Section 10: Escape n Rescue
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John and Aeryn slept in turns that night, as much as either one of them could sleep. Having put a whispered plan together, they now only had to wait for the graveyard shift to set themselves free. It was a long cold wait.
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"Oh, no!" said D'argo when he saw her in the maintenance bay with Norianti. "No!" He came to a halt with the four humans a step behind.
"D'argo - "
"You are not coming with us!" his voice was close to, but not quite a shout.
"What? What's going on?" asked O'Neill, who due to shooting the DRD, didn't have translator microbes. D'argo ignored him. So did Chiana.
"D'argo, you need me to cover you," she insisted, her head cocking to the side. "The old woman gave me some stuff, I'm not in any pain."
"You're on drugs and you expect me to let you handle my ship?" he demanded. He glared at both her and Norianti, angry that the old healer would even consider helping Chiana put herself in harms way.
"She thinks fine," Norianti told him primly. "And she should go. You can take her or Stark, but I don't think he's a very good choice." She leaned in and whispered, "Unbalanced."
And while D'argo agreed that Stark was the last person he needed to go with them, there was no way he was letting Chiana, barely a day recovered, come with them. She could barely stand as it was.
"Do you mind explaining what's going on here?" O'Neill asked impatiently.
"Chiana was just wishing us luck," D'argo told him tightly.
"I'm going with you," the Nebari quickly corrected him in English.
"With us?" O'Neill asked skeptically, no happier than D'argo was about it.
"I thought you were blind," said Jackson.
"I got better," Chiana replied. "Now we need to go."
"Oh, no!" O'Neill echoed D'argo's earlier protest. "No way. Yesterday you were almost dead."
"And you'll be dead if I don't go," Chiana countered. "I'm covering you from Lo'la."
"Chiana - " D'argo warned.
But she just glared at him. "You can't stop me."
D'argo considered tongue-ing her, but that would make her hit the floor hard, and she didn't need more bruises on top of her current injuries.
"D'argo, please," she asked. And so help him, D'argo couldn't say no because he knew she just couldn't sit this out. She was functional, she would stay in his ship, and she could cover them. With their luck, they would need her, as much as he hated to admit it.
"You have plenty of painkillers?" he finally asked.
"You can't be serious?" O'Neill protested as Chiana nodded with a grateful smile. "We are going into a combat situation. She is too badly hurt to come with us."
"Look, you already said it was a stupid plan. The more weapons we have the better chance we have of getting out alive," D'argo snapped, mad now at having to defend putting Chiana in danger.
"She should not be going in there, Captain," O'Neill glared at him angrily. The other three humans looked uncertain about letting Chiana go, but by mutual consent let their leader voice their concerns. "If she collapses from exhaustion, or gets hurt what good will she be then?"
"And if she saves our lives?" D'argo countered. "The decision isn't up to you."
"Doesn't look like it's up to you either," O'Neill snapped back. D'argo bristled at the obvious challenge to his authority but let it pass in favor of reminding himself why he had been voted captain in the first place: to keep Moya and her crew safe and together. And right now John and Aeryn were in danger. The humans, surprisingly, seemed competent enough, but just the idea of Chiana backing them up made him feel better.
"The decision stands," he told O'Neill. "Let's go." With a last hostile look at the humans, D'argo went to help Chiana up into Lo'la.
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The sounds outside the door had quieted arns ago. Aeryn hoped she was correct in her estimate of the time, but figured she couldn't be that far off. She'd tried counting away the microts while John rested, getting lost several times, but nevertheless, keeping a rough handle on the time.
John was sitting in front of her between her legs, her arms wrapped closely round him as much for her warmth as his. His head rested against her shoulder where he had finally fallen into a light sleep. "John," Aeryn leaned down and whispered into his ear.
"Mmmrrr," he responded sleepily.
"John, wake up," she repeated, stroking his hair. "It's time."
"Mmmm, 'kay." He shifted against her and opened his eyes before sitting up. A shock of cold air hit Aeryn's chest where he had lain. "Frell, it's cold," John muttered at their loss of contact. As unobtrusively as possible, he rolled onto his hands and knees and pretended to throw up. Aeryn placed a hand on his forehead and looked worried for the benefit of any hidden surveillance. They weren't sure if they were being observed, but had decided to err on the side of caution.
When John finished heaving, he rolled onto his back, clutching his stomach and moaning as if he was in pain. "Get ready," Aeryn whispered to him. John grabbed her hand and squeezed. It was now or never.
"Hey!" Aeryn jumped up and dashed to the door. "Hey! We need help! He's sick!" She pounded on the door to get the guards' attention, fervently hoping that at this late hour they were half asleep and tired. "He's dying! We need help!" Aeryn shouted, banging harder on the door. She could hear confused rumblings faintly through the door, then a shouted order, but so far no movement to open it. "He's gonna die! He's vomiting blood! Help! Please!" she screamed as pitifully as possible, as if her mate were really on death's door. She heard more shouting, louder this time with a frantic edge to it.
And then the jangle of someone on the other side unlocking the door.
"Here they come," she hissed to John in warning.
"Let's hope we were right," he muttered back. Aeryn silently agreed. From their earlier observations, they guessed there were three guards in their wing of the building, token security more for the benefit of the scientist than to prevent escapes since their cell was solid.
Aeryn backed up to let the first armed guard in, meekly bowing her head as he passed her without a glance. He strode over to where John lay rolling on the floor, touching him lightly with his boot. John screamed. The guard jumped back, and the second one who stood by open door darted a nervous glance toward Aeryn. Still keeping up the appearance of a helpless female, the ex-soldier shifted closer. She didn't have long to wait.
Holstering his weapon was John's guard's first mistake. Leaning over his prisoner to evaluate his condition was his second. The moment John reached up and twisted his neck with an audible crunch, Aeryn sprang at her own guard, sidestepping his gun and landing a Pantak jab to the center of his forehead. As he fell backward, she snatched his weapon out of his hand and shot the third guard who was waiting just outside the door. None of them had time to shout for help.
Ducking back into their cell, Aeryn went to help John strip the guards, but they had only gotten a far as weapons and jackets when the alarm went off.
"Frell," Aeryn swore. Watched after all. Donning the short jackets, she and John ran from the cell down the hallway, away from where their earlier examination had taken place. Unfortunately the hallways all looked the same. Aeryn, in front, decided that avoiding recapture was of the utmost importance so they ran away from the sound of pounding feet. Behind her, John tried the doors they passed in search of a hiding place, but so far they had no luck.
And even less when three soldiers turned the corner. "Down," shouted Aeryn, dropping to a knee to avoid the enemy fire as she laid into them with her own stolen gun. It gave her and John the time they needed to kill them.
"Okay, that way's out," said John as he helped Aeryn to her feet.
"And more coming," Aeryn stared down the still empty corridor where the sounds of more soldiers were growing. Turning back to John, she found him staring at the ceiling.
"Think the ventilation system will support our weight?" he asked, dropping his eyes back to her. Glancing up at the vent, Aeryn shrugged.
"If we can get in there."
"Come on," said John. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward on of the locked doors. With two shots, they were in an office and barricading the door behind them with the triangular desk.
"Over here," said Aeryn spotting the vent in the corner. John stood on the chair to reach the vent, and a few minutes later he had the cover off and was shimmying up. The sounds from the corridor suddenly escalated, the bodies found. As she got on the chair herself, Aeryn heard the order for a room by room search. Doors slammed as John helped her up. A microt later, the soldiers discovered their barricade.
John and Aeryn used the cover of the barrage against the door to replace the vent and slither away.
While their escape through the air ducts didn't help with figuring out how to get out of the building, it did keep them hidden from their pursuers. From what they could see through the vents they passed over, the soldiers hadn't yet figured out where they had disappeared to. Now they just needed a map.
"So, right or left?" John asked at yet another junction. Aeryn thought back to the last two turns. They were trying to go in a zig-zag path in one direction in hope of finding an external wall somehow.
"I think this one's a left," Aeryn replied. The words were barely out of her mouth when a large explosion knocked her into John and the wall. She could feel the shock wave reverberate through the metal around them. She looked at John who stared back at her with an unreadable expression. "Maybe we should go right," she suggested.
"This better not be an ambush," John muttered as they turned right instead of left and headed toward the source of the explosion.
"I bet it's D'argo," Aeryn said with a grin.
A smile hovered around the corners of John's mouth. "Always has to make an entrance."
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When D'argo blew a hole in the side of the building, Jack put away his anger at the alien and focused on the mission at hand. Get in, find the humans, get out. Keep everyone alive. The only problem was that he was now second guessing his trust in these people. What kind of leader let an injured, defenseless girl go into a combat situation? And wasn't she blind yesterday?
During the flight, Daniel had asked about it, but all he got was a vague answer about it being the price for seeing things. To Jack, that sounded like defeating the purpose of having eyes, but with aliens you never knew. She said it wouldn't happen on this trip, but Jack had a feeling she was just saying that to make them feel better.
"Ready?" D'argo rose to join them at the doorway.
"Good luck," Chiana paused him with a gloved hand on his arm. D'argo nodded and lifted her hand to his lips, but instead of kissing it, he spit onto her palm.
"You too," he said. Then he did kiss her, briefly on the top of her head, before barking the command to open the door.
"You guys ready?" Jack looked over his own team, trying to bury the uneasiness he felt in the mundane.
"We are, O'Neill," Teal'c replied. A second later they were out the door.
The alarm had gone up already, wailing throughout the area so loudly that they couldn't hear themselves think. It was just a matter of time before they were swarmed by security, whatever that turned out to be. The intel D'argo and Rygel had gathered indicated that there would only be sporadic guards in the facility that they would be able to take care of if they were spread out. So without wasting any time, Jack followed D'argo inside.
The first ten minutes were like any other search and rescue inside a building. D'argo was with Jack on point, taking out the ever thickening guards as they made their way to the southwest corner where John and Aeryn were supposed to be. Daniel and Carter followed a step behind, checking doors to make sure they didn't have any unwanted surprises, and Teal'c covered their six as usual.
Then everything went to hell in a hand-basket. Suddenly instead of the two guards they were expecting a whole squadron rounded the corner with guns blazing. Shouts and screams drowned out the noise of the alarm as they retreated to a T intersection to take cover. Unfortunately it was a dead end. D'argo was shouting what had to be curses has he fired his rifle at the vulnerable guards. Pinned down, they couldn't even retreat the way they had come.
"Carter, Daniel, find us a way out of here!" Jack ordered, giving up on the zat and sticking with his trusty P-90. The place was crawling with soldiers who had also taken cover at the next intersection. This was officially not good.
Through the noise, he could hear his scientists shooting out locks in an attempt to find another hallway, or anything they could use to their advantage. He just hoped they thought of something soon.
"D'argo!"
The sudden shout of an unfamiliar voice nearly gave Jack a heart attack. He looked up at the alien standing above him glancing around at the ceiling.
"John?" he called.
"Ghost of Christmas Past, buddy. We're right above you," the voice answered. They were in the ceiling, Jack realized. How did they get there? Exchanging a look with Teal'c, he turned back to the soldiers. He would ask later when they were safe.
"Aeryn there?"
Another alien language answered at length.
"Alright. Chiana's in Lo'la at the end of this corridor." D'argo replied.
"And tell your friend in green to get our clothes and guns," the first voice, John added.
Jack looked at D'argo. "Well?" he asked.
"They escaped on their own. They're going to cover us from above so we can get out of here and meet us back at Lo'la," D'argo informed him. "Jackson," he called down the hallway.
"Yeah?" Daniel appeared out of one of the side rooms.
"Take all the clothes and weapons you found," D'argo ordered. Jack nodded when Daniel gave him a questioning look.
"So when do we go?" he asked, turning back to the soldiers around the corner. The sudden screams answered his question.
"Now!" D'argo leapt into the hallway firing his rifle. Jack and Teal'c quickly joined him. Daniel and Carter followed with a bag of what had to be the clothes. "Run!" And they ran, picking up even more soldiers from other hallways as they did. Once they cleared the hole in the wall, D'argo was yelling at Chiana and his ship to open up and cover them, which she did. Ducking low, they raced for safety.
"Where are they?" Chiana demanded as soon as they were on board.
"They're coming," said D'argo taking over the controls. The soldiers retreated to the rim of the blast hole, but didn't back off further.
"There!" cried Daniel, pointing. Jack followed his line of site to a pale figure in an air duct on the left side of the hole. The person held up three fingers to them and slowly counted down. When he reached his fist, D'argo fired the big guns again just to the right. As the wall once again exploded, two people dropped down from the duct, firing guns at the remaining soldiers as they ran for the ship. D'argo barked more commands to open the door, and they were aboard. SG-1 turned to meet them as D'argo lifted off and shot them into space.
"Hi," said the man from where he lay gasping on the floor, wearing only a jacket tied around his waist. The woman lay next to him, also gasping for breath, wearing her jacket properly, but nothing else. Jack looked away in embarrassment and turned back to the man.
Before he could say anything, Chiana pushed past him. "John, Aeryn!" she cried happily as they got to their feet.
"Whoa, Pip, what happened to you?" asked the man, John, as the white girl gave him a careful hug.
"Stuff, you know," she evaded the question. "These guys found me, got me to D'argo."
The man eyed Jack and his teammates over Chiana's head. "Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack took the opportunity to introduce himself. "Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, and Teal'c."
"John Crichton," the man extended his hand. Jack shook it firmly. "You have our clothes?"
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John and Aeryn slept in turns that night, as much as either one of them could sleep. Having put a whispered plan together, they now only had to wait for the graveyard shift to set themselves free. It was a long cold wait.
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"Oh, no!" said D'argo when he saw her in the maintenance bay with Norianti. "No!" He came to a halt with the four humans a step behind.
"D'argo - "
"You are not coming with us!" his voice was close to, but not quite a shout.
"What? What's going on?" asked O'Neill, who due to shooting the DRD, didn't have translator microbes. D'argo ignored him. So did Chiana.
"D'argo, you need me to cover you," she insisted, her head cocking to the side. "The old woman gave me some stuff, I'm not in any pain."
"You're on drugs and you expect me to let you handle my ship?" he demanded. He glared at both her and Norianti, angry that the old healer would even consider helping Chiana put herself in harms way.
"She thinks fine," Norianti told him primly. "And she should go. You can take her or Stark, but I don't think he's a very good choice." She leaned in and whispered, "Unbalanced."
And while D'argo agreed that Stark was the last person he needed to go with them, there was no way he was letting Chiana, barely a day recovered, come with them. She could barely stand as it was.
"Do you mind explaining what's going on here?" O'Neill asked impatiently.
"Chiana was just wishing us luck," D'argo told him tightly.
"I'm going with you," the Nebari quickly corrected him in English.
"With us?" O'Neill asked skeptically, no happier than D'argo was about it.
"I thought you were blind," said Jackson.
"I got better," Chiana replied. "Now we need to go."
"Oh, no!" O'Neill echoed D'argo's earlier protest. "No way. Yesterday you were almost dead."
"And you'll be dead if I don't go," Chiana countered. "I'm covering you from Lo'la."
"Chiana - " D'argo warned.
But she just glared at him. "You can't stop me."
D'argo considered tongue-ing her, but that would make her hit the floor hard, and she didn't need more bruises on top of her current injuries.
"D'argo, please," she asked. And so help him, D'argo couldn't say no because he knew she just couldn't sit this out. She was functional, she would stay in his ship, and she could cover them. With their luck, they would need her, as much as he hated to admit it.
"You have plenty of painkillers?" he finally asked.
"You can't be serious?" O'Neill protested as Chiana nodded with a grateful smile. "We are going into a combat situation. She is too badly hurt to come with us."
"Look, you already said it was a stupid plan. The more weapons we have the better chance we have of getting out alive," D'argo snapped, mad now at having to defend putting Chiana in danger.
"She should not be going in there, Captain," O'Neill glared at him angrily. The other three humans looked uncertain about letting Chiana go, but by mutual consent let their leader voice their concerns. "If she collapses from exhaustion, or gets hurt what good will she be then?"
"And if she saves our lives?" D'argo countered. "The decision isn't up to you."
"Doesn't look like it's up to you either," O'Neill snapped back. D'argo bristled at the obvious challenge to his authority but let it pass in favor of reminding himself why he had been voted captain in the first place: to keep Moya and her crew safe and together. And right now John and Aeryn were in danger. The humans, surprisingly, seemed competent enough, but just the idea of Chiana backing them up made him feel better.
"The decision stands," he told O'Neill. "Let's go." With a last hostile look at the humans, D'argo went to help Chiana up into Lo'la.
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The sounds outside the door had quieted arns ago. Aeryn hoped she was correct in her estimate of the time, but figured she couldn't be that far off. She'd tried counting away the microts while John rested, getting lost several times, but nevertheless, keeping a rough handle on the time.
John was sitting in front of her between her legs, her arms wrapped closely round him as much for her warmth as his. His head rested against her shoulder where he had finally fallen into a light sleep. "John," Aeryn leaned down and whispered into his ear.
"Mmmrrr," he responded sleepily.
"John, wake up," she repeated, stroking his hair. "It's time."
"Mmmm, 'kay." He shifted against her and opened his eyes before sitting up. A shock of cold air hit Aeryn's chest where he had lain. "Frell, it's cold," John muttered at their loss of contact. As unobtrusively as possible, he rolled onto his hands and knees and pretended to throw up. Aeryn placed a hand on his forehead and looked worried for the benefit of any hidden surveillance. They weren't sure if they were being observed, but had decided to err on the side of caution.
When John finished heaving, he rolled onto his back, clutching his stomach and moaning as if he was in pain. "Get ready," Aeryn whispered to him. John grabbed her hand and squeezed. It was now or never.
"Hey!" Aeryn jumped up and dashed to the door. "Hey! We need help! He's sick!" She pounded on the door to get the guards' attention, fervently hoping that at this late hour they were half asleep and tired. "He's dying! We need help!" Aeryn shouted, banging harder on the door. She could hear confused rumblings faintly through the door, then a shouted order, but so far no movement to open it. "He's gonna die! He's vomiting blood! Help! Please!" she screamed as pitifully as possible, as if her mate were really on death's door. She heard more shouting, louder this time with a frantic edge to it.
And then the jangle of someone on the other side unlocking the door.
"Here they come," she hissed to John in warning.
"Let's hope we were right," he muttered back. Aeryn silently agreed. From their earlier observations, they guessed there were three guards in their wing of the building, token security more for the benefit of the scientist than to prevent escapes since their cell was solid.
Aeryn backed up to let the first armed guard in, meekly bowing her head as he passed her without a glance. He strode over to where John lay rolling on the floor, touching him lightly with his boot. John screamed. The guard jumped back, and the second one who stood by open door darted a nervous glance toward Aeryn. Still keeping up the appearance of a helpless female, the ex-soldier shifted closer. She didn't have long to wait.
Holstering his weapon was John's guard's first mistake. Leaning over his prisoner to evaluate his condition was his second. The moment John reached up and twisted his neck with an audible crunch, Aeryn sprang at her own guard, sidestepping his gun and landing a Pantak jab to the center of his forehead. As he fell backward, she snatched his weapon out of his hand and shot the third guard who was waiting just outside the door. None of them had time to shout for help.
Ducking back into their cell, Aeryn went to help John strip the guards, but they had only gotten a far as weapons and jackets when the alarm went off.
"Frell," Aeryn swore. Watched after all. Donning the short jackets, she and John ran from the cell down the hallway, away from where their earlier examination had taken place. Unfortunately the hallways all looked the same. Aeryn, in front, decided that avoiding recapture was of the utmost importance so they ran away from the sound of pounding feet. Behind her, John tried the doors they passed in search of a hiding place, but so far they had no luck.
And even less when three soldiers turned the corner. "Down," shouted Aeryn, dropping to a knee to avoid the enemy fire as she laid into them with her own stolen gun. It gave her and John the time they needed to kill them.
"Okay, that way's out," said John as he helped Aeryn to her feet.
"And more coming," Aeryn stared down the still empty corridor where the sounds of more soldiers were growing. Turning back to John, she found him staring at the ceiling.
"Think the ventilation system will support our weight?" he asked, dropping his eyes back to her. Glancing up at the vent, Aeryn shrugged.
"If we can get in there."
"Come on," said John. He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward on of the locked doors. With two shots, they were in an office and barricading the door behind them with the triangular desk.
"Over here," said Aeryn spotting the vent in the corner. John stood on the chair to reach the vent, and a few minutes later he had the cover off and was shimmying up. The sounds from the corridor suddenly escalated, the bodies found. As she got on the chair herself, Aeryn heard the order for a room by room search. Doors slammed as John helped her up. A microt later, the soldiers discovered their barricade.
John and Aeryn used the cover of the barrage against the door to replace the vent and slither away.
While their escape through the air ducts didn't help with figuring out how to get out of the building, it did keep them hidden from their pursuers. From what they could see through the vents they passed over, the soldiers hadn't yet figured out where they had disappeared to. Now they just needed a map.
"So, right or left?" John asked at yet another junction. Aeryn thought back to the last two turns. They were trying to go in a zig-zag path in one direction in hope of finding an external wall somehow.
"I think this one's a left," Aeryn replied. The words were barely out of her mouth when a large explosion knocked her into John and the wall. She could feel the shock wave reverberate through the metal around them. She looked at John who stared back at her with an unreadable expression. "Maybe we should go right," she suggested.
"This better not be an ambush," John muttered as they turned right instead of left and headed toward the source of the explosion.
"I bet it's D'argo," Aeryn said with a grin.
A smile hovered around the corners of John's mouth. "Always has to make an entrance."
********************************************************************
When D'argo blew a hole in the side of the building, Jack put away his anger at the alien and focused on the mission at hand. Get in, find the humans, get out. Keep everyone alive. The only problem was that he was now second guessing his trust in these people. What kind of leader let an injured, defenseless girl go into a combat situation? And wasn't she blind yesterday?
During the flight, Daniel had asked about it, but all he got was a vague answer about it being the price for seeing things. To Jack, that sounded like defeating the purpose of having eyes, but with aliens you never knew. She said it wouldn't happen on this trip, but Jack had a feeling she was just saying that to make them feel better.
"Ready?" D'argo rose to join them at the doorway.
"Good luck," Chiana paused him with a gloved hand on his arm. D'argo nodded and lifted her hand to his lips, but instead of kissing it, he spit onto her palm.
"You too," he said. Then he did kiss her, briefly on the top of her head, before barking the command to open the door.
"You guys ready?" Jack looked over his own team, trying to bury the uneasiness he felt in the mundane.
"We are, O'Neill," Teal'c replied. A second later they were out the door.
The alarm had gone up already, wailing throughout the area so loudly that they couldn't hear themselves think. It was just a matter of time before they were swarmed by security, whatever that turned out to be. The intel D'argo and Rygel had gathered indicated that there would only be sporadic guards in the facility that they would be able to take care of if they were spread out. So without wasting any time, Jack followed D'argo inside.
The first ten minutes were like any other search and rescue inside a building. D'argo was with Jack on point, taking out the ever thickening guards as they made their way to the southwest corner where John and Aeryn were supposed to be. Daniel and Carter followed a step behind, checking doors to make sure they didn't have any unwanted surprises, and Teal'c covered their six as usual.
Then everything went to hell in a hand-basket. Suddenly instead of the two guards they were expecting a whole squadron rounded the corner with guns blazing. Shouts and screams drowned out the noise of the alarm as they retreated to a T intersection to take cover. Unfortunately it was a dead end. D'argo was shouting what had to be curses has he fired his rifle at the vulnerable guards. Pinned down, they couldn't even retreat the way they had come.
"Carter, Daniel, find us a way out of here!" Jack ordered, giving up on the zat and sticking with his trusty P-90. The place was crawling with soldiers who had also taken cover at the next intersection. This was officially not good.
Through the noise, he could hear his scientists shooting out locks in an attempt to find another hallway, or anything they could use to their advantage. He just hoped they thought of something soon.
"D'argo!"
The sudden shout of an unfamiliar voice nearly gave Jack a heart attack. He looked up at the alien standing above him glancing around at the ceiling.
"John?" he called.
"Ghost of Christmas Past, buddy. We're right above you," the voice answered. They were in the ceiling, Jack realized. How did they get there? Exchanging a look with Teal'c, he turned back to the soldiers. He would ask later when they were safe.
"Aeryn there?"
Another alien language answered at length.
"Alright. Chiana's in Lo'la at the end of this corridor." D'argo replied.
"And tell your friend in green to get our clothes and guns," the first voice, John added.
Jack looked at D'argo. "Well?" he asked.
"They escaped on their own. They're going to cover us from above so we can get out of here and meet us back at Lo'la," D'argo informed him. "Jackson," he called down the hallway.
"Yeah?" Daniel appeared out of one of the side rooms.
"Take all the clothes and weapons you found," D'argo ordered. Jack nodded when Daniel gave him a questioning look.
"So when do we go?" he asked, turning back to the soldiers around the corner. The sudden screams answered his question.
"Now!" D'argo leapt into the hallway firing his rifle. Jack and Teal'c quickly joined him. Daniel and Carter followed with a bag of what had to be the clothes. "Run!" And they ran, picking up even more soldiers from other hallways as they did. Once they cleared the hole in the wall, D'argo was yelling at Chiana and his ship to open up and cover them, which she did. Ducking low, they raced for safety.
"Where are they?" Chiana demanded as soon as they were on board.
"They're coming," said D'argo taking over the controls. The soldiers retreated to the rim of the blast hole, but didn't back off further.
"There!" cried Daniel, pointing. Jack followed his line of site to a pale figure in an air duct on the left side of the hole. The person held up three fingers to them and slowly counted down. When he reached his fist, D'argo fired the big guns again just to the right. As the wall once again exploded, two people dropped down from the duct, firing guns at the remaining soldiers as they ran for the ship. D'argo barked more commands to open the door, and they were aboard. SG-1 turned to meet them as D'argo lifted off and shot them into space.
"Hi," said the man from where he lay gasping on the floor, wearing only a jacket tied around his waist. The woman lay next to him, also gasping for breath, wearing her jacket properly, but nothing else. Jack looked away in embarrassment and turned back to the man.
Before he could say anything, Chiana pushed past him. "John, Aeryn!" she cried happily as they got to their feet.
"Whoa, Pip, what happened to you?" asked the man, John, as the white girl gave him a careful hug.
"Stuff, you know," she evaded the question. "These guys found me, got me to D'argo."
The man eyed Jack and his teammates over Chiana's head. "Colonel Jack O'Neill," Jack took the opportunity to introduce himself. "Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, and Teal'c."
"John Crichton," the man extended his hand. Jack shook it firmly. "You have our clothes?"
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