A/N: I have said before that I wouldn't start another story before my Daughters of Atlantis was finished but Oneshots don't count do they? I just had to get this story out of my system once and for all.
Characters: Linda(Anscended being stuck as a dog, named Queenie by SG-11.) Major Evan Lorne( The human that Linda adopts after she rescues him.) Jimmy Menard(a team mate of Evan's.) Dean Woeste(another teammate of Evan's) Colonel Martin Edwards( Evan's commanding officer, he utimently decides it was for the best if the dog stayed with Evan.)
A Dog's tale
By Kelly Riker
One Shot(maybe)
Why, oh why had she taken on the form of a canine when she had felt her katra weaken. Yes katra was the right word, it wasn't quite her spirit, yet not quite her soul, it was merely her Katra.
Looking down at where her hands used to be, but now where paws, she pushed herself upwards catching a faint scent on the winds. It was close but because it was down wind of her, she couldn't smell it very well. The shifting winds weren't helping matters any. At least there was an upside to this terrible perdicament, thought Linda recoginzing the scents. It was humna with a hint of gun oil and something that she couldn't quite describe. But to her it reminded her of home and safety, so she started to head that way.
As Linda trotted towards the smell, she caught an even fainter but more dangerious and vile scent heading towards the man. Stopping, Linda opened her mouth, taking in deep gulps of air to get a better picture with the glands in her mouth. After several seconds, Linda took off even faster, bounding over fallen logs and her paws throuwing up clumps of leaves, grass, and grass in her path.
SGA
Linda arrived seconds after the thing which had been reconginzed as a large cat similar to a cougar or mountain lion. Hearing the cocking of a hand pistol and the enraged snarling of the cat, she flung herself between the animal and man, her lips curling upwards showing her fangs as she growled at the animal.
The large cat stalked forwards to swipe at this new enemy, throwing Linda into a tree behind her, while making a sound that would curddle even the hardest of metals. Linda briefly thought of leaving the man to kill the animal on his own, but pure instinct took over, stopping any more thoughts of that kind. She knew the only way back to Earth was through this human, whoever it might be.
The cat slunk forward some more, swiping at Linda and dragging his claws against her hide, earning a yelp to come from her mouth. Linda tried to jump out of the way, dodging the cat's claws and teeth while she tried to reach the back of it's neck. As the cat tried to bite or mar Linda, she growled threatening as she tried to put herself between the cat and human.
Seeing an opening, she sprung herself onto the animal's back, taking a firm hold with her jaws right below the cat's head. The cat tried to dislodge Linda but as it rolled and tried to reach her with it's claws, it rolled ontop of her, finally dead. Linda tried to scramble out from under the cat but it's weight pinned her to the ground.
"Hey, calm down." The man spoke, trying to settle Linda as he rolled the dead animal off the dog.
Once it was free, Linda tried to stand but the large gashes in her side prevented her from doing that, making her yelp in pain making her fall back down on the forest clearing.
"Easy. Let me have a look at that." His voice reminded her of the warm tropics, making her relax and him to clean her wounds.
"Looks like that cat got in a few good hits." He commented, dipping his bandanna into the creek that flowed beside the two of them. Washing the dried blood and dirt from her coat, he told her. "Thanks for the help."
Linda put her head into the man's lap, licking his hand that had gotten scratched by the cat weakly, as he worked. Well so much for staying independent. She thought to herself.
SGA
Lieutenants Jimmy Menard and Dean Woeste walked through the woods, trying to find the town that the MALP had reported to be in the area.
"Two weeks pay says we won't find anything, Jimmy." Dean started the running bet about what they would find.
"Gou'ald labor camp is my guess." Jimmy was interrupted by the yowl of a cat. "Or not."
Both Jimmy and Dean stared at eachother, "Was it only me or did that sound like a puma?" Dean asked.
"It did." Jimmy told his friend, twitching his radio on. "Colonel? We might have a slight problem on our hands."
"Lieutenant, if problem means we have a wild animal similar to a Puma, I heard the animal. Major Lorne was in the area of that noise. Keep together and report back to every five minutes." the Colonel responsed before walking in the direction of the noise. Both Liuentants did the same.
As they entered the clearing, spotting Lorne, they almost ran into the carcass of the animal.
"Wow! Major you alright?" Dean asked, stopping right infron of the cat, windmilling his arms to gain his balance.
"Yep, thanks to my friend here." Major Lorne told them, petting the head of Linda.
Jimmy peered closer at the dog, trying to keep his grin inside. "She looks to be a German Shepard but with that red tint to her coat she might be a mix."
"I was thinking the same thing." The Major told them, grabbing Jimmy's hand and hauling himself to his feet. "Let's get home."
Colonel Edwards walked into the clearing, and noticed the dog, the dead animal and Major Lorne getting hauled to his feet. "Well looks like you did a good job, Major. I guess the report to General O'Neill will be as boring as the dead carcass of what ever it was." He commented dirily.
SGA
Linda cocked her head as the four men left, making up her mind, she hurried after the four of them. Utimently desiding that it was safer then being cat food, she headed for the Stargate, locating it by the naqadah scent it gave off.
Reaching the metal ring before the humans, she sat down by the DHD, waiting for them. The wind felt nice as it combed her fur, making Linda sleepy from all the excitement of the day.
SGA
"Major, looks like your friend is waiting for you." Colonel Edwards remarked, pusing the buttons to dial to Earth. Pressing the center button, the Kawoosh woke Linda up, Edwards and his men walked through the portal, never noticing that Linda bounded after them, hurridly.
The room which she found herself to be in was large, but with the muted colors thast her vision now held, Linda found it hard to pinpoint where the different men where. She walked down the ramp as General O'Neill walked towards Colonel Edwards. "Colonel, why is there a dog in the gateroom?" He asked, spotting the red German Sheppard sitting on the edge of the ramp.
Looking backwards, SG eleven found themselves confronted with the sight of Linda sitting regally on the ramp, grinning at them.
"Ah, Seems that the Major's new friend doesn't want to leave him alone, sir. We encountered an animal simliar to a mountain Lion and the major here had some help killing it." Edwards finally told the General.
"Well, I guess the Major now has a pet. Get to the Imfirmary and we'll have a debriefing in thirty." O'Neill left before hearing the yessirs but he was silently laughing.
SGA
Linda positioned herself by the Major's leg as the four men walked through the base. She didn't want to loose the man, not when she knew that the Major was her only way to taking on her rightful form. Walking into the imfirmary, Linda plopped herself on the floor by the bed that Lorne was sitting on as the doctors ran their tests.
"What the Hell?" Linda heard a shrill voice demanding. "What is that animal doing in my Imfirmary?!" A woman's voice demanded, as she glared at Linda.
Linda knew she was about to be tossed fro the sight of the major and knowing that couldn't happen, she put her paws over her snout and whined at the doctor.
"Well, I figure you can stay, but only in the entrance." The doctor's voice relanted, looking closer at the animal. "The Major's going to have to pick a name for such a beautiful animal."
"That's what Dean and I had figured. She acts so regal sometimes, Doc." Jimmy commented from the bed beside Evan.
"Major, if I were you, I'd get used to the fact that animal has already adopted you as her owner. The only thing you can do now is pick a name and take her home." The doctor commented, looking at the red German Sheppard in the entrance way before going back to drawing the man's blood.
SGA
Thirty minutes later, Linda walked into the conference room beside the major. Many people had commented to the man about how lovely she looked, but Linda had taken no notice of them. As they entered the board room, Linda made herself comfortable near Lorne's chair, laying nearby so tha thse could put her head on his shoe.
"Looks to me like you'll just have to name the animal, Major. I don't think she'll let you out of her sight from the way she's acting." O'Neill's laugh could be heard as he sat at the head of tha table bringing the meeting to a start.
Linda decided then and there that she liked O'Neill emensly. Half-way through the meeting, Dr. Daniel Jackson hurried into the room, interuppting the meeting. "Jack, you won't believe what I have found." He cried happily, laying a paper with translated words infront of Jack.
"Whatever it is, Daniel, I probably won't have guessed it so just tell me." Jack told him, looking weirdly at the page that he had set before him.
"The coordinets for Atlantis, there's eight of them." Daniel tried to explain to the general. Hearing the name Atlantis, Linda perked up her ears, putting her paws on the table between the Major and Colonel.
"Daniel, even I know there's only seven chevrons in gate addresses." Jack was rudely interuppted by Linda barking. She tried to tell them that Atlantis was in the bottom of the sea. But everyone tried to get her to be quiet, finally Linda resorted to grabbing onto Jack's coat and pulling to a picture hanging on the wall. It showed an underwater scene, once Jack stared at that long enough, Linda pulled him to another picture this time of men fighting then back to the underwater scene.
"Uh...Jack?" Daniel asked, pushing up his glasses as the dog took the page out of his hands and took it to jack. "I think the dog is trying to tell you something."
"Thank you, Daniel. Would you clarify on what?" Jack asked, taking the page out of the dog's mouth. He read it over again but still didn't understand. Seeing that they still didn't get it, Linda ut her paws over her snout.
"She dragged you to the underwater scene, and in all of the myths Atlantis was submergged, so she might be talking about the city." Hearing that Dr. Jackson was close to what she had been trying to say, Linda sat up and wagged her tail. "Than she dragged you to the battle scene and then to the underwater scene." Daniel pushed his glasses up again and took out a note book and pencil.
Seeing the writing tools, Linda tried again. She barked once than howled for a short time. Pausing, she started to howl again.
"Jack...I think she's trying to use morse code." Daniel told him, everyone watching the dog.
"That is one smart dog." Jack said, as Daniel started to write hurridly. Seeing that Daniel had figured out what she had been trying to do.
Linda barked once, howled again then gave two more barks. Daniel wrote down the barks as dots and the howls as dashes. Linda continued with her noise, this time giving a bark, two howls, and one more bark. She gave another howl, pausing to show that was the end of that letter than continued with two barks, three barks, another bark and two howls.
SGA
Many howls and barks later, Linda fell silent and laid down beside Major Lorne. Daniel was still writing,, translating what she had just told them. Looking up, Daniel stared at Linda in amazement. "Daniel, what does it say?" Jack asked, looking at his friend.
"She just told us that Atlantis was buried under water somewhere in the Pegasus Galaxy because of something called the Wraith." Daniel confirmed, rereading his notes.
Hearing the word Wraith, Linda cowered into the ground by Lorne's chair, Even hearing the name of the Alterra's greatest enemy made her scared.
As Daniel finished, everyone stared at the dog in amazement. How did she know all of this and why did she try to tell them, warning them about the Wraith?
"Major, when you're done here, I want a report on the medical health of that animal on my desk in the morning. However she knew about the Wraith and Atlantis, I want to know. And any talking about the things that animal has done does not leave this room, is that clear? I don't want anyone at the Pentagon finding out and taking her to Area 51." Jack told them sternly.