Chapter 10 - Missions
"Walter, there's been an incident pertaining to National Security. I need a team to secure the site," General O'Neill instructed over the phone.
"Sir?"
"Assemble a containment team – there's one body, a woman – and have Colonel Pendergast have them sent my way. I'll move a secure distance away from the road. Do you still have the number of the beacon from Carter?"
"Yes, Sir. Beacon fourteen."
"Send them with their own beacons so they can be retrieved. After I've briefed them, I'll need transport back to my office."
"Yes, Sir. I'm on it."
Jack put away his phone. "Team's on the way. I'll wait on the other side of those trees so no one sees them beam in. Can you find me a possible destination for dear departed Aunty Penny?"
"I can look up Velocindustry's holdings in this general direction, if I find a way to patch through to the Internet through a link from Prometheus. I don't seem to have coverage of my regular sat modem here."
"Better wait and get beamed back to the SGC," Jack ordered. He quickly made his way through the trees into a small clearing into which the team could be beamed down. a couple of minutes later the team of four appeared in a flash of intense white light. After brief formalities, he lead them to the roadside.
"The deceased is Penny Sanders, adopted aunt of Cynthia Sanders. Cynthia has developed successful wormhole technology, similar to the 'gate but on a smaller scale. She went missing this morning, as did the contents of her lab. After discovering that Penny was more involved that she had claimed, we realised that she must be complicit with the kidnappers, so we followed her with the beacon I had placed on her vehicle. Unfortunately, we were too late to question her. Upon inspection, we noticed what appears to be signs of torture with a Goa'uld 'pain stick'."
The doctor of the team took a close look. "Yes, the markings are consistent with what we've seen from such a device. And this shoulder has three small areas of bruising as if she was hit with the prongs of the device very hard." He then looked at the chest. "But she was definitely shot through the heart with an Earth weapon. I don't believe a Goa'uld would do that, so…"
"The Trust are back in town," Jack completed, having thought it through. "That's what I was afraid of."
"They must have taken a few Goa'uld weapons – such as the pain stick – after those symbiote poison attacks the Tok'ra reported," Sam agreed.
"Right. I'll leave you to take care of the situation. I suggest you have the body beamed out of here before the police show up asking questions. Call me if you find anything on who did this. And leave my vehicle here for now, I expect to be back."
"Yes, sir," the team replied.
Jack redialled Walter and after a few moments, he and Sam found themselves in the general's office.
"Sir, do you think the Trust have Cynthia?" asked a very worried Sam.
"They'd better not, for their own sakes," Jack growled.
"I don't know why they'd want her. They already have beaming technology and they could easily take a gate from another planet if they wanted one."
"Perhaps a ransom? Don't worry, we'll find her. And killing her aunt doesn't mean they have her."
"They tortured her, Sir. She knew something they wanted. Cynthia's location, I expect."
"If that's the case, the sooner you get a lead on Velocindusty, the better. Now, I need to give the president the news that the Trust are active on Earth again."
"I'll get to work, Sir." She headed for her own lab, where she started looking for where her daughter may have been taken.
Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately – for Jack, the president was not available, meaning he had to call Homeworld Security instead. General Hammond was pleased to hear from him, but not so pleased to hear that the Trust had killed a civilian and kidnapped a girl. He was however interested and somewhat amazed that the girl had apparently succeeded in inventing working wormhole technology. Jack's brief explanation of how they'd met the girl left him wondering, but he knew he'd eventually get the fully story in a report, so he didn't press the issue.
The next person on his list of people to call was NID Agent Barrett. Happily, the agent answered his phone promptly. "Barrett, it's General O'Neill."
"General. How's business at the SGC?"
"You know how it is, thanks to the NID getting their hands all over our mission reports."
"I assume you have a reason for calling me besides complaining?"
"Yes. For starters, what do you know about Cynthia Sanders?"
"Uh… where did you hear that name?"
"Met her at her parents' funeral yesterday. Well?"
"She's blonde, tall, fifteen, adopted, and skipped four grades of school. Basically a younger, brighter version of Samantha Carter."
"That's not what I'm looking for, Malcolm. When were you planning to tell us about Project Porthole?"
"Oh, that."
"Yes, that."
"We didn't see that civilian research of wormhole physics related to the operation of the SGC. You already have a perfectly working stargate."
"But you've been keeping an eye on the situation, right?"
"Of course, we have an agent witnessing every experiment that occurs."
"Really now? I suppose you planned to steal it when it was finished?"
"Of course not, general. We do of course have the option of licensing the technology when it is ready, just as you do and everyone else does."
"Likely story. Who might this agent of yours be?"
"Her name is Tamara Yates. She's…"
"I've met Tammy. Good job on her cover. You've got her well trained," Jack complimented.
"Thanks. She's a great agent."
"Does she know about the SGC?"
"Nothing. We were worried that if we sent someone who knew about the stargate, they might let something slip."
"Good thinking. What level of intel does she provide?"
"Quite substantial. Sends us copies of the video footage she shoots for Miss Sanders."
"I know a certain Lieutenant Colonel who'd like to see that. Consider it an apology for not telling us sooner."
"Yes, she would. I'll transfer the latest files across now."
"I don't suppose Tammy has mentioned that Cynthia was kidnapped this morning?"
"What!?"
"Looks like her aunt didn't like the Air Force sniffing around. What can you tell me about Velocindustry's history?"
"Her aunt? Uh… well there have been a few inventors who claimed they'd been ripped off. But they were all discredited. Perhaps there's some truth to their stories after all. I think we have a few questions we'd like to ask her aunt."
"Well it's too late for that. Someone's already asked her some questions – presumably about Cynthia's location – with a Goa'uld pain stick, and then finished her off with a gunshot to the heart. We think it's some old friends of yours."
"The Trust? That's bad."
"Very bad. Can you check if there are any ties between them and Velocindustry?"
"I don't know of any, but I can double check."
"You do that, and see if you can find where they are. If they've taken Cynthia, we need to get her back."
"Definitely. And while I'm filling you in, I should tell you that she's an Ancient Gene carrier."
"And how do you know that?" Jack demanded. He wasn't happy that the NID were looking at his daughter's genetics.
"We were looking for the source of her intelligence."
"Ahh, so she gets it from the Ancients."
"Partly. It's a combination of factors. We know who her genetic mother is, but there's no record of a pregnancy on her mother's file, so…"
"So?" Jack wondered where this was heading. Obviously in the wrong direction, since the NID hadn't been able to see that hidden entry in her file that Janet had access to. Sam had told him all about that.
"There's a possibility that she's some sort of Asgard experiment, like your clone."
Jack succeeding in suppressing his laughter. "I'll keep that in mind. Do you think the Trust know she has the gene? Perhaps that's why they took her."
"I expect they would know. Which is why it's imperative that we find them."
"You get working on that, and I'll see if Carter's found a lead on Velocindustry."
"I'll get back to you. Thanks for the heads-up."
"This might have been avoided if you'd returned the favour." Jack hung up and called back Hammond to inform him about the gene situation. George agreed that it would be wise to send extra reinforcements to the Ancient Outpost in case that was their target. With that out of the way, he grabbed some food from the commissary and arrived at Carter's lab.
"Sir, I think I found it," she began saying when she heard him walk in. "There's a small, isolated research lab in the general direction Penny Sanders was heading, which is owned by Velo, but not listed in any of their promotional materials."
"Velo?"
"Easier to say, Sir."
"You have a point there, Carter."
"Sir, you need to see the video Agent Barrett sent me a minute ago," she said eagerly.
"Yes, I told him to send it. Apparently Tammy is a NID plant."
"She knows about the 'gate?"
"Nope."
"At least they've done one thing right. I took the liberty of calling in Daniel and Teal'c. Fortunately they're both still on base, not that it's a big surprise."
"Not at all. And it's good you did that, as I would have done it myself. I figure we'll need to beam the four of us to the car so we can raid that lab. Would the four of us be enough?"
"Yes, Sir. I have a floor plan and it's fairly small. There won't be many people there, though Prometheus can scan it for lifesigns."
"Good. I'd rather keep beaming in public to a minimum. Ahh, here they are now."
Daniel, who'd been working on a fascinating translation of an alien history book, and Teal'c, who'd been Kel'no'reeming, joined the rest of SG-1, wondering what was up. "Jack, what brings you back so soon? Actually, I'm still not clear on why you left in the first place."
"Indeed."
"The Trust have made a comeback. They may have kidnapped the girl whose parents' funeral we attended. Carter has a video which I assume shows why she's so important. Carter?"
Sam ran the beginning of the footage she'd received, showing the 'buffer reversal' experiment. "What you just saw was the reversal of the direction of travel of an active wormhole, something previously not known to be possible. This occurred just over a week ago. We think Cynthia was kidnapped by Velocindustry, the company sponsoring her work, either to prevent us from discovering that they intended to steal it, or for fear that we, the Air Force, would steal it for ourselves. Cynthia's adoptive aunt, who helped broker the sponsorship deal and tried to keep us from learning of her involvement, was killed this morning as she attempted to flee. She received a bullet in her heart after being tortured with a Goa'uld pain stick, which is why we believe the Trust may now have Cynthia, though we don't know if they have her yet."
"Cynthia appears to greatly resemble SamanthaCarter," Teal'c observed.
"That's because she's actually my daughter," Sam admitted.
"I was not aware that you had offspring."
"Sam? Daughter?" Daniel took a moment to catch up.
"Yes Daniel, I have a daughter. Her adoptive parents died, which is why I hoped to spend several days with her before bringing her back home with me."
"O…kay. That was unexpected," Daniel replied.
"I offer you my belated congratulations."
"Thanks, Teal'c. That means a lot to me. General?" she prompted.
"Ahh, yes. Carter thinks she knows where the Velo people took Cynthia, so we're about to beam over to our rental car and drive over to knock a few heads together. After we gear up, that is. Hopefully she's still there. Questions?"
Elsewhere…
The green van drew to a stop and the engine fell silent, signalling that Cynthia could turn off her laptop. She still had a little battery life left, so at least one thing was going well for her. The door opened and she stepped out into a dim parking area. It appeared to be the employee parking area of a large office building, but apart from a couple of other vehicles that had obviously arrived at the same time as the one she was in, it was empty.
She looked around for an exit, but the door they had come through had automatically closed behind them. There was still no way to tell whether these NID people were really rescuing her, but there was nothing she could do either way, apart from walking where they led her. And wherever they were leading her, it seemed to be a long way underground.
Eventually she was taken into a well lit room that contained a desk and a few computers. "Take a seat," Agent Grey instructed, pointing to a fairly standard office chair behind the desk. She did so, and set the laptop down on the desk. "You've been very cooperative," he noted in a pleased tone.
"And you've been very secretive. Do you mind telling me why I'm here?"
"Actually, there's someone else about to arrive who can do that. A friend of yours."
"A friend?"
"That's right. Ahh, here she comes." A familiar dark-haired woman entered the room with a smile.
"Tammy! I'm glad to see you."
"You too, Cynthia. Sorry it took us a while to rescue you. We had to find out where they'd taken you. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just hungry. So… you're with the NID?"
"That's right. I've been keeping an eye on your for a while, in case someone tried stealing your research."
"Like the Air Force nearly did. Thanks for getting me out of there, by the way."
"Um… yeah, the Air Force. You're welcome."
Cynthia looked around impatiently. "When can I go home to my aunt?"
"Well… I'm afraid that's not possible. They killed her."
The teen gasped in horror. "Aunt Penny? No!"
"I'm afraid so. That's why it's not safe for you to go. But don't worry, I'll take care of you."
"You will?"
"Of course. We're friends. But I will need your help with something."
Cynthia rolled her eyes. "I knew there had to be a catch."
"Oh, but you'll want to do this. It's for a great cause."
"How so?"
"Wouldn't you like to be instrumental in bringing peace to Earth?"
"Peace? How to wormholes make peace?"
"With your help, the armies of the Lord can come and rid the earth of evil."
"Uh… I didn't think you were the religious type."
"I wasn't, but I've seen the truth. My Lord needs your help!"
"Tammy, I don't think the 'armies of the lord' travel through wormholes. Are you taking drugs?"
"Don't be silly, Cynthia. Your portal will open the gateway from heaven. Mighty warriors will be sent to cleanse the earth and we will be united under His glorious dominion!"
The blonde girl sighed with annoyance. "You know, this kind of nonsense is the last thing I expected when I was brought here."
"Nonsense? It's not nonsense. I've seen Him with my own eyes. He demonstrated His power and showed me many of the wonders He will bring to the people of Earth!"
"Uh huh. Does this lord of yours have a name?"
"His name is Ba'al," Tammy spoke with reverence.
"What kind of name is that?"
"The name of a god!"
AN: uh oh! I bet no one saw that coming. I hope everyone's still enjoying the direction this tale is taking. Thanks again for all the reviews :D
SG-1 team action coming soon...
pen name: I think she gets that trait from Sam, oddly enough :P