SGC:
General Hammond waited at the bottom of the ramp as Molly was escorted into the SGC through the gate. The child looked more than a little intimidated. Molly's eyes kept going back and forth from the heavily armed soldiers that had brought her through, to the soldiers below the ramp, to the control center, behind it's observation ports, and the entire chamber, covered with incomprehensible gadgets, men and women going here and there, on some errand of another. The only thing that kept her going was the knowledge that Myra and Dr. Jackson were depending on her.
The man at the foot of the ramp, General Hammond, looked nice-- not at all as threatening as everyone else. He walked forward and looked at her, putting out his hand.
"Hello, I'm General Hammond. Welcome to the SGC." Molly looked up at him, and did what her mom told her to do when a respectable (read-- rich) man wanted to be polite. She put her own hand out and shook hands…although she had to admit that General Hammond seemed much more polite then most of the people mom dragged her to go see.
"I'm Molly Cunningham…" Molly paused, then remembered the very important thing. "Oh! I blew up the DHD they had brought with them!" She finished. Hammond looked surprised, then nodded.
"You did, did you? Very good. Well, Molly, you look tired and hungry, so why don't we go to the for a bite-- right after Dr. Frazier here checks you out." He gestured at a woman in a white coat. Molly tensed.
"But I'm not sick…" She said. The doctor smiled and replied.
"Nobody says you are-- but different worlds have different foods, germs, and things like that-- this way I can make certain you're not allergic to anything-- besides, the general will be with you the whole time."
"Ok…" Molly said, doubtfully. As she followed the two out of the SGC. Some of the guards moved to follow her, but Hammond gestured them back.
The examination didn't take long, and Molly quickly found herself in front of a plate full of "Dr. Frazier" approved food. To her surprise, she found herself ravenous. Hammond and Frazier quietly excused themselves to an office outside the examination room-- which had a series of monitors watching the child.
"Well, Doctor?" Hammond asked.
"Sir, you'll probably be surprised--but on the inside, she's about 99 percent human. I think we're seeing Ga'ould genetic engineering."
"How recent?" Hammond said.
"Not very-- there's a fair amount of genetic drift in the samples I took," Frazier said, pointing at a read out that was greek as far as the general could tell, "And although I can't be certain, I'd say this happened at least 3000 years ago…maybe longer." Hammond relaxed, slightly. That hopefully ruled out any Ga'ould biological weapons.
"And what are your impressions of Molly?" He asked.
"Bright, young, more than a little scared, but not letting that stop her." Frazier said. "Very open minded-- you heard all the questions she was asking." She paused, "Especially if her home world's technology is as low as she indicated, it was impressive that she was able to understand that the computers are 'super sliderules' as fast as she did." Hammond nodded.
"She's bright…but she's also landed a problem on our laps."
"Sir?" The door opened behind him, but Hammond didn't turn, concentrating on the blonde bearess at the table.
"I can't send a rescue mission through the Stargate-- even without a DHD, the Jaffa guarding it have to be expecting an attack…and I can't roll bomb through to clear them out-- not without killing the other hostages."
"Then perhaps I may be of Assistance, General Hammond." Hammond turned and smiled.
"Master Bra'tac! I wasn't aware you were here."
"I had just arrived-- we received some information that Teal'c and his companions had been forced to journey to another stargate. Apparently, The information was true. The older Jaffa walked up to the monitor and looked at Molly.
"She's from the world that SG-1 is stranded on," Hammond explained. "I think it's time we go have a chat with her."
Molly had finished eating and was looking around at the various gadgets on the wall. She avoided touching them, but the strain was killing her. Then the door opened, and General Hammond, Dr. Frazier, and another old man, who looked like Teal'c's dad walked through. Molly looked up at him, slightly intimidated…he also looked like the Jaffa that had tried to kill her.
"Hello, Molly Cunningham." He said, "I am Master Bra'tac and I thank you for bringing me knowledge of Teal'c and his companions.
"I had to… I couldn't do anything myself." Molly said, unable to avoid some annoyance in her voice. "They were too big…" Hammond spoke up.
"You have done a great deal, yourself, Molly. In fact, I was wanting to invite you to join us as we plan to rescue everyone…" Molly's face brightened-- *they* weren't telling her to stay out of the way.
In the main conference room, Molly quickly realized just how fast things were going to move. There was an odd flag, with stars and strips, and another with some other symbols on it, but she had little time to look at them, or the stargate out the window. Hammond, Bra'tac and some other men in uniforms got to work right away…and they had lots of questions for Molly.
"Ok… I need you to draw, from your best memories, the room the stargate is in."
"This vase that got vaporized…where was it?"
"How many Jaffa? Did any of them have weird sounding voices?" Molly answered the questions, and then answered more questions.
"Can you draw where the vase was?"
"Are you *certain* those were Jaffa you saw?" Molly started to get frustrated, but General Hammond calmed her down.
"Don't worry, Molly." He said. "We keep asking you questions because sometimes you might have forgotten something, and this is a good way to help you remember-- even people like Colonel O'Neil have to go through this." Molly subsided and kept trying to cooperate.
With her help, a floor map of the main room began to take shape, with less detailed plans for the rest of the museum. Molly found herself being shunted to the back of the room as Hammond and the other soldiers kept a discussion.
"Sir, We could use a series of explosive devices to take out any Jaffa in the main chamber, then send in our troops."
"And it would also "take out" any hostages if they had moved them into the room, to say nothing of the danger of bringing the entire building down."
"What about shock grenades?" Bra'tac answered that one.
"Jaffa have used shock grenades for centuries-- they would have some stationed outside of the room, beyond their danger radius, but able to fire into the room." The room started to fill with depression.
"What's wrong?" Molly asked.
"It is difficult to attack a stargate that is defended, Molly Cunningham." Bra'tac said. "I believe that we will have to consider another route. "
"Like?" Hammond asked.
"These coordinates, if they are correct, place this world near a world held by my people, General." Bra'tac said. "We can gate there, and then take a ship to their world-- at least it would let us discover the fate of the rest of SG-1." Hammond nodded.
"I'll get the get a team ready-- will you have any Jaffa that can come along?"
"Yes."
"What about me?" Molly said. Hammond looked down at her and thought.
"You'll have to stay here, Molly, and wait until we can secure the other end of the gate…then you can go home."
"General Hammond." Bra'tac interjected.
"Yes?" The elderly Jaffa looked over at Molly, then back at Hammond.
"If we must destroy the gate, then it would be best were she to come with us…and best for her to rejoin her companions, especially if the Jaffa have succeeded in contacting Apothis." Molly didn't know what was going on, but Hammond's face seemed to get more set.
"I…understand. Molly, you can come with us…"
"Yay!" He overrode her exuberance.
"BUT, you must do exactly what I, or any other member of the group says."
"I-"
"Your promise, or you don't go."
"I promise," Molly said meekly.
"Then let us go-- there is little time." Bra'Tac said. Molly was amazed at how quickly things moved-- in less time than it took Baloo to wake up, she, Hammond, Bra'tac were on the ramp, surrounded by the heavily armed soldiers of SG-4 and SG-5. Some of the soldiers spared her dubious looks, others grinned at her reassuringly. Molly felt safer then she had in some time.
"Stargate open. Godspeed sir!" And the whole group walked through the stargate.
Molly was disappointed at the other world. It was dark, but most of the trees looked normal, and the buildings also looked like something you might see in Macadamia or Aridia. But the men were just like the Jaffa that had almost killed Molly. She resisted the urge to move closer to General Hammond or Bra'tac
"My friend," One of the Jaffa said, gripping arms with Bra'Tac. "As you requested, I have twenty warriors." Bra'Tac nodded.
"That is all the ship can easily carry, or that can be spared without weakening our defenses here. We leave immediately."
Everyone took off at a quick trot, Molly in the van, momentarily forgotten by everyone else, even Hammond. She got onto the ship, along with the others, and quickly found an out of the way spot on the bridge. Within minutes, the ship was shooting up into the night sky, heading for her world.
"Now Bra'tac, I think we should come in under stealth-- there's no guarantee that no Ga'ould ships haven't been summoned."
"I agree, my friend I-" A soft exhalation of wonder interrupted him, and he turned, then smiled. Molly had pushed her face up against the window, watching the planet fall behind, the curve of the surface becoming more and more apparent as the ship reached into space. Both Bra'tac and Hammond had to smile at it.
"It was the same for me, Molly Cunningham…" Bra'tac said. "But if you thought that was wonderful…" He touched a stud, "Entering hyperspace." The familiar rift opened before the ship, as it vanished. In the depths of space, the awed sound of a young girls voice seemed to linger for a moment.
"Oh…Wow…."
***
The Sea Duck drove through the sky, the persons on it tried to will it to go faster. Kit had the radio tuned to the news station, and they listened to the increasingly hysterical reports.
"Not good." O'Neil said.
"I agree…" Teal'c replied. Carter was holding Kit's airboard, which he'd accidentally dropped on the way in. She looked at it and back at Kit.
"What's this for?" She asked. Kit looked back and gave a grin.
"For airboarding." He said. He took it out of her hands and unfolded it, the pointed to the hoist in the rear.
"Excuse me?" Carter said. Kit explained… "That's not possible." She said flatly. Kit frowned.
"I do it all the time…"
"And he's the only one," Baloo said,
"I don't mean it's impossible in that sense…it's physically impossible." Carter said, "The speed you'd have to go at would be impossible…wait a minute." She observed Kit's airboard closely, then blinked and looked up. "Sir…I think this is made of a alloy that includes Naqqada."
"Which means?"
"Well sir, Naqqada is used in the inertial compensators of the Ga'ould…this could be having the same effect."
"Where did you get the material to build this, Kit Cloudkicker?" Teal'c asked.
"Oh, it's a special metal-- but you can get it if you look around." Kit said, shrugging. He'd never considered it-- it was just the type of metal you used.
"That indicates that this world might be very rich in Naqqada ore, "
"Great." O'Neil said, putting his hat on and closing his eyes. "Another reason for the Ga'ould to want the place…"
As Baloo brought the Sea Duck into Cape Suzzette, they could see the city looked like a bee hive that had been kicked over. Dozens of fighters buzzed over the city, while smaller planes and boats clustered the harbor below, some packing the exits, others seeming to try to get closer. Where the museum was, several curls of smoke rose towards the sky.
"Oh No!" Katy breathed.
"Hang on, Kids." Baloo said, after clearing with air control. "I'm going to put us down a little closer…"
"Baloo! They said to land in the normal place!" Rebecca said.
"Sorry bosslady-- but look at that traffic-- we'd spend all day just getting to the place." Baloo aimed the Seaduck for a park just a block from the museum, with a large…but entirely too small for comfort duck pond.
"Hold on-- Hey!" O'Neil said. "That's not a good place to land…"
"Why not?"
"Because there's a building right behind it!" O'Neil said.
"Baloo, this planes far to big to land in that area…" Samantha said, then dove for her seat as the Sea Duck slamned into the water, making a 360 degree spin, as Baloo expertly dumped the velocity, before gently nudging them up to the shore."
"All off Baloo's air service!" He said.
"Higher for Hire!" Becky shouted.
"Lunatics Let Loose!" O'Neil furiously added.
"Let us go." Teal'c said, helping Katy up, and opening the door. "I believe you should explain our presence to the police, Baloo."
"Uh, yeah, that'd be good."
****
"Captain, I am not interested in hearing why you cannot enter the building, I am interested in hearing how you intend to rectify that problem." Shere Khan inspected his needle sharp claws as another blazing bolt of light obliterated a parked car at the end of the block, sending pieces soaring into the sky.
The captain before him, Captain Grog…down from Colonel Grogg, held on to his still smoldering hat while he desperately tried to explain.
"But Mr. Khan, they have death rays!"
"Yes, they do." Khan purred. "That is why the army was called, instead of the street sweepers." He looked at a tank…or at least two-thirds of the tank that were not melted. "I would suggest that you apply yourself to finding a less…direct approach to taking the building."
"Hey Khanny!" A familiar voice intruded into Khan's hearing and he turned and saw Baloo waving as he approached, leading a… very unusual group. One eyebrow rose. Grogg saw them, turned pale and screamed.
"The Aliens! They've returned!" He tried to grab for his gun, and dropped it. Khan lifted him by the scruff of his neck.
"Control yourself, captain. I will speak with you momentarily." He said, before tossing him behind another car. "Ah Baloo…I see you have brought friends." He looked them over, stopping at Teal'c,, the only one who could match him in both height and build. Teal'c looked back impassively. O'Neil looked at the cowering Captain Grog.
"Tell me we don't have to work with him." O'Neil said. Khan nodded.
"No…but I would appreciate it if you would explain to me what someone is doing shooting *my* city up." Baloo, Rebecca and Katy gave him a rapid fire and at times simultaneous explanation. Khan kept up with it all, before lifting one hand and stopping the flood.
"So, You are Colonel O'Neil." He said, dismissing the others.
"That would be me, yes." O'Neil said.
"I take it you have a plan to remove these 'Jaffa'" without doing further damage to the city?" Khan asked, like he would have asked if O'Neil had decided where he was going to eat breakfast.
"Well, yes. Actually, I'm going to appeal to their sense of fair play and have a tennis match, winner takes all." Khan's eyes narrowed. He was not used to that form of response.
"Sir," Carter said, playing peacemaker. "We have to insure that the hostages don't come to any harm. Have you heard anything about them?"
"Only that if any attempt is made to assault the building, they will be killed."
"Oh, and when were you going to share that little tidbit with us?" O'Neil demanded.
"In good time, Colonel, all in good time…" A bolt of energy blew a corner of the building off. Everyone ducked, Khan brushed some of the dust from his shoulder.
"Sir, that wasn't a staff weapon."
"I know, Carter, I know!" Jack was about to say something else, when a bellow came from the building.
"If you do not provide us with the gate control device, we will kill one of our prisoners!" The window over the main entrance opened, and a Jaffa strode out. "I have sent one of my men to get a prisoner, and then you will have to decide!"
"Great…" Jack said. "Teal'c-- how many do you think?" Teal'c had a small mirror out and was looking through it.
"I do not know, O'Neil-- there are at least four heavy weapons… I do not think there would be fewer then twenty Jaffa."
"Well we know that they don't have a DHD" Carter said.
"But they do have my baby!" Becky wailed."
"And my artifacts!" Katy snarled.
"Well, have we seen any of the hostages?"
"No," Khan replied to O'Neil. O'Neil and Carter shared a glance. There were several reasons why you wouldn't show hostages, and at least one of them involved said hostages no longer being alive.
"OK…" O'Neil said. "I don't see a lot of options here…and if *that*" he said, pointing at Captain Grogg, "is an example of the local talent…I'd like to keep this in house. I-" A burst of static interrupted him. O'Neil looked around and then grabbed his radio link.
"Co-.sch… O'N…."
"This is O'Neil, who is this?" He waited and the signal came back, more intelligible.
"This is General Hammond."
"*General?*" O'Neil said, shocked. "Where are you sir?"
"Twenty miles up and getting closer-- we hitched a ride from Master Bra'tac." Teal'c got an extremely satisfied look on his face.
"How did you know we needed help, sir?" Carter asked. "We couldn't get in touch with you…"
"Well, we had someone on the scene who managed to get through the gate to the drop site."
"Danial?" O'Neil asked, and then blinked as a familiar voice chirped out over the radio.
"No, ME!" Molly Cunningham said. Rebecca gasped.
"Molly? What are you doing up there?"
"Good question-- but not now." O'Neil said. "Sir, there's a yellow seaplane in a pond, just South of the building the Jaffa and the gate are holed up in."
"I see, it. We'll be there in five. Hammond Out."
In less than five minutes, the bulk of the transport landed next to the Sea Duck, dwarfing the air craft. But O'Neil only had eyes for the dozens of deadly, well armed, and COMPETANT SG teams and Jaffa warriors trotting down the loading ramp. Rebecca saw Molly, walking between Master Bra'tac and Hammond and swept her up in a hug, ignoring her protestations. Then, sitting her down, she turned to Kit.
"Kit, keep her out of trouble!"
"But I want to help-"
"Kit…"
"Don't worry, Kit…I think the Colonel's people have it under control." Baloo said, looking at the fire power moving past him. Khan wasn't intimidated at all.
"On the contrary, Mr. Baloo…the difficulty remains the same." Khan paused, "I assume that these Jaffa do not surrender?"
"No." Teal'c replied, "they would die for their false god."
"And they would kill the hostages?"
"They would."
"Then…" Khan calmly stated, "The problem remains-- most hostage takers do not harm their hostages because they do not wish to die."
"And there's every chance that other Jaffa are trying gate codes at random… there are ways to activate a gate without a DHD" Carter said. "If they find this one, the Jaffa can communicate back the same way we do…and then they can send more troops through and another DHD."
"Possibly not." Bra'tac said. Carter looked at him.
"My information." Bra'tac continued, "Indicates that the Jaffa were so close on your heals they could not contact Apothis…and therefore are cut off." He paused, "If we can keep them from reporting back, this world will be safe…"
"But if they think they can't get back, Daniel, Myra, and everyone else is dead." Carter said.
"Not Myra!" Baloo burst out, "Colonel, you gotta do something!"
"I am doing something, Baloo!" O'Neil said.
"What?"
"Thinking… OK…we've surrounded them…what if we let them know that there's a starship, and try to decoy them into trying to take it?"
"That would be Risky, O'Neil…they would likely leave a group in the Museum…or take the hostages…" Teal'c said. O'Neil looked unhappy.
"And that nice lawn around the place is great for a kill zone…haven't you people ever heard of big, ostentatious, lawn sculptures?"
"Colonel, a frontal assault may be our only way." Carter said.
"No. To many casualties, and way too much opportunity to kill the hostages." O'Neil
"Sir, I don't see any other alternative…" Carter said, "The longer we wait, the bigger the chance is that they'll kill them anyway."
Kit felt a nudge at his arm. He looked down and saw Molly. She gestured, saying nothing, and he followed her to an out of the way corner.
"What Molly?"
"I know how to get in there and rescue everyone." The nine year old said. Kit got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Molly had that look.
"Molly, Miz Cunningham told me to keep you out of trouble." Molly put her hands on her hips in a very Rebeccaish pose.
"Kit Cloudkicker, if more of these people come here, we'll all be in trouble." She said. "We can go in and get Ms. Foxworthy and Mr. Jackson out, right?" She smiled, "Because I can still get through the ventilation shaft…and you can, if you try real hard."
"And what do we do then?" Kit asked, trying to be the voice of reason.
"I also k now where they keep those lightning guns-- Zats… and knock out bombs." Molly said, a sly smile on her face. "Nobody told me not to mess with them…." She continued in a rush, "So we can give them to the hostages and then they can get out and everyone will be OK!"
Kit marshelled the intelligent arguments against such a course of action, staring with are you nuts! And going down from there. Unfortunately, Molly made sense…and of course, it had been a while since he'd done anything truly exciting-- cleaning out the refigerator of Baloo's old leftovers didn't count-- nothing tried to eat him last time he'd done that. Of course there had been the time when one of the leftovers had tried to pull Ms. Cunningham into the fridge, but that was last month.
"Molly, you heard them…"
"Mom said to keep out of trouble…if the Jaffa," Molly said, "Call their friends, we'll all be in trouble. So, I'm not really getting in trouble, see!?" She turned around, and looked back at the building, "But you're right…" She said, "I suppose it's too dangerous and scary…"
"Hey!" Kit said angrily, "I didn't say anything about that!" He paused, "OK…but we just go in to give Dr. Jackson and Myra these things and come right back out."
"Certainly, Kit." Molly said, and then positively squealed. "Let's go and get what we need!" Kit groaned. He was going to regret this…
Getting into the ship was easy-- most of the SG teams and the Jaffa were with Khan and the others. Molly was used to being quick, small, and ignored, and so she dove in and came back out, with her hands loaded with metal spheres, and strange looking guns.
"Here.." Molly said, unfolding a "zat" which than made a strange noise. "I listened to the others and watched them. This is how you open it…" She pointed at a tree, and a lightning bolt came out of it and zapped the tree. "And that's how you fire it." Kit looked unimpressed. The tree was still there.
"It didn't do anything." He muttered.
"Yes it did…" Molly said, "It only..stuns people, not kills them." She paused, "But Master Bra'Tac said that if you shoot a person more than once, it could kill them." Kit gingerly took the a gun, and stuffed the others in his pockets. The globes were activated, as far as Molly could tell, by depressing a single large button-- they were supposed to be knockout bombs, but since Molly had never seen them used, Kit took that with a grain of salt-- hopefully he wouldn't need to find out.
"OK…" Kit said, "lets go." He paused. How could they get in there?
"The central heating system is part of the central city system." Molly supplied. He blinked, "How did you know that?" He said, turning towards Molly. The cub shrugged.
"School field trip." She said, "Than I got interested and did a report on it-- every building in the downtown is connected up." She looked up at Kit. "At least it was something interesting to do-- since I don't get permission to come with you and Baloo much…" She cocked her head at him and narrowed her eyes. Kit took the cowardly way out.
"Oh, we'd better head out before someone sees us!" He said.
"Right," Molly said. They quickly moved to another building, and Kit took out a Swiss Army Knife from his pocket, jimmying the lock. Fortunately, the power was off in the immediate area, so there was no clangor of alarm bells.
"Kit?" Molly's voice drifted up out of the darkness as they headed towards the basement.
"Yes?"
"Thanks for listening to me."
"No problem, Molly." Kit said. That had made her happy, the bear thought. Maybe that would--
No. Nothing was going to save him from Rebecca when she found out about this… He sighed, and headed down into the darkness.