Infliction
Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate SG1 and Battlestar Galactica are the property of their respective owners. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended the original situations and plots are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission.
Author notes: This story takes place mid season ten of Stargate SG1 and end of season two of BSG after Starbuck comes back from the rescue mission to Caprica. This is a continuation of my fanfic "Destination Earth"
Chapter One
Casting her eyes up Kara was relieved to see the thick cloud drift away, revealing streaks of light in the night sky. Poking her head up from behind the wall for a second she saw a security guard walk back to take his seat behind a small telescope. Crouching back down Kara turned back to her small team. She pinched the end of her nose as a sneeze threatened to shatter their silent vigil. Her body still hadn't adjusted to planet hopping. Her senses where better adapted to the musty smell of her viper than alien flora. Kara unconsciously felt inside the collar of her Air Force jacket for her Galactica pilot wings before checking her watch. The front door of the Auron healing centre was only a few paces away but it was already too late.
"Okay so the guard obsessed with the asteroid shower is finally looking in the right direction," Kara whispered. "The other one is still around the back of the building but we've run out of time."
"We're aborting the mission?" Helo asked, shifting his weight to his other knee.
"No. Just changing the plan. Helo with the frak up in the gate system we have a fifteen minute window to gate to the Delta site. That window begins in twenty minutes. So you guys need to leave and double time it to get to the gate."
"We all agreed to this," Helo said. "We go in with you and then get to the gate."
"No need for us all to be caught." Kara swiveled on her haunches. "Lieutenants Tanner and Reese you understand an order right?"
Both young Lieutenants nodded their heads in typical military unison.
"Then get moving. Helo will be right behind you." Kara waited for them to leave, grateful for their loyality, though, as usual, she wondered how long it would last. Their inexperience and naivety would soon be replaced by ambition. When that happened Kara was sure they'd want more than a pilot as their leader. "Helo, I'm going to set the charge and get out. I need you to make sure they make the window. We don't want these whiney 13th colonists blaming us for screwing up SG12."
Helo let out a breath. "Fine, see you in twenty." He squeezed her arm before cautiously making his way to a line of trees.
Pulling out a small disc that reminded Kara of her old dog tags she stepped out from behind the wall.
"Kara over here." A whispered voice called from behind a pillar near the front entrance.
"Baylee. Frak me," Kara said, dragging the woman back behind the wall. Baylee's mop of black curls fell over her face as Kara pulled her towards the ground. Her blue dress and heels looked out of place against the moss covered bricks. Kara thought her collection of tight dresses seemed out of place amongst her drab scientist colleagues at the Healing Centre as well.
"You shouldn't be here. I have your entry chip. Go home."
"I asked you to do this. I can't sit at home," she said, flicking her hair back.
"The plan was we go in so no one connects you to this."
"I'm going with you. I have to see this through. I owe them that."
Kara sniffed again, noting the tightness of Baylee's plump red lips and the narrowing of her brown eyes. It was difficult for Kara to deny Baylee anything when she looked at her with such determination and trust. She'd only known Baylee a couple of weeks but she was sure the determination would not wane. The trust on the other hand Kara thought was only due to the fact that Baylee only knew her as the leader of SG12. She didn't know her past or her history of mistakes. She only saw Kara as someone who could help.
"Whatever. I don't have time for another speech."
"Thank you," she said, wobbling as she crouched on her heels before throwing her arms around Kara. With a flak jacket and a P-90 between them Kara only managed to return the gesture with an awkward pat on the back.
"Stay behind me." Kara stood and stalked towards the front door.
Together they made their way down the two flights of stairs and into the third door on the right. A shiver ran down Kara's spine as she looked at the wrist and ankle shackles attached to the operating table. An array of lasers and drills hung from a giant mechanical arm that looming above the bed. Kara thought a rusty razor would be more appealing as a surgical instrument. Taking out the C4 from her pocket Kara placed a stick at the base of the mechanical arm. She jerked her hand back as if the procedures done contaminated the hulking machinery.
"Are you sure Doctor Apresso keeps everything in here?" Kara said as she circled the room placing C4 on the computers and cabinets.
"He's paranoid about someone else using his procedure so all the research and design specs are kept in this room. It will take him years to get up and running again and by then…" Baylee stared at the steel head brace at the top of the operating table as a tear slid down her cheek. "I should've found a way to stop this sooner," she whispered.
"Baylee," Kara crossed the room. "You did—"
"What's going on in here?" A grey haired man said from the doorway.
Kara swung around with her weapon raised.
"Dr Apresso," Baylee said. "You left…I saw you."
"I came back. You're a part of that group from Earth," he said, pointing to Kara. "I want you out of this building now." His voice was loud in the small room.
"Dr Apresso," Baylee said stepping closer to the door. "We've got explosives set. It's over."
"Doctor you need to leave," Kara added. "It's going to blow. All that's left to do is to walk away and cover your ears."
"You think I'm going to let you destroy my life's work." Apresso pulled out a small computer tablet from his pocket and tapped the screen. A blaring alarm echoed throughout the empty halls.
"Doctor don't," Baylee said, reaching for the tablet.
Out of the corner of her eye Kara saw the mechanical arm begin to move. As she turned around the lasers rotated in her direction.
"Kara watch out!" Baylee yelled, knocking the tablet from Apresso's hand. She was helpless to prevent his finger from sliding across the screen.
Kara heard a crackle of electricity before a blast of light exploded from the machine. Her last thought before her world turned to black was that she had failed again.
Kara mentally pushed aside the pounding reverberated in her head to focus on the voice gently teasing at the edge of her awareness. She latched onto it like a tether and let it guide her out of the blackness. Forcing her eyes open Kara locked eyes with the source of the tether.
"You're here," Kara rasped.
"I'm here," Sam said, taking her hand.
Kara searched Sam's face for any changes since she had last seen her partner. Sam's fringe was a little longer and her eyes were a little duller. She was tired.
"Where's here?" Kara took her eyes off Sam to glance around the room. Careful not to tilt her head. She suspected it would make the pounding worse. She could see green corrugated iron walls on one side and a white curtain on the other. Looking down she saw she was wearing a black t-shirt and blue surgical pants. She hoped it wasn't one of her young Lieutenants that had undressed and redressed her. She hadn't realized how used to privacy she had become since leaving the close quarters of Galactica. No body from her former life would believe Kara Thrace actually cared about modesty.
"You're at the Delta site. Helo brought you back two days ago," Sam said, rubbing her thumb in circles over Kara's palm. She had obviously forgotten Kara didn't like it.
"Two days?"
"Do you remember what happened?"
"We were in the lab on x5…something and that doctor pointed his fraked up machine at me…then nothing. Wait is Baylee okay?"
"Kara," Baylee swept back the curtain and took Kara's other hand. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know he was there. I couldn't stop him in time."
With her hair tied back, no makeup and clothed in Air Force fatigues Baylee had never looked more attractive to Kara. Despite the pain Kara turned towards Sam. She hoped the involuntary grimace caused by the movement masked the twinge of desire that was just as involuntary. Kara had enough insight to know desire always led her down the wrong path. She moved her hand away from Baylee's.
"How did we get back here? Did the bomb go off?" Kara asked returning to a safer train of thought.
"I disobeyed orders," Helo said walking over to the foot of the bed. "I went back when I heard the alarm and hauled your unconscious ass back to the gate. We got out just before the C4 went off."
"Everyone else get out okay?"
"Apresso got out," Baylee said. "I just got some cuts and bruises from some of the debris. I feel like my ears are still ringing though."
Kara resisted the urge to turn back to Baylee to check for herself if the injuries were serious or not. Releasing Sam's hand Kara made an attempt to sit up before collapsing back against the pillow.
"Frak. Why does my head hurt so much?"
"It's the Fracas machine," Baylee said moving her hand back over Kara's. "You got an uncalibrated, full force dose."
"So how long will this pounding in my head last?" Kara asked plastering a look of nonchalance across her face.
"I don't know," Baylee answered. "No one has ever been hit with a blast like that."
Kara looked into Sam's face. She saw her eyes flick away for a moment. "And?"
"And," Sam said, before Baylee could answer. "We're not sure what effect that level of dose is going to have on you."
"Sorry it took me so long to get here," Doctor Carolyn Lam said as she walked in pushing a cart full of medical equipment. "Fill me in people."
"Kara's been awake for a few minutes and she says her head hurts," Sam said.
"Because of the Stargate problem I only got bits and pieces of Helo's report. The message was distorted. So let's start from the beginning."
"Well," Baylee said. "We've been at war with the Berence Coalition for nearly twenty years. It's mostly just small skirmishes now but we have generations of troops that have experienced life on the frontlines. My sup—"
"Maybe we don't need to go that far back," Sam interrupted.
"I'll make it quick but she needs to hear it."
Carolyn nodded.
"My supervisor, Doctor Apresso, was a military doctor. About ten years ago he got wounded while working at a mobile outpost. After that he got obsessed with painful memories associated with actual pain and that when you pass out you internalize that pain rather than experience it. He believed to recover fully a person needs to be conscious to process the pain. Otherwise the wounds both physical and psychological haunt you causing debilitating chronic illnesses. He built what we call a Fracas machine. In short, through laser intervention it tricks the brain into re-experiencing the pain while staying conscious. Then through cathartic release sessions he implements psychological intervention."
"You're telling me no matter how much pain a person's in they won't pass out?" Carolyn asked.
"That's correct. Processing the pain while conscious is a key part of the process."
"Can I also assume pain killers or sedatives won't work?"
"No. They won't have any effect, it's part of the—"
"Process right," Carolyn said. "So what can we expect?"
"Like I've been saying I've never seen the effect of this level of exposure."
"I need to do some tests to get some answers," Carolyn said, without missing a beat. She'd long ago adjusted to the fact that the vast majority of her assignments involved working around unknown elements.
Sam kissed Kara's forehead, Baylee squeezed her hand and Helo patted her leg before filing out of the room. Kara saw the worry etched on each of their faces. She felt it too. At any moment her history was going to be her present. She'd barely survived most of her wounds the first time around and worse her wounds were about to reopen for all the world to see.
Kara felt the familiar craving for the g forces of her viper. To be cocooned in the cockpit accelerating away from her problems. She craved the weapons control under her fingers and the ability to locate her enemies on the radar. In her viper forward wasn't the only option. Under her expert manipulation her viper could duck, spin and weave around obstacles and enemies. Here all she could do was lie back and wait for the past to resurface. She'd rather face a fleet of Cylon Basestars then the nightmares locked in her mind.
To be continued
Delphinus Contract by g.v. nett now available from Amazon in paperback.
Book two in series Past Dreams now available from Amazon as an eBook or paperback.
Past Dreams description:
Just a dream… Except there's no such thing as just a dream anymore... There never was.
Life hasn't returned to normal for the crew of the Equuleus. As usual Talana is at the centre of the chaos as she tries to deal with interplanetary politics that threaten her livelihood. Leaving Isy to wonder if life on the Equuleus is worth the risk.
The fragile yet unremitting bond with Mia progressesstrictly on Talana's terms. While Mia feels like a moth constantly being burned by the flame of their unique relationship Talana is determined to keep her distance until a kidnap attempt reveals they're not the only ones who want to know the secret behind their connection. With her life hanging in the balance Talana and Mia must solve the mystery of their tenuous link before it's too late.
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