Chapter 4
Konoko opened her eyes, wincing at the bright light that met them. She blinked and then looked around, to see the familiar surroundings of the SGC infirmary. She tried to move, and groaned as she met stiff resistance from her shoulder.
Doctor Frasier walked over to the bed. "Hey," she said, "how are you feeling?"
"Ungh," Konoko replied, "like I ran a marathon and got hit by a truck at the finish line."
Frasier nodded, "Yeah, I can see that. You were working pretty hard, weren't you? When you got here you were dangerously dehydrated. You must have sweated a gallon, not to mention the burn on your shoulder. If you had been anyone else, there's a good chance you wouldn't be here, you'd be in the morgue."
Konoko shrugged. "Good thing I wasn't someone else then. Can I speak to Colonel O'Neill?"
Frasier shrugged. "If you feel up to it. I'll call him to the infirmary."
A few minutes later Jack walked into the infirmary and came over to see Konoko. "Hey, how are you feeling, kid?" he asked.
Konoko shrugged, "Like hell. I called you here to talk about the mission, how much did we accomplish?"
"Well, the bomb did a lot of damage. I figure we probably blew up half the city. The Syndicate has to have felt that." Jack grinned.
Konoko shook her head. "I think we have a problem. The man who shot me, there was something odd about him. Maybe I was just exhausted and delirious, but I would swear that just before he died, his eyes glowed."
Jack's grin instantly faded. "Oh shit, are you serious?"
Konoko nodded. "I'm pretty sure. If the man was a Goa'uld, then we have a real problem. The Syndicate will have basically unlimited resources, and could strike at Earth as many times as it needed to. Call a meeting with the General."
Jack gave Konoko a look that said no. "Rest for now. When you're actually feeling up to it we can have the meeting."
"But I'm fine!" Konoko protested sitting up.
Jack laughed, "Yeah, that's it." Then with one hand, he pushed her back down. He turned and walked back to the door. "Get some sleep, Konoko. Oh and by the way, nice job. You kicked some serious ass down there."
Konoko dropped back onto her pillow, trying to collect her thoughts. Okay, so she had blown up the factory that made the super strikers, along with a bunch of other factories. But if some system lord, or even lesser Goa'uld was providing the Syndicate with resources, that wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. But with Anubis attacking, who could spare the resources? Suddenly, it came to her. She smiled as she drifted into a deep sleep.
~~~~~~~
"Alright Konoko, what information have you got for us?" Hammond asked as he sat down.
"Well sir," she answered, "I believe that the Syndicate is tied to a Goa'uld. The man that shot me, his eyes flashed right before he died. So the question is, who is backing them?"
"With Anubis attacking, who can spare the resources?" Sam inquired.
"That's what I thought to," Konoko replied, "with Anubis attacking the other system lords, who could possibly have resources to give away? We can discount any one minor Goa'uld because they barely have enough resources for themselves, let alone another army. So that means that the only possible backers are a collection of minor Goa'uld or Anubis himself. Since it seems unlikely that a collection of minor Goa'uld would ally, that leaves..."
"Anubis." Jack finished. "Ah crap. That's just perfect, ain't it? The two parties that want us dead the most have teamed up."
"Actually sir, this might work to our advantage." Sam said, her eyes suddenly lighting up.
"Do you have a plan, Major?" Hammond asked.
"Well," Carter reasoned, "we know the standard Goa'uld way of thinking. Any kind of failure by their jaffa results in severe punishment. Any jaffa who is even suspected of thinking of defecting is killed, right Teal'c?"
Teal'c nodded. "That is indeed the case, Major Carter."
"Okay, so all we have to do is hand the Syndicate a major, and I mean major, defeat, or convince Anubis that the Syndicate has their own agenda." Carter finished.
"That's not a bad idea, but how do we convince Anubis that the Syndicate isn't just another loyal servant of the Goa'uld?" Jack asked.
Konoko scratched her head. "Well, when I was down there I saw plans for something, I think. It looked like a base, an underground base. I would guess that if it was underground the Syndicate is trying to hide it from Anubis. I don't have a clue where it is though."
"Where might we find out?" the General asked.
"Sir?" Jonas questioned, "Wouldn't any Syndicate forces that are not loyal to the Goa'uld still have contacts on Earth?"
Jack smacked his forehead. "Of course! I bet some of those NID bastards know a thing or two. Carter, you think you could track one down?"
Carter nodded. "Yes sir, I can probably at least give us some leads."
Hammond looked around the table. "I'm charging the five of you with finding and brining in one of those agents. Get me some information, and do it quickly. With Anubis backing the Syndicate, they could grow to unmanageable sizes very soon."
~~~~~~~
Carter took another sip of coffee and sighed. She had hacked her way into the NID database three hours ago, but she wasn't having any luck finding much information on the Syndicate.
Konoko, who was playing Dead or Alive 3 on the other side of the room, turned around, "Still no luck?" she asked sympathetically.
Carter nodded. "Not yet, but I'm close, I can feel it. If I could just get through this last security barrier. Argh! Stupid computer!"
Konoko looked at the screen. Carter was looking at some hidden pages in the NID website. Suddenly, something on the screen caught her eye. In the very bottom corner of the screen, barely visible, there was a tiny little s. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing to it.
"Hmm, I don't know. I've been to absorbed to notice it." Carter replied, scrolling the mouse over it. She was surprised as the mouse turned to a hyperlink connector over it. "What the hell?" Carter clicked on the s, and a new window popped up. On it was information regarding the Syndicate. "I don't believe it!" Sam shouted angrily, "I've been trying to hack in for three hours now and the damn link was right in front of me?!"
"Calm down," Konoko said soothingly, "can you get any information that can help us?"
Sam shrugged. "I'll look around. Let's see here, it seems that some of this is a bit outdated. I don't think the NID has total control of the Syndicate anymore, just some splinter cells. Looks like their coordinator or Earth is named Carl Ouster."
"Okay, great!" Konoko said emphatically. "Let's go get him!"
"It's not going to be that easy." Carter replied, "My guess is that we can find him, but he'll know we're coming. We won't be able to just break into his house and take him in the night. We should try and get him from a car. Do you know how to drive?"
Konoko just grinned.
~~~~~~~
The Jaguar that Carter had tagged as Ouster's car drove past the alley Konoko was in, and Konoko pulled down the visor on her helmet. She then started her black Kawasaki Ninja, and floored it, exploding out of the alley onto the deserted street, bathed in circles of yellow from the overhanging streetlights. Konoko shifted, feeling the bike purring between her legs as she picked up more speed, catching up to the elusive Jaguar in front of her. Konoko grinned inwardly. This might be a mission, but damn if it wasn't fun. Konoko shifted again, pulling up right behind the speeding car. She pulled out her zat, and aimed at the back left tire. Suddenly, ouster saw her in the mirror and took off, putting all the speed of his sports car to good use. The car sped away, it's engine roaring loudly. Konoko swore, then shifted to fifth and sped after him, dodging left and right through the sparse traffic. The Jaguar was a fast car, but Konoko was driving a fast bike to start with, made even faster by Carter's tinkering and "modifications."
As Konoko gained ground on the Jaguar, the passenger side window opened, and an arm with a micro-uzi stuck out. "Ah hell." Konoko muttered as she braced herself. The Uzi fired, announcing itself with a sharp crack and a burst of fire. Konoko swerved dangerously, almost flipping the bike forward as she tried to avoid the gunfire. Bullets hit the ground all around here, and one of them caught Konoko in her bulletproof helmet. The bullet didn't penetrate, but it made Konoko woozy, and she almost ran off the road before getting her wits together. As the man brought the Uzi in to reload, she brought her bike over to the left side of the car, so that the gunner would have to shoot over the driver. The driver then swerved tightly, trying to knock Konoko off her bike, Konoko pulled back carefully, but the Jaguar kept pushing her over until she was in the oncoming lane. Konoko dove right in between two cars, missing each mirror by mere inches. She dodged again, but the Jaguar had used this time to pull away. Konoko looked around. Coming up was a bend in the road, where the road turned about 100 degrees to the left. Konoko turned and fired three times at the guardrail. A piece of it vanished, and Konoko jumped her bike off the road. She backed off on the speed a bit, looking for an entrance back to the road on the other side. Then she saw it, A little ways down the road there was a restaurant with a low roof. Konoko floored the bike again, picking up as much speed as she could. She pulled the front wheel up and hit a parked car dead on. The windshield gave her just enough height to hit the very bottom lip of the restaurant roof. She leaned forward and gave the bike full gas, getting as much speed as possible before she hit the apex of the roof. She flew off, getting thirty feet of altitude before she started to descend. She landed hard right in front of the Jaguar. Konoko felt the bike buckle under the landing, and she knew that the suspension was totally shot. As she started to lose control, she fired with the zat, hitting the front of the car three times. The hood, the grill, and apparently the engine, vanished, and Ouster lost control of the car. Konoko hit the ground and slid, sending up a shower of sparks. A mixture of knowing how to fall and Konoko's Kevlar laced suit protected her from injury, and as soon as the bike stopped Konoko looked back at the Jaguar. The now considerably lighter car was swerving from side to side. Finally, it turned to far, and with no weight in the front, it flipped on it side and rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop on the now considerably lower roof.
Konoko ran over to the car, pulling Ouster out. He was bleeding from a bad gash on his arm, and his black hair was stained with blood from a gash on his head. Konoko bent over and looked at Ouster's gunner. He was dead, his head smashed from the impact with the ground. Konoko pulled out her radio. "Jack, this is Konoko. I got him, but he's hurt. I could use a pick up."
"Copy that." Jack replied. In just a few seconds Konoko heard the thwapping sound of a helicopter and looked up to see Jack in a Black Hawk, descending for a landing beside the road. As soon as the chopper landed, a couple of marines jumped out of the back. One of them ran up to Konoko. "You get him out of here, ma'am." He shouted over the sound of the rotors, "We'll take car of the mess."
Konoko nodded her thanks and pulled the unconscious Carl Ouster into the helicopter.
~~~~~~~
Sorry it took so long to get this up guys, I have been pretty busy with school and with lacrosse. Anyway, please give me some feedback; I've never tried anything like a car chase before. Thanks again to Johan and Katie B, my best fans. Please R&R!
Konoko opened her eyes, wincing at the bright light that met them. She blinked and then looked around, to see the familiar surroundings of the SGC infirmary. She tried to move, and groaned as she met stiff resistance from her shoulder.
Doctor Frasier walked over to the bed. "Hey," she said, "how are you feeling?"
"Ungh," Konoko replied, "like I ran a marathon and got hit by a truck at the finish line."
Frasier nodded, "Yeah, I can see that. You were working pretty hard, weren't you? When you got here you were dangerously dehydrated. You must have sweated a gallon, not to mention the burn on your shoulder. If you had been anyone else, there's a good chance you wouldn't be here, you'd be in the morgue."
Konoko shrugged. "Good thing I wasn't someone else then. Can I speak to Colonel O'Neill?"
Frasier shrugged. "If you feel up to it. I'll call him to the infirmary."
A few minutes later Jack walked into the infirmary and came over to see Konoko. "Hey, how are you feeling, kid?" he asked.
Konoko shrugged, "Like hell. I called you here to talk about the mission, how much did we accomplish?"
"Well, the bomb did a lot of damage. I figure we probably blew up half the city. The Syndicate has to have felt that." Jack grinned.
Konoko shook her head. "I think we have a problem. The man who shot me, there was something odd about him. Maybe I was just exhausted and delirious, but I would swear that just before he died, his eyes glowed."
Jack's grin instantly faded. "Oh shit, are you serious?"
Konoko nodded. "I'm pretty sure. If the man was a Goa'uld, then we have a real problem. The Syndicate will have basically unlimited resources, and could strike at Earth as many times as it needed to. Call a meeting with the General."
Jack gave Konoko a look that said no. "Rest for now. When you're actually feeling up to it we can have the meeting."
"But I'm fine!" Konoko protested sitting up.
Jack laughed, "Yeah, that's it." Then with one hand, he pushed her back down. He turned and walked back to the door. "Get some sleep, Konoko. Oh and by the way, nice job. You kicked some serious ass down there."
Konoko dropped back onto her pillow, trying to collect her thoughts. Okay, so she had blown up the factory that made the super strikers, along with a bunch of other factories. But if some system lord, or even lesser Goa'uld was providing the Syndicate with resources, that wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. But with Anubis attacking, who could spare the resources? Suddenly, it came to her. She smiled as she drifted into a deep sleep.
~~~~~~~
"Alright Konoko, what information have you got for us?" Hammond asked as he sat down.
"Well sir," she answered, "I believe that the Syndicate is tied to a Goa'uld. The man that shot me, his eyes flashed right before he died. So the question is, who is backing them?"
"With Anubis attacking, who can spare the resources?" Sam inquired.
"That's what I thought to," Konoko replied, "with Anubis attacking the other system lords, who could possibly have resources to give away? We can discount any one minor Goa'uld because they barely have enough resources for themselves, let alone another army. So that means that the only possible backers are a collection of minor Goa'uld or Anubis himself. Since it seems unlikely that a collection of minor Goa'uld would ally, that leaves..."
"Anubis." Jack finished. "Ah crap. That's just perfect, ain't it? The two parties that want us dead the most have teamed up."
"Actually sir, this might work to our advantage." Sam said, her eyes suddenly lighting up.
"Do you have a plan, Major?" Hammond asked.
"Well," Carter reasoned, "we know the standard Goa'uld way of thinking. Any kind of failure by their jaffa results in severe punishment. Any jaffa who is even suspected of thinking of defecting is killed, right Teal'c?"
Teal'c nodded. "That is indeed the case, Major Carter."
"Okay, so all we have to do is hand the Syndicate a major, and I mean major, defeat, or convince Anubis that the Syndicate has their own agenda." Carter finished.
"That's not a bad idea, but how do we convince Anubis that the Syndicate isn't just another loyal servant of the Goa'uld?" Jack asked.
Konoko scratched her head. "Well, when I was down there I saw plans for something, I think. It looked like a base, an underground base. I would guess that if it was underground the Syndicate is trying to hide it from Anubis. I don't have a clue where it is though."
"Where might we find out?" the General asked.
"Sir?" Jonas questioned, "Wouldn't any Syndicate forces that are not loyal to the Goa'uld still have contacts on Earth?"
Jack smacked his forehead. "Of course! I bet some of those NID bastards know a thing or two. Carter, you think you could track one down?"
Carter nodded. "Yes sir, I can probably at least give us some leads."
Hammond looked around the table. "I'm charging the five of you with finding and brining in one of those agents. Get me some information, and do it quickly. With Anubis backing the Syndicate, they could grow to unmanageable sizes very soon."
~~~~~~~
Carter took another sip of coffee and sighed. She had hacked her way into the NID database three hours ago, but she wasn't having any luck finding much information on the Syndicate.
Konoko, who was playing Dead or Alive 3 on the other side of the room, turned around, "Still no luck?" she asked sympathetically.
Carter nodded. "Not yet, but I'm close, I can feel it. If I could just get through this last security barrier. Argh! Stupid computer!"
Konoko looked at the screen. Carter was looking at some hidden pages in the NID website. Suddenly, something on the screen caught her eye. In the very bottom corner of the screen, barely visible, there was a tiny little s. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing to it.
"Hmm, I don't know. I've been to absorbed to notice it." Carter replied, scrolling the mouse over it. She was surprised as the mouse turned to a hyperlink connector over it. "What the hell?" Carter clicked on the s, and a new window popped up. On it was information regarding the Syndicate. "I don't believe it!" Sam shouted angrily, "I've been trying to hack in for three hours now and the damn link was right in front of me?!"
"Calm down," Konoko said soothingly, "can you get any information that can help us?"
Sam shrugged. "I'll look around. Let's see here, it seems that some of this is a bit outdated. I don't think the NID has total control of the Syndicate anymore, just some splinter cells. Looks like their coordinator or Earth is named Carl Ouster."
"Okay, great!" Konoko said emphatically. "Let's go get him!"
"It's not going to be that easy." Carter replied, "My guess is that we can find him, but he'll know we're coming. We won't be able to just break into his house and take him in the night. We should try and get him from a car. Do you know how to drive?"
Konoko just grinned.
~~~~~~~
The Jaguar that Carter had tagged as Ouster's car drove past the alley Konoko was in, and Konoko pulled down the visor on her helmet. She then started her black Kawasaki Ninja, and floored it, exploding out of the alley onto the deserted street, bathed in circles of yellow from the overhanging streetlights. Konoko shifted, feeling the bike purring between her legs as she picked up more speed, catching up to the elusive Jaguar in front of her. Konoko grinned inwardly. This might be a mission, but damn if it wasn't fun. Konoko shifted again, pulling up right behind the speeding car. She pulled out her zat, and aimed at the back left tire. Suddenly, ouster saw her in the mirror and took off, putting all the speed of his sports car to good use. The car sped away, it's engine roaring loudly. Konoko swore, then shifted to fifth and sped after him, dodging left and right through the sparse traffic. The Jaguar was a fast car, but Konoko was driving a fast bike to start with, made even faster by Carter's tinkering and "modifications."
As Konoko gained ground on the Jaguar, the passenger side window opened, and an arm with a micro-uzi stuck out. "Ah hell." Konoko muttered as she braced herself. The Uzi fired, announcing itself with a sharp crack and a burst of fire. Konoko swerved dangerously, almost flipping the bike forward as she tried to avoid the gunfire. Bullets hit the ground all around here, and one of them caught Konoko in her bulletproof helmet. The bullet didn't penetrate, but it made Konoko woozy, and she almost ran off the road before getting her wits together. As the man brought the Uzi in to reload, she brought her bike over to the left side of the car, so that the gunner would have to shoot over the driver. The driver then swerved tightly, trying to knock Konoko off her bike, Konoko pulled back carefully, but the Jaguar kept pushing her over until she was in the oncoming lane. Konoko dove right in between two cars, missing each mirror by mere inches. She dodged again, but the Jaguar had used this time to pull away. Konoko looked around. Coming up was a bend in the road, where the road turned about 100 degrees to the left. Konoko turned and fired three times at the guardrail. A piece of it vanished, and Konoko jumped her bike off the road. She backed off on the speed a bit, looking for an entrance back to the road on the other side. Then she saw it, A little ways down the road there was a restaurant with a low roof. Konoko floored the bike again, picking up as much speed as she could. She pulled the front wheel up and hit a parked car dead on. The windshield gave her just enough height to hit the very bottom lip of the restaurant roof. She leaned forward and gave the bike full gas, getting as much speed as possible before she hit the apex of the roof. She flew off, getting thirty feet of altitude before she started to descend. She landed hard right in front of the Jaguar. Konoko felt the bike buckle under the landing, and she knew that the suspension was totally shot. As she started to lose control, she fired with the zat, hitting the front of the car three times. The hood, the grill, and apparently the engine, vanished, and Ouster lost control of the car. Konoko hit the ground and slid, sending up a shower of sparks. A mixture of knowing how to fall and Konoko's Kevlar laced suit protected her from injury, and as soon as the bike stopped Konoko looked back at the Jaguar. The now considerably lighter car was swerving from side to side. Finally, it turned to far, and with no weight in the front, it flipped on it side and rolled a couple of times before coming to a stop on the now considerably lower roof.
Konoko ran over to the car, pulling Ouster out. He was bleeding from a bad gash on his arm, and his black hair was stained with blood from a gash on his head. Konoko bent over and looked at Ouster's gunner. He was dead, his head smashed from the impact with the ground. Konoko pulled out her radio. "Jack, this is Konoko. I got him, but he's hurt. I could use a pick up."
"Copy that." Jack replied. In just a few seconds Konoko heard the thwapping sound of a helicopter and looked up to see Jack in a Black Hawk, descending for a landing beside the road. As soon as the chopper landed, a couple of marines jumped out of the back. One of them ran up to Konoko. "You get him out of here, ma'am." He shouted over the sound of the rotors, "We'll take car of the mess."
Konoko nodded her thanks and pulled the unconscious Carl Ouster into the helicopter.
~~~~~~~
Sorry it took so long to get this up guys, I have been pretty busy with school and with lacrosse. Anyway, please give me some feedback; I've never tried anything like a car chase before. Thanks again to Johan and Katie B, my best fans. Please R&R!
