Chapter 3

General Hammond turned on the slide projector and flicked to the first slide. The slide slowed an aerial picture taken over what looked like the industrial section of a city. "The Tok'ra have taken some surveillance photos over the planets shown on that map Major Carter found. Of the 5 planets, 4 of them have a negligible Syndicate population. One had a small mining operation, and the other three seemed to be just small outposts. This one, on the other hand, seems to be an industrial center. The city is just factories and laboratories, and it's about 2 miles in diameter. What's surprising is that when the Tok'ra surveyed this planet last year, it was completely bare."

"What do you think? Did the Goa'uld build it then lose it to the Syndicate?" Jack suggested.

Carter shook her head. "Normally, I'd suggest that, but look at the architecture. It's all rectangles and pipes. Not a pyramid in sight. This looks like downtown Chicago, not a Goa'uld city. This is definitely Syndicate work."

"Forgive my bluntness sir," Jack said to Hammond, "but can't we just, blow it up?"

"I've toyed with that idea, along with the idea of sending a strike force through the Stargate, but the defenses are too heavy. The Tok'ra have told me that they also have orbital defenses, making any kind of a strike very difficult. With our resources, I don't think we could mount a feasible assault in any form."

Konoko tilted her head in thought. "Sir, you can't send in a battalion, but what about just one person? What if you just sent me in? I could find a weak point, plant a bomb, and do some damage. It may not shut the place down, but it could hurt them pretty badly."

"But you're forgetting one thing, Konoko." Hammond pointed out, "How do we get you in? The Stargate is right in the center of the city, and will be heavily guarded. There are perimeter defenses around the city too, so you can't just walk in."

Konoko smiled. "I have a solution for that too, sir. Have you ever heard of a wingsuit?"

And so it was that Konoko was on a Tok'ra cargo ship, hovering some 50 miles away and 5 miles above the Syndicate city, in an all black suit that had fabric stretched between her legs and arms, making her look like a giant flying squirrel. Jack walked over holding a case full of equipment. "Okay Konoko, here's a quick run down. You into the city, then use this grappling gun to hook onto a building. Swing to the building, then use these." He handed her a pair of odd-looking jaw like things. "Hook these onto your boots. When you get to the building, jam your foot against the wall and press down on the pedal. The jaws will hydraulically close and clamp into the wall, and you can stand on them. Walk to a window and let yourself in."

Konoko nodded. "No problem. Can you hand me my night vision goggles?"

Jack reached over and grabbed the night vision headset from the table beside him, and handed it to Konoko, who put it into place, but left the goggles up. "One more thing, and you're gonna like these." Jack grinned and pulled out a small tube and a wristwatch. "These little tubes contain a camera and a noise generator. The noise calls the guards, who you can see from this watch. Wait till they've gathered within a few feet of it, then press this button, and the camera will put out a burst of knockout gas."

Konoko nodded and smiled. "Cool, very cool. Anything else?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, your bomb. Carter gave me some mumbo-jumbo about naquadah and yield and that sort of thing. In my terms, arm this thing and it will blow a lot of shit up. When you need a pick up press the other button on the watch and we'll ring you up. Try to leave yourself some time and space for this, and be careful, for cryin' out loud."

Konoko nodded and packed the bomb and other gadgets into her backpack. She walked to the now open door of the cargo ship, pulled on her night vision and oxygen, then jumped out the side. She spread her arms and legs and instantly felt the air catch it, pulling the fabric tight. She dove a bit to pick up speed, then made a beeline for the city in the distance, feeling the air rush over her as she sped towards the distant lights at almost 150 miles per hour. After about twenty minutes of uneventful flying, Konoko was approaching the perimeter defenses. Since she was as quiet as a soaring bird and black in the dead of night, no guards even looked up as she passed over. Konoko flew over the city proper, and then pulled the ripcords on her wrists that released the tension on the wings. Konoko grabbed her grappling gun and took careful aim, waiting until she was low enough. She fired at a venting tube on top of one of the buildings, waiting for the armor-piercing hook to punch through the thick tube before she started to reel in the grappling line. She hooked the line to her belt as she got level with the building, and then braced herself for the landing. She felt the line go tine, and she swung towards the side of the building feet first. She took the landing as quietly as she could, absorbing most of the energy with her legs. Then she pressed her feet into the side of the building and pressed down on the foot pedals. She felt the jaws cut in, and she cut her grappling line, now for all intents and purposes standing on the wall.

Konoko scanned the wall and the ground below her. Good, she thought, looks like I didn't attract much attention. Konoko slowly made her way up the wall to the window some twenty feet above her, and clamping herself down, peeked inside the building. The window let to what looked like an office, one which no one was occupying this late at night. Konoko pulled her hunting knife from her belt, then carefully slid it under the sill, then pried the window open a bit. She reached under and pulled in open the rest of the way, then pulled herself through. Konoko quickly searched the room, making sure no one had noticed her entry. She pulled off her oxygen mask and lifted her night vision goggles, then looked around again. Her first guess was right; this was an office, maybe the foreman's office in a factory. She pulled off all her jump stuff and stowed it in her bag, then pulled out her now silenced USP and crept out of the room. She made her way onto the catwalk that led to the office, and then look below her. The factory was huge, and seemed to produce weapons. She saw several tables that were covered with plasma rifles and Van de Graaf pistols in different steps of completion. Konoko crawled along the catwalk to the stairs that led to the main floor, and then went to the nearest table. The table was covered with plasma rifles, all of them finished, and all of them with what looked like naquadah power cells.

"I don't get it," Konoko muttered to herself, "where are they getting all this naquadah?" Confident that she was alone, Konoko searched the dark room in more detail, and saw exactly what she was looking for, a map of the complex, on one wall. She walked over to it and scanned it for what she was looking for. "Let's see here," she whispered to herself, "weapons is where I am, here's ships, food services, striker factory? That's perfect." Her gaze shifted to the building beside it, and she got an even better idea. The building label was: Heavy arms storage. Konoko memorized the route she would need to take, then made her way to the exit. She stepped out into the night air, and then quickly ducked into the alley behind the building, quickly and quietly heading to her next destination. Konoko stopped and peeked around the next corner, and lucky for her she did. Several guards were standing the street, talking amongst each other. Konoko thought for a moment, then pulled out her knockout camera and stuck it to a wall about face level. She then turned it on and jogged back into the alley, taking refuge behind a wall some 50 feet away.

"Hey, does anyone hear that?" One of the strikers asked.

"Yeah, that kind of, I don't know, humming? What is that?" His friend asked.

"I think it's coming from over there," one of the strikers replied pointing to the alley. "We should go check it out."

The four strikers pulled their weapons and walked into the alley, out of sight of any prying eyes. They found a tiny tube making the noise attached to one of the walls. "What the hell is that?" one of them asked as they all peered closer to get a better look. Suddenly, there was a puff of air that whooshed out. "What was tha..." the striker started to ask as he collapsed to the ground.

Konoko stopped to make sure the strikers were all out cold before she moved in the door that they had been standing in front of. The door led into a long, narrow, dark and empty hallway. Konoko made her way towards the door on the other end. As she was about to open it, she heard voices approaching from the other side. Konoko hurriedly glanced around, looking for a place to hide. She finally jumped up as high as she could, then jammed her foot into the wall and jumped again, almost reaching the ceiling. At the peak of her jump, Konoko did the splits, jamming her feet into the walls on either side of her. The pressure held her up at the ceiling. Konoko drew her pistol and waited. The door opened, and two new strikers wearing full armor except their helmets walked through. Konoko waited until they had shut the door behind them, then took careful aim and fired, hitting the first one in the back of the skull. He dropped, and his friend spun around just in time to see Konoko pull the trigger, lodging a .45 caliber bullet in his forehead. Konoko shifted her weight, then pulled in one foot and used the other to flip her around. She backflipped and landing noiselessly on the floor. Konoko grabbed the two armoured figures and pulled them back the other way, out the hall and back into the alley. Once the bodies were disposed of, Konoko ran back down the hall, and opened the door. About ten strikers were waiting on the other side, guns drawn.

"Don't move, bitch." One of them ordered, smirking.

Konoko made her decision. She leveled her pistol and fired, catching the first striker in the teeth. Before the others could react, Konoko dove back through the door to the hallway and leaped back up to her spot on the ceiling. The first guard ran through, and Konoko started firing. These guards however, were wearing their helmets. Konoko emptied the rest of her clip into the first guard, and managed to get one bullet through, it struck him in the shoulder. Konoko dropped from the ceiling and kicked him in the face. Konoko suddenly felt the powerful impact of a foot catching her in the back. The armour enhanced kick sent her flying several feet down the hall, and she landed brutally on the floor. Konoko got up and concentrated, instantly feeling the power from her Chrysalis surging through her veins. A wall of purple energy exploded out of Konoko, and she turned to face her attackers, now bathed in purple light. "Alright boys, show me what you've got." Konoko stated confidently.

One of the guards charged forward, leaping into the air and throwing a powerful jump kick. Konoko yawned, put up one hand, and stopped him dead in the air. She yanked his foot upwards, causing the striker to land hard on his head. Konoko then grabbed his arm and spun him up and around she he was facing her with his back to the wall. She started punching him in the kidneys, denting his armour and making the striker let loose yelps of pain. Konoko finally backed off a step and spun around, channeling her momentum into a spinning kick. The kick hit the striker in the chest, and sent him through the wall. She turned to the rest of the shocked strikers and smiled. "Okay, who's next?"

The suddenly not so confident strikers backed up slowly, and Konoko followed them, walking back out into the room that she had first met them in. Suddenly, Konoko realized her mistake. In the hall, she couldn't be attacked by more than one striker at a time. Now that they were in a large room, they could all come at once. Eight strikers suddenly lunged at Konoko. Konoko leaped straight up several feet, allowing the strikers to collide. She grabbed an overhanging pipe and used it to swing herself a few feet away from the pile-up. Man, what do I do? She thought to herself. What possible fighting style could work for this? Suddenly she remembered a scene from one of the movies she had watched, Legend of Drunken Master. What the hell? She thought, it's worth a shot, I guess. Konoko shifted her weight and lifted her hands into the proper places, then proceeded to stumble awkwardly forward. The strikers froze, watching her drunkenly approaching. Konoko stumbled right over to one and bent forward as though she was going to vomit, then suddenly arched forward even moved and lifted one of her legs all the way behind her, kicking the striker in the face. While still one foot, Konoko straightened up most of the way and threw several jabs that caught the striker in the jaw, dazing him. She then hopped and twisted pulling in her already outstretched leg at the last second for extra speed. She continued to spin and caught the striker in the head with her other leg, twisting his neck and dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

Suddenly, all the strikers who had been frozen up until this point were in motion. One striker threw a powerful punch aimed at Konoko's face. Konoko bent backwards, seemingly off balance, then jumped and kicked the striker in the jaw while doing a backflip. She landed and turned around to face another attacker. He threw a kick, which she stumbled to the left of, almost falling over to that side. She caught herself and moved forward jabbing at the striker's eyes with two outstretched fingers. The guard yelped and closed his eyes while putting his hand in front of his nose. When he felt no contact, he opened his eyes, just in time to see Konoko's fist mere inches from his face. Konoko grabbed the guard's shoulders before he fell. She pushed his down to his knees and then rolled over his back, then used her momentum in a flying kick that caught the alarmed opponent who had been standing behind the first striker. Konoko turned to see a fist flying at her from her left. She pulled back, and fell on her back backwards. The striker who had thrown the punch approached Konoko. From her prone position, she used one leg as a brace in front of the striker's shins, then kicked his knees from behind with the other one. The striker fell on his face, and Konoko lifted her leg and brought it down on the striker's skull, cracking it.

At this point, Konoko was getting pretty tired. Sweat had soaked her, and it was obvious the effort of keeping her Chrysalis working overtime for going on fifteen minutes was taking its toll. Konoko somersaulted backwards, grabbing the Van de Graaf pistol off one of the strikers that she had already downed. She turned and fired at one of the remaining strikers. She hit him three times, and he vanished into thin air. Konoko surveyed the room. Most of the strikers were dead or unconscious. A couple were still twisting in agony on the floor, unable to get up because of injuries or just sheer pain. Konoko turned to look at the last striker in the room. He was shifting from side to side, looking at his fallen comrades.

"St-stay back! I'm warning you!" he shouted.

Konoko observed the striker. He couldn't have been older than twenty, and he was smaller than the rest of them. "I'm going to do you a big favour, buddy." She called, and then she fired one shot at him, knocking him out.

Konoko dropped to her knees, completely exhausted. The purple aura around her quickly faded, and she felt what little strength she had left fading. The sound of one person clapping made her turn around. A man was standing at the door, looking around the room. He wasn't wearing any armour at all, he was just dressed in bland gray fatigues. He looked at Konoko and sneered. "An impressive display. I never thought that anyone, even you would be able to single-handedly beat that many super strikers by them self. Too bad now I have to kill you. It's quite a waste really." He lifted something that looked like a handheld plasma rifle and pointed it at her.

Konoko glanced around the room, taking in the details for the first time. The room was an assembly line for super striker armour, and in the corner were crates of power cells. Konoko reached behind her, cueing the button for ring pickup. She then grabbed the backpack and pulled it around in front of her. She flicked the switch on the bomb, quickly set it for 10 seconds and checked it at the man. He fired in surprise, and missed on his shot, only hitting Konoko in the shoulder. He caught the bag and looked inside, then looked back in shock as he saw the rings descend over Konoko. "No!" he screamed, "NO!"

The last thing Konoko saw before the rings took her away was the bomb start to detonate, the shockwave rippling the wall and tearing the man in half. Then she was aboard the cargo ship. Konoko looked at her badly burned shoulder, then collapsed to the floor, and lapsed into unconsciousness.

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Well, that was officially the longest chapter I have ever written. Sorry it took me so long to post this, I have been busy with school and all. And sorry if the fighting scene is a little unclear, drunken boxing is hard to put into words. Thanks, as always to Johan and Katie B. They have always been very encouraging. Please R&R!