Branches
The following story is under the sole ownership and copyright of J.L. Scott. Unauthorized copying and/or use is actionable in a court of law.

To borrow a phrase: SG-1, Star Gate and Alias no mine, no permission, no money, no sue...please?
"Look, I told Mom I'd take you on vacation, and I'm taking you on vacation!"
"I'm missing my board meeting! They could do anything while I'm gone!"
"I left three experiments in the hands of those idiots that work in the lab! A year's worth of work could be ruined in the span of second!"
Only the tall man, obviously an employee, remained quiet as the entourage crossed the main lobby. The young man sighed and rolled his eyes as he reached the counter, the two young ladies tapping their feet behind him.
"Sisters, huh?" he smiled at the desk clerk, "Reservations for Borderman, David Borderman" The clerk looked his name up and found the man's keys. As they followed the bell boy away, he made a mental note to warn the hotel employees about the finicky family.


Vaughn shut the door and behind him, the Air Force attache burst out laughing.
"Oh, that was fun!" she said, "You guys get to do that a lot?" Sydney and Vaughn exchanged looks.
"Ah, not so often" he said.
"We've got to find Kolsaki. His flight leaves tomorrow night" Sydney said.
"Oh, back to work, pooh!" O'Neill complained, "All right, Kolsaki huh? How do you propose we find him?"
"We hack into the security system and use it to find out what room he's in" Sydney told her.
"Oh. Yeah. That works" She and Teal'c went to the next room, leaving Sydney and Vaughn to get ready on their own.
"Do you think Agent Bristo's plan will be succesfull?" Teal'c asked.
"Oh, yeah. It's their forte anyway, ours doesn't come into play until we find this Sloan guy and find whatever it is he bought from Kiezer"
The two pairs met in the hall and made their way to the correct room. It was no problem, with Vaughn's nifty gadgets, to break into the security room. Luckily, the guard was working, facing away from the door, and so didn't see their faces before Sydeny put him out.
"He's in room 612" she told them a bare moment later. They moved out and up to the sixth floor. They did their best to look unhappy to keep up with the cover story they wouldn't need much longer.
"We're not going to do it now are we?" O'Neill asked quietly as they approached the door. Sydeny slowed.
"Why shouldn't we? Time is important here"
"So is surprise though" the girl answered, "If we do it now, he'll leave right away and either won't go to Sloan, or Sloan'll know we're coming" They were close to the door now.
"She's right" Vaughn whispered. Sydney had to make the decision now.


She walked right past the door.

"We'll do it tonight, while he's asleep" she suggested when they were back in their rooms.
"We don't all need to go" Vaughn pointed out.
"I will remain here" Murry said.
"So will I, the two of you should be able to get in and out quickly enough" Vaughn agreed.
The two military attaches left the connecting door between their rooms open, as a sign of good will perhaps? Vaughn and Sydney sat down to do some background work on the mission. Sydney peeked into their room when she got up to get a hair tie. The tall man, Murry, was sititng cross legged on the bed with his eyes closed. The girl was spread across the foot of the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Is there any news of your siblings?" the man asked. The girl wasn't blinking, in fact, she looked amost comotose. At the man's question, however, she blinked and sat up.
"Dad's worried about them, even though they haven't done anything since we've been gone" she answered, "Mom and Fraise aren't so worried. Their hormone levels are a bit high, and they think they have a theory about how it happened" The man opened his eyes.
"This is good news, is it not?" The girl seemed hesitant, but nodded. Sydeny returned to her spot next to Vaughn.
"There's something strange about those two" she said quietly.
"You're just now deciding that?" Vaughn joked, "Do you think they are who they say they are?" Sydney gave him a look.
"Considering they haven't said who they are....I don't know. We'll know after tonight I guess"
An hour or so later, O'Neill stuck her head in the room.
"Murry and I are hungry. Wanna go eat?"
"Sure!" Sydney welcomed the break from her work, and the anxiety her decision to wait had brought on. They went somewhere else, so they could eat without putting a show on for the hotel.
When the waiter came, he came with four plates for O'Neill.
"Are you really going to eat all of that yourself?" Vaughn asked.
"Cassandra requires much nutrition, Agent Vaughn" her friend answered for her, "I have seen her eat 11 boxes of take out chinese food by herself when she was truly hungry" Cassi made a face, as if she were truly emabarassed.
"We try to kep that in the family" she jabbed him with her elbow. He raised any eyebrow but didn't flinch.
After O'Neill had consumed all of her food (it only took a couple minutes longer than the rest of them) they returned to the hotel to carry out their mission.
"His room has a balcony, three florrs down, three rooms over" Vaughn told the women as they harnessed up.
"If he's not in his room, hide and wait until he is. Hopefully, he's already in bed" The ladies acknowledged and crawled over the saftey rail on their own balcony. Sydney let go first, decending a few feet.
"I'll be home before supper, ma!" Cass said and let go with a twinkle in her eye. Vaughn looked at Murry.
"Is she always like that?" Teal'c stared the air.
"Always" he replied. The men went back to the computers which were tapped into the hallway security cameras. Vaughn put his ear piece in just in time to hear Sydney.
"There's something wrong with my harness!" she reported, "It's stuck"
"Don't pull it so hard!" O'Neill told her.
"I can't get it loose!"
"Don't yank on it like that, you'll break it!"


The next thing they heard was Sydney gasp and the rope snap outside.