“She can hear you. And she’s gonna kick your ass if we don’t get moving,” Aiden snapped.
Megan looked from the barely five foot Aiden to the well over six foot Deke. “That’s not an idle threat, is it?” she questioned.
None of the team answered her as McFadden nodded that they could keep moving. “Any idea where they could be?” Colby asked.
“Have we gotten a ping on Evan’s beacon?” Aiden asked in response.
“Nnn… Yes.” There was triumph in McFadden’s voice as he changed his answer.
“Where?” Colby and Aiden demanded in unison.
“Looks like axillary control,” Deke answered.
“Let’s go,” Colby said.
Wall and Murray leaned down, scooping up the staff weapons that lay idle now that the Jaffa were sprawled in ungainly piles. Aiden started to push one of the bodies over and Colby gave her a hand. “Here.” She pointed to the weapon on the man’s belt. “Grab that, but watch out for his pouch.”
“Pouch?” Colby questioned as he snagged the weapon in question.
Wall lifted the armour at the waist, revealing an X cut into the man’s stomach. “Pouch. Holds a larval Gou’ald. Put it this way, you really don’t want to come in contact with that.”
“Especially not a mature one,” McFadden pointed out. “Watch it. They jump.”
Aiden rolled her eyes as Colby jerked his hand away. “I think you’re okay,” she commented. She held her hand out for the weapon. Clicking the button, she showed Colby how to activate it. “One shot knocks out. Two kills. Three disintegrates.”
“Um… handy?” Colby suggested.
“You don’t even know,” Wall told him. “Just try not to shoot any of us twice. Okay?”
Colby nodded as the rest of the SG team began rolling bodies, clearly looking for more of the weapons. Soon they had enough to supply the entire FBI team and Aiden. The rest of the SG team reloaded their clips and hefted the staffs, clicking them open. “That’s what was firing at us?” Don questioned.
McFadden hefted one around, checking the charge. “Staff weapons, useful for all sorts of things. And they go through the armour a lot better than our more conventional weapons.”
“The zats work pretty well, too,” Aiden assured the FBI team, “and they’re a lot more user friendly.”
“Stunners would be nice right about now,” Wall commented.
“Can’t use what we don’t have,” Deke said. “Let’s get moving. We aren’t doing the colonel any good standing around.”
They encountered surprisingly little resistance as they made their way to the room McFadden and Deke had indicated. Although they did come across some Jaffa, the majority seemed to have gone elsewhere. The SG team exchanged shrugs as they tried to figure out what was going on. “Suggestions?” Deke asked as they convened outside their destination.
“Have Doc call out?” Wall suggested in a low voice.
When the rest of the team turned to look at her, Aiden sighed. “Cause that’s not going to end badly,” she commented. The team continued to look at her. “Okay. Fine.” She stepped out from behind Wall and Murray (who’d once again formed a blockade in front of her) and called, “Ev? A gra?” When there was no reply, she looked at the team before raising her voice a little, “Evan?”
“Aiden?” a familiar voice replied. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Aiden snorted. “Clearly spending way too much time with me.” She raised her voice again, “You didn’t think I was gonna leave you with Ba’al, did you?”
“You didn’t need to come,” he answered.
“Not like I came alone, a gra,” she told him. “Clear to come in?”
“Yeah. Just us chickens,” he answered.
“We have got to come up with a better code phrase,” Deke grumbled.
“Meanwhile. Back on the enemy spaceship,” Colby said.
“Can we go in?” Don questioned.
“Yeah,” Wall answered. “That was the all clear.”
McFadden motioned the group forward and they quickly moved into the room, Deke pausing to shut the door behind them. The three Marines blocked the advance of the FBI team as they took in the room. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” McFadden said. “Sir?” he questioned as they took in the tableau of Evan holding a zat on Meredy.
“Anyone got cuffs on them?” Evan asked. “I’d really prefer not to shoot her again.”
“Again?” Colby and Don demanded. “Why did you shoot my wife?” Colby added.
“We can discuss…” Wall started.
“Really?” Aiden said. “Just tell it straight. She’s been infected. And we can help her. But not here. So let my boys cuff her. And let’s get off this bloody ship.”
“Been infected by what?” Don asked.
“I’d say it’s not important, but it is. But there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Aiden said. “So let the boys do their jobs. I promise we will do everything we can to help her.”
“Colby?” Don questioned.
“It’s been years, Don. I told you that, but I’ve got no reason not to trust her. And they know more about this than we do,” Colby responded.
“Look. At the best, we cuff Meredy and get transported back to Earth,” Aiden said. “Where she gets turned free. At worst, we have to get a snake out of her head.”
“I hope you don’t mean that literally…” Don started.
“You will bow before your Queen,” Qetesh snarled, speaking through Meredy for the first time.
“Okay so worst case scenario,” Aiden said.
“Cuffs,” Evan snapped. “Now.”
Wall and Murray moved forward in unison. Wall grabbed Meredy’s arms as firmly as he could while Murray snapped the cuffs on her. Then each of them grabbed an arm, bracing her. “Ready, sir.”
“Stone?” Evan questioned.
“Yes,” Aiden said mulishly.
Evan sighed. “Please tell me you didn’t insult the captain.”
“No. Just… might have threatened to pull rank on her a bit,” Aiden admitted.
Evan sighed. “We’ll discuss that later. McFadden, get us out of here.”
The Marine in question reached for his radio, triggering the transmitter button. “Athena, this is McFadden. Lock onto transmitter beacons and beam directly to SGC. Prepare for containment.”
“Copy, McFadden. Stand-by,” the communications officer replied.
A moment later, a blue glow enveloped the teams and they vanished from sight.
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