Author's Note: New chapter! I don't know when the next one will be posted. I finally got a job, but hours are unpredictable (substitute teacher). Also, I want to really try to finish the story before I post anything more. Feedback is always welcome!
Initially, Kate tried to figure out where she and the others were going on their little jaunt through the bowels of the ship. She gave that up pretty quickly, however, since a) she still had no idea how big this place was or where anything was located, and b) it took more concentration than she would have thought possible to avoid running into Carson in front of her or Castle behind her. Thankfully, the alarms had not been installed in the enclosed space of the crawlway, so her ears, at least, got a break. For being hunched over and moving on hands and knees, the military personnel at the front of the line were moving at a quick pace and it wasn't long before a sudden surge in the alarms' volume alerted Kate that someone up ahead had opened another access panel.
It was only after she had followed Carson out into the ship's corridor and straightened up that she realized Castle hadn't followed her. In fact, aside from accidentally kicking him in the arm back when they'd first entered the crawlway, Kate couldn't remember the last time she'd heard from or seen the novelist.
"Where's Castle?" Carson asked now.
"I have no idea," Kate replied. "Probably got lost in there."
"He'll have to find his own way out," Colonel Mitchell said, leading the way down the hall. "We've got a job to do." He stopped in front of a door and pulled on its handle, but it refused to budge. Swearing under his breath, he popped a small panel on the wall and promptly re-wired the interior so that the door swung open to reveal a small room packed with weapons. Teal'c and Dr. Jackson entered the room and began pulling things off of racks and passing them out. Kate accepted the vest Dr. Jackson handed her. It wasn't her usual bulletproof, but she doubted the old Kevlar would have been up to this particular challenge. As she pulled it on, she noticed the peculiar weapon Teal'c was handing Carson.
"It's called a zat," Dr. Jackson explained, catching her eye. He held up another, tapping a button on the side so that it sprang upright with an oddly-familiar electronic sound. "Push again to fire. One shot stuns, two shots kill."
"What's wrong with a gun?" Kate asked.
"Just backup," Mitchell answered. He was zipping up his own black vest as he spoke.
Kate nodded, accepting the 9-mil that Teal'c passed her. She checked it over quickly and efficiently, and placed it in its holster to receive several spare clips from Mitchell. By the time these were safely stowed in one of the pockets on the vest, the men with her were all similarly attired and armed, and Mitchell was leading the way down the corridor once again, gun raised in a standard two-hand hold. Dr. Jackson and Carson followed in a similar manner. Teal'c motioned for Kate to follow with one of the sub-machine guns he carried. Nodding, she moved into position as the large man fell into step behind her.
The armory they had stopped at wasn't too far from their destination. At any other point, Kate would have enjoyed the experience of being on an actual spaceship, but just now she was in full out "cop mode", carefully sweeping her eyes over every nook and cranny, looking for anything that looked out of place. (Truthfully, she wasn't sure she would recognize if something didn't fit, but she could at least point it out to the men who were with her.) It wasn't long, however, until they began to slow down. Kate looked ahead and saw an open door, with several bodies lying beyond. Mitchell swept the room and gave the all clear, motioning the others inside.
The room was obviously the brig. What else could it be, with a pair of what looked like holding cells and a desk for whoever was on guard? There was a body slumped over the desk, and a further four lying on the floor. One more body lay half in one of the cells; Kate looked at it and looked away again when she saw the shriveled hand sticking out to the side. Shaking the picture out of her mind, she knelt down beside Carson as he checked the pulse of another man. "Are they okay?"
"They will be," he promised her. Movement from the body in front of him cut off his next words. "How are you doing, sergeant?" he addressed the young man.
The young man's reply was too soft to be heard over the continued wailing of the alarms. Carson reached out a hand, and the other used it to pull himself into a sitting position. "Doc? What's going on?" His voice was raised now, and Kate could see that he was thinking hard as he stared around at his unconscious colleagues. "Where's the prisoner?"
"What happened here, sergeant?" Mitchell shouted from his position by another body.
The sudden look of horror on the young man's face told Kate that it wasn't good. "Johnson and Kline started seeing things. Miles told them to snap out of it, but then we all started hearing things. I remember someone drawing their zat and then it went FUBAR, sir."
Wonderful,Kate thought to herself. Dr. Jackson was still questioning the young man while Mitchell began yelling into his radio, likely trying to reach Colonel Carter's team. "No good!" Mitchell shouted. "Doc! Take these men down to the infirmary and stay there. You," he pointed to the sergeant, "help the doc. The rest of us are headed for the computer room."
Even over the alarms, Kate could hear the worried tone in Mitchell's voice, and felt her own worry race through her. Where had Castle got to?