Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my OC and my plot. Sad day.
Hey guys. I'm so, so, so sorry it's been so long. My cousin, who was about a year younger than me, committed suicide with his grandfather's gun a few weeks ago. It's been really hard on us all. Needless to say, I didn't exactly have a lot of motivation to write for a long time.
I'm not sure whether the next chapter will take a few days or a few weeks, but rest assured I am not abandoning this story no matter what! It might be a good idea to put this fic on story alerts, since I'm not adhering to a regular updating schedule right now. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
I would like to thank LAeyeball, Pagan Twylight, and Roeskva for reviewing my last chapter! The time between updates is heavily influenced by how many reviews I get - even if they're one word! You guys are my reason for writing!
PS: I'm using a slightly different format for this chapter. I'm using italics for people's thoughts, so I don't have to write them in third person - that was getting irritating to me as a writer. If my readers (that's you) like it, I'll go back and change the previous chapters into this format. Review and tell me if I should keep it!
I swear that my OC's name will be revealed in the next chapter! :D
Thanks for reading!
Akaylah
sub-vocalized thoughts (thoughts you 'speak' to yourself in your head)
She was hissing words that would undoubtedly have made her caretakers roll over in their graves - if they had had graves.
With that thought, the stream of rather inventive curses trailed off into a sigh. Who am I to complain? I am alive. And even if I lose this fight, I've won so many others...
Clang!
Her head whipped around to see the hatch she had just welded shut shudder under another blow. Her chuckle turned into a groan of pain as her neck protested the sudden movement. Everything hurt - a sure sign that she needed to get to shelter now. She was about to literally collapse on her feet.
Still, she was better off than her traveling companions...
Shut up. Focus. Idiot.
Gritting her teeth again, she replaced the dead cloaking unit on Sam's wrist and picked them back up, praying that she wasn't hurting them further as she headed off to the nearest patch of trees. Though she did not turn her head, her sensors told her that none of the guards had noticed the commotion.
Why in Netu haven't they already been ordered to surround the hatch?
Her audio sensors caught the barked syllable of an order. The guards at both the inner and outer gates raised their weapons and began converging on the hatch at a run.
Me and my big mouth... brain... whatever. Time to go. And with that, she began trotting as fast as she could toward the clump of trees nearer to the mountain's mighty base. Running was not even an option.
The contingents of MP's were moving faster than she was, but they had further to go. With a victorious grin, she finally entered the shade and knelt behind the fourth tree she passed, setting Sam and Jolinar carefully down on the ground. There was a small open space here, filled with nothing but grass and a few small rocks. Leaning forward, she retracted the armor from her right hand and placed it firmly on the biggest rock, murmuring a strange word. The faint flash of the scanner warmed her hand, and she grinned in relief as the ground shifted under her.
The ashrak growled in frustration as he sped toward the exit. How had his host managed to hide the information about the surface patrols for so long?
O'Neill smirked, very quietly. He simply hadn't thought of it. After his slip-up with Teal'c, he had focused on controlling his thoughts - concentrating on specific, harmless subjects one after another. It was incredibly hard, but if it inconvenienced the snake invading his head, it was worth it. Eventually the ashrak had come looking for it, realizing that there must have been some kind of security on the surface. Then, it had been impossible to resist, but at least he had bought a little time.
"Major! Tunnel eight! Double-time!" called the ashrak using O'Neill's voice as he swept out into the light - and then had to force himself to not get too far ahead of his weak human servants.
Jack couldn't help a snort at that one.
A square section of ground lifted up at an angle beside her hand. The dark opening was small, barely large enough for her to fit through. She pivoted on her heels and reached for Sam, then froze for just an instant as her fatigue-muddled brain processed something new. A Goa'uld was leading the MP's that were rapidly drawing closer. Though they were not running toward her, it was only a matter of seconds before they saw her faint tracks; though an inattentive human might miss them, there was no way a trained Goa'uld tracker would.
The assassin controlling O'Neill's body paused in his stride briefly, eyes on the ground, before looking straight at her hiding place.
This time she cursed in Quechua for a little variety.
Praying her movements were concealed by the shadows, she dragged Sam into the opening and slid her gently in, following headfirst with a firm grip on her waist. The trapdoor closed soundlessly the instant her heels cleared the opening, leaving no traces of its existence.
The ashrak thrilled anew at the faint tingle of naquedah he caught as soon as he turned toward the trees. He increased his speed, hand on the hara'kesh in his pocket. The feeling of the orak grew stronger, stronger - and then suddenly faded. It had disappeared completely by the time he arrived at the first tree. His prey was nowhere to be seen. He swore terribly under his breath before his humans caught up with him.
"She cannot be far. Spread out and search the area!" he barked, just barely remembering to use his host's voice. Ugh. It was disgusting.
"Colonel!"
The ashrak belatedly realized the male was addressing him. "Yes?" he snapped.
"I found something!"
He barely kept from snarling at the utter uselessness of that statement. The human had found a bloodstain, but it was too small and the surrounding ground too rocky to be of any use. He stalked off in frustration, hoping to find some indication of where the orak had disappeared to.
She listened carefully to the soft sounds of the hatch as it sealed shut behind her, translating the clicks and hisses as only its inventor could. Airlock: check. Scanner shield generator: check. Inner door: check. Locks: check, check, check, check, check, check. Energy shield: check. Internal security: check. She let out a sigh of relief as she slid slowly down the padded incline to land on a plush surface, her hands carefully guiding Sam's limp body to rest in the center of the bed.
"Identify," she called to the pitch-black room in a clear voice. "Leyndarmál komutan khuligan."
In answer, the darkness gradually gave way to soft light, bringing her surroundings into view.
The tiny space was barely six feet tall, eight feet wide and eight feet long. The sloping tunnel they had just entered by looked like a glorified laundry chute, ending right over the low rectangular bed. The bed was simply a flexible silver bag filled with a cheap synthetic substance that the humans of Earth used for insulation. There was an empty metal bucket sitting under a simple faucet in one corner, and a drain in the floor of the other corner. There was a crude hole cut in the metal wall next to the entry tunnel, sporting bundles of exposed wires and bits of rock. Lastly, a rope dangled from a dark hole in the center of the low ceiling.
She grinned happily. Home away from home.
The ashrak grumbled in frustration as his search turned up nothing. There were no other indications that his prey had even been here, excepting the bloodstain on the ground. He peered closely at it, but though it was his only lead, it yielded no secrets.
His eyes narrowed. What was he missing?
I intended to put more into this chapter, but I figured you guys might prefer getting the update to getting a slightly longer chapter.
Sneak[y] peek: if you can translate the code my OC used to turn on the lights [it did other things too, btw], you'll get some little hints about her background! I used Google Translate, so it's not that bad.
Please review! Anonymous reviews and one-liners accepted!
Nice day to ya!
XD