A/N: All right, I would have had this out last night, but I had this scholarship ($350, baby!...from my dad's Masonic lodge) to go to. Then I tried to post it earlier today, but we had some thunderstorms, and my computers are shit when it rains...damn dial up. So, here it is now...
Woo! 10 already!
Chapter 10: Hello, Samantha
"Sorry, Sarge," Sara said, as she looked up at him.
He looked down at her with a stiff nod.
Only then did Sara realize that Sarge was holding her up only by hooking his arms under hers. At least his hands were fisted, and not wrapped around her, like he would have a few months ago.
Sara found her feet just as Mac and Portman came through.
Sarge let go of her, and she looked around; Kid was kneeling on the floor, puking, while Portman blew chucks as soon as his feet touched the floor. Sara saw John help Kid up.
"Why we gotta come all this way? Why can't UAC rent-a-cops take care of this bullshit?" Portman complained.
"Is it always that rough?" Kid asked, referring to Ark travel, as he wiped at his mouth.
"Believe me, it used to be a lot rougher. There was a time when Ark travel was susceptible to, let's say major turbulence," a guy in a wheelchair said, rolling up to them...no, not a wheelchair. It was part of his body, replacing his legs.
The team moved towards him. Sara stopped just behind Kid and John.
"What's he mean?" Kid asked, leaning towards John slightly.
"He means he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another," John explained.
Sara grinned at John's response, shaking her head.
"Call it a scientific miscalculation," the wheeled guy went on. "Unbelievable as it may seem, UAC does make the odd, tiny mistake. Marcus Pinzerowsky. You call me Pinky. Follow me."
Pinky turned and wheeled around to a desk.
"Where are the UAC personnel who aren't locked down in the lab?" Sarge asked.
"In the atrium," Pinky answered, pressing some buttons.
"Pinky, put us up," Sarge said, as the team moved to the front of Pinky's station.
"Activating remote personal surveillance," Pinky said, pushing more buttons.
"Circle up, men," Sarge instructed.
The team made a small circle.
"On my three. One, two, three."
When Sarge got to three, the team raised their guns. Sara pointed her weapon slightly above Portman's head.
"Killcams up and running," Pinky announced.
"People, this room is a code red, which means no one gets in without our permission. It stays ours at all costs. Mac, you stay here with our friend and secure the door. Men, on me. Let's move out," Sarge said, resting his weapon on his shoulder, and moved the team through the Ark door, into Olduvai.
As the team traveled up some stairs, Sara looked around.
"Who called in the military?" she heard from some guy.
'Your mom,' she thought, childishly, with an inward grin.
The team reached the Atrium, and spread out.
"Where the fuck are we?" Duke asked to no one in particular.
Sara scoffed, then grinned. "Mars."
"About a couple million light years from breakfast," Goat added.
Sara turned her grin to Goat, then made her way over to stand near John.
A UAC employee in charge came up to Sarge and they talked, while Portman wandered over to a group of women.
"Typical," Sara mumbled.
John looked at her and she nodded towards Portman.
"Typical," he replied, looking from Portman and back to Sara.
Sara noticed a woman clothed in shades of white walk down a small stairway. As she took a closer look, she realized the woman was Sam, her friend, and her eyes widened.
Portman left the group of women and walked to Sam, who gave him a disgusted look when he started talking.
"We're under a level five quarantine, so I am just going to have to strip--"
"Portman!" Sarge stopped him.
"Sergeant, this is Dr. Samantha Grimm, the UAC science officer assigned to retrieve data from the lab," the employee, who the team now knew as Lt. Huengs, introduced.
Sarge nodded at her as the team reassembled.
Sara shifted to hide behind John; Kid stood next to her.
"Sergeant," Sam nodded back.
"Dr. Grimm," he said.
Sam's gaze shifted to John.
"Hello, John," she said.
"Hello, Samantha," John replied, calmly.
Sara poked her head around John's shoulder.
Sam did a double take and her eyes widened.
"Sara?" she asked out of surprise.
"Hi, Sam," Sara said, quietly.
Sara could feel Sarge looking at her, so she looked over to him. He glared at her, but Sara just shrugged.
Good thing Duke spoke when he did.
"Hello Samantha," he mumbled.
Sarge shot his glare to Duke, who looked somewhere else.
"Sarge, this operation is a code red. We really don't have room for passengers," John said, as kindly as he could.
"Excuse me, but I have orders to retrieve data from three servers: Anthropology, Forensic Archeology, and Genetics," Sam said, ready to fight him.
"This is a military operation, Doctor. We're really not here to retrieve your science homework," John continued with a false smile.
Sara elbowed him quickly.
"Look I got an idea. Why don't you ask your CO what your orders are?" Sam suggested, looking from John to Sarge.
John turned his head to look at Sarge with a shocked expression.
"To contain and neutralize the threat, protect the civilians, and retrieve..." Sarge paused and turned his look from Sam to John. "Retrieve UAC property."
John lowered his gaze, and shook his head slightly.
"We finally done here? Because I've got a job to do. If you'll follow me?" Sam said walking away.
Sam and Lt. Huengs led the team away from the Atrium.
"You chose this, Reaper," Sarge said, not looking at John. "Is this gonna spoil my day?"
"No, sir," John replied, defiantly, also not looking at Sarge.
"Tell me you didn't let a fine looking piece of ass like that get away from you, Reaper," Duke asked, leaning towards John.
'Eww...that would be considered incest,' Sara thought, with a disgusted look.
"She's my sister," John replied simply, glancing at Duke.
"No shit?" Duke said, straightening up.
"Don't do this again, man," Destroyer warned.
"Do what?" Duke replied, innocently.
Sara shook her head.
"There's three sections to Carmack's lab complex," Sarge stated, more than asked.
"Archeology, Genetics, and Weapons Research," Sam answered.
"You test weapons up here?" Portman asked in disbelief.
"Well, it's a dead planet. You want that stuff tested up here, where it's safe, or in your own backyard? We're primarily an archeological operation. Weapons Research is in its own separate facility. It has nothing to do with Dr. Carmack's work," Sam explained, as they kept walking through a secluded hallway.
Sam stopped at an airlock door.
"How many inside when the lab shut down?" Sarge asked, stopping.
Portman and Goat were right behind him, then Sara and John, and behind them was Duke, Destroyer, and Kid. Kid stuck close to Sara.
"Only Dr. Carmack's team. That's six people. In one of the carbon dating labs, there was an internal phone left off the hook," Sam explained some more.
"Did you get any information from it?" Sarge asked.
Sam looked to Lt. Huengs. He held up a tape recorder and pressed a button. Women and men could be heard screaming.
Sara hung her head.
"Open the door," Sarge instructed to Sam.
Sam nodded, swiped her ID card through the keypad and pressed the buttons for the numeric code.
The door hissed as it unlocked.
"Portman, Goat, lead on," Sarge said.
Portman and Goat moved to the door and pulled out air detection devices, as Lt. Huengs opened the door for them.
Seconds later, Goat gave the all clear.
The team, plus Sam, entered the airlock.
"Pinky, give us a schematic," Sarge said through the comm., and moved to a screen.
"Uploading to you now," Pinky replied.
Sam locked them all in the airlock, then stood in front of John and Sara.
While Sarge's attention was on the screen, John shifted closer to Sara. He let his arm drop to his side, then slowly brought it up to grasp Sara's elbow, just above her elbow pad. He rubbed his thumb over her arm.
Sara gave a half grin, keeping her head forward, but looked at John out of the corner of her eye.
John returned the look.
"Carmack's lab is isolated from the rest of the facility. The airlock is the only way in or out," Pinky explained through the comms as the schematic appeared.
Sarge studied it, then put his gun back on his shoulder.
Just before Sarge turned around, John dropped his hand away from Sara's arm, and their faces went back to showing no emotion.
"Goat, Portman: Genetics. Kid, Destroyer: Carmack's office where he sent the mayday from. Reaper, you and Tex keep Dr. Grimm here safe on her salvage op," Sarge ordered.
John looked flabbergasted, as did Sam. Sara's eyes widened slightly.
"Duke and I'll take the weapons lab, make sure all the hardware's secure. Be safe, gentlemen," Sarge continued to order. "Portman, Goat: on you."
The team cocked their weapons as Portman and Goat went out of the airlock.
"Clear left," Portman said.
"Clear right," Goat chimed.
The team tumbled out of the airlock.
"Five bucks says this shit ain't nothing but a disgruntled employee with a gun," Portman said.
'If that were the case, they wouldn't need us...and Carmack wouldn't have been freaking out,' Sara reasoned, through her thoughts.
"I'll take that bet," Sara said, standing behind Portman.
She reached her hand over his shoulder, and they shook on it.
'More money for me,' Sara sang in her head.
"Florescent markings as room are cleared. Go," Sarge commanded.
The team split up as they went where they were instructed to go.
A/N: How weird is it that 'The Rundown' (with The Rock) was just on TV? While I was posting this...
Okay, so it's not that weird...but I thought it was kinda funny.