Content Warning: Mild Language and Violence
Proof of Life
Journal Entry, March 7, 2025:
I'm taking a page out of the book of Dr. Chrislyn Star today, both literally and figuratively. Literally in the sense that the page that I write this entry on comes out of her journal and figuratively in the sense that I think this has become necessary in order to organize my thoughts and fully realize what has happened to me.
The world I knew is gone, my friends and family are dead or missing, and I was completely helpless to stop it. The story of my life I guess. Every time I think I have my life back together again, it all falls apart. I've tried to bring a little bit of order to this chaos that I now find myself in, trying to keep myself sane. One of those things is to start keeping track of the days. Harris told me that his best guess was that I arrived in February of 2025. Counting that as February 1st, that would make this day the 7th of March. Thirty-five days and its seemed like so much longer.
If it wasn't for the company I picked up along the way, I might have been completely insane by now. John Davenport has become my most trusted adviser and second-in-command. His combat instincts outweigh my own and he has sufficiently proved this in the two skirmishes we've had with humans fighting for the Maldorians.
Luke Corra has become my special project. He reminds me a lot of myself after Jennifer died, angry and devoid of hope. If the situation I'm currently in could be used for any good at all, it could be to show Luke that life's circumstances need not dictate our attitude and when all else is gone, hope is the one thing we can't let go.
One person who has really helped me keep things in perspective is Chris Stewart. What he lacks in military skill, he more than makes up for in smarts and perspective. In the past month, he's helped me come to terms with has happened and although its still difficult to accept, I would definitely be a lot farther away if it wasn't for his help.
I was worried at first for Sarah and Christine being out here with us with so much danger around, but they have most definitely held their own and I don't just mean their outstanding cooking, without which all of us men would starve. Probably the most memorable moment would be the time they cold clocked two unsuspecting soldiers who had stumbled upon our camp on planet Midas. The poor guys never saw it coming.
Which leaves Paul Grissom. A decent fighter and he follows orders, but otherwise he is the epitome of the loner. He hardly ever speaks even to those from his camp so its hard to know what to make of him. I've decided not to discuss anything about this with any of the others as not to alarm them, but something doesn't sit quiet right with him.
As for looking for answers to what happened at the SGC, I wish I could say its been more productive. We've visited five planets so far. And while three of them showed signs of once holding civilization, there was nothing left to salvage or learn. I can hope we find someone or something on this next planet. Right now even the most simple of signs that there is something out there to work and strive for would be enough for me. We dial out for the next planet in a couple days. Maybe we'll get lucky.
****Planet Artemis (March 9th, 2025, Early morning)****
Sharp quickly got into a defensive position once he arrived through the wormhole. They had been ambushed once before arriving on one of the other worlds and sticking to protocol for potentially hostile worlds might have been the thing that saved their lives. Davenport and the others followed suit having been taught by Sharp how to do so in an effective manner.
"It looks clear, sir," Davenport observed.
"I told you, you don't have to call me that, John," Sharp responded as he stood.
"If we're gonna be effective military force against the Maldorians, we need to act like one. That means we need a real command structure and discipline to follow it, SIR," Davenport stood at attention as he added the end. Sharp rolled his eyes as the rest of the group, excluding Grissom, mimicked Davenport and all simultaneously added an emphatic, "Sir, yes, sir!"
"Alright, cut it out you guys," Sharp said halfway between amused and annoyed. Again, all except Grissom, started laughing at their little joke. The truth of the matter was, that Davenport was serious about what he said. All of them were ready to inflict some hurt on the Maldorian forces and to them, Sharp's appearance was the sign they needed that now was the time. The problem that Sharp had was that the last time he led a mission, he lost his entire team... or he got lost depending on which way you look at it. Either way, he was not excited about the prospect of a repeat performance and the easiest way to avoid that was to avoid the stage entirely.
The planet was a bit on the humid side and the sun was already making things quite warm despite the early hour. The vegetation was very reminiscent of tropics back on earth and Sharp couldn't help but think of his one time desire to take a romantic excursive to some of the more exotic locations on earth. Unable to resist, he began to sing his favorite Beach Boys tune, Kokomo, garnering many stares and questioning looks from his companions. Unaware of the odd looks behind him, Sharp continued to sing as he began to investigate for signs of inhabitants.
"Chris, are you sure that wave thing didn't do anything to his brain?" Corra asked, unable to believe his ears.
"Well there's no way to be sure, but there is also nothing to indicate that it would," Stewart replied with a very quizical look.
"So he was like this before, then?" Grissom wondered.
"I don't know," Davenport chimed in. "I think it's kinda catchy." Now all the eyes shifted from Sharp to Davenport. Looking quite uncomfortable, Davenport shrugged and added, "What??!!"
"Oh I don't know, John. I think it might just be the big brown spot on your nose," Grissom sarcastically answered.
Davenport let out a deep breath and turned away from the gate. "Can we just get to it, please?" Davenport walked to join Sharp to search for inhabitants as the rest, except Grissom, enjoyed one last laugh.
****************
She sat in cover about a mile from the gate, watching the whole scene transpire. Dressed in what resembled traditional full body Caribbean wrap, the young woman of no older than 20 let out a deep, frustrated breath. "This is not good," she said to herself as she reached for her radio. "Alpha one to base, repeat, this is alpha one, come in base."
"Base here, this is Homeguard," came the reply.
"We have a problem, Homeguard. Party crashes near the objective."
"How many, alpha one?"
"I count seven. Five males, two females."
"Have they discovered you?"
"No, sir. They seem to be scouting the area, looking for signs of inhabitants."
"ETA to mission operational window?"
"Five minutes, sir"
"Ok, I'm sending backup, alpha one. Remain where you are until they arrive. If necessary, abort your mission. We can't allow anyone to compromise this operation."
"Understood, sir," alpha one responded, with even more frustration. She knew what an abort meant. This would set their timetable back quite a bit as if it hadn't been interrupted enough. There was no choice, however. She knew her commander was right. If this information was intercepted, even as an encrypted transmission, it would be a much larger blow to their plans. She put the radio away and watched the intruders as she waited for backup.
****************
"Captain, I think I found something!" exclaimed Corra. Sharp rushed over to see Corra standing over what looked to be a partial footprint.
"John, get over here. I need you to look at this." Davenport rushed over to Sharp's position. "How fresh does this look to you?" Sharp asked, hoping that Davenport agreed with his guess.
"No more than a couple days," Davenport answered, with a hint of excitement. "It looks like they did a good job of getting rid of the tracks with the exception of this one."
Sharp smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that. Finally some good news. Have everyone fan out, we're gonna fi..." Suddenly Sharp was cut off by the sound of the gate activating. Sharp instinctively began giving orders. "Everyone take cover. John, with me!" Davenport nodded and began to follow, but before they got far, they were stopped in their tracks by what they heard.
"Freeze or the rest of your team is dead!" someone shouted. Sharp and Davenport froze in their tracks and slowly turned around. They saw several men and women dressed in what looked like military uniforms, but they were unlike any Sharp had seen before. What was worse, they had several of his team at gunpoint. "Drop your weapons, hands on your head." the same voice ordered.
Seeing no other alternative, Sharp motioned and then ordered, "Do as he says." Sharp and Davenport then slowly tossed their weapons to the ground and placed their hands behind their head. Just then, the gate opened and Sharp's radio chirped to life with what sounded to him like a coded signal. "What the hell?" Sharp asked surprised.
Suddenly the man who seemed to be in charge became very insistent. "Drop the gun now or we drop you!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Sharp caught Corra slowly ready his own weapon. "I said drop it, Luke!"
Corra shot an angry glance in the direction of Sharp. Whispering to Sharp, Corra communicated his intentions, "I can take a few of them out before they get me."
"But not before they take out a few of us," Sharp whispered back. "Besides, I need people like you if we're going to win this thing. New put the gun down, please" Corra was obviously not happy about it, but he complied with Sharp's order.
One of the women removed Sharp's radio from his possession and handed it to the man in charge. He looked it over before looking back up to their prisoners. "Take them to a holding cell. We'll interrogate the leader first," the man said. The others moved in and led Sharp and his team toward the base. The man in charge then turned and hurriedly tried to ready a device he pulled out of his pocket. Moments before he could finish, however, the gate disengaged. Furious, he threw his weapon to the ground and shouted a few obscenities.
****************
Several guards were escorting all but Sharp to a makeshift cell deep within the caves they called a base. As they reached the cell, the head guard motioned for them to enter and activated the laser cell bars. They all watched as the guards left and began discussing their options.
"First order of business is getting ourselves out of here," Davenport started. "Any ideas?"
Stewart stepped up to look at the lasers keeping them from exiting. "We'd need some kind of mirror or metal to reflect the beams. And then someone small enough to slip in between them." All four males turned to Sarah and Christine.
"Well maybe you guys will start watching the pot bellies a little closer," Christine smiled.
"Its all you gals' fault you know," Corra smiled. "If you weren't such good cooks, we wouldn't have this problem."
Grissom broke in, finally having enough of what he saw as wasting time. "Enough already! Can we concentrate on the task at hand please?"
Davenport nodded his head. "Paul's right, we need to get out of here, rescue Sharp and get off this planet."
"That's not what I meant, John," Grissom glared at Davenport. "I meant we get the hell out of here with our skins intact. We should stop this insane war with the Maldorians and find a new home. One were we can live in peace."
Each them simply stared at Grissom. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Paul," Davenport said sternly.
"And I can't believe you actually want to keep this guy around!" Grissom yelled back. "What has he done that's been good for us so far? He's gotten us captured by god knows who, we've fought the Maldorians twice and almost been killed and while we were gone on his fool's errand to what he thinks was earth, our entire camp was wiped out! Now what the hell has he done that is worth risking our lives for him?!"
Davenport walked up and got right in Grissom's face. "And what were we before he came? We lived out our pathetic lives, hoping and praying that we died of old age before the Maldorians got us! What has he done that is worth risking our lives for him? He's given each of something we never had before. He's given each of us the chance to make a difference!"
"And hope," Corra added.
"And courage," Stewart continued.
"And something to believe in," Sarah added, taking Christine's hand as she smiled in agreement.
Davenport turned to each of them as they spoke and then back to Grissom when they had finished. "So, Paul, what should we do?" Grissom turned away in disgust and walked as far as he could from the rest of them. Davenport turned back to Stewart. "Ok, what do we need?"
Stewart looked up to Davenport to answer, "A reflective metal... silver or something."
"But they took everything we had except our clothes," reminded Corra.
Sarah reached into the wrap she was wearing to remove a silver fastener. "Not everything," she said as see handed it to Davenport.
Davenport turned to Stewart. "Will this work?" he asked with hope.
"Well not in its present state, but with a little work, I think so."
"Get on it," Davenport ordered and Stewart nodded in agreement.
****************
The fist came across Sharp's face for what seemed like the hundredth time since he has been brought into the dimly lit room. The fist's owner repeated his question once again for Sharp to answer, "What is your mission objective and how did the Maldorians find us?!"
Sharp slowly looked back up at his inquisitor and answered in the same manner he had before. "Glenn Sharp, Captain, United States Air Force. Serial number 54896253."
"Wrong answer and I am losing patience." He swung another right hook and connected on Sharp's jaw. "Now, you can answer my questions, or we can move up to the next level of interrogation."
Sharp spat blood on the floor before once again raising his head to look up. "You know if people keep calling me a liar every time I tell them who I am, I'm gonna start taking it personally."
"We got ourselves a comedian here," the interrogator said as he gave a smug smile. "Well let's just see if you're still funny after we're done with you."
Sharp smiled back. "I'm not as funny as you trying to make me you're SGC."
"So you're saying that YOU are part of the SGC?" the interrogator asked laughing. Sharp's smile turned to a frown. He realized he had told his interrogator more than he should have. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, he reverted to giving name, rank and serial number. The interrogator was about to punch him again when a women walked in, whispered something to him, gave him a small device and left. "So, you claim to be a part of the SGC, huh? Then explain why there a was a Maldorian transmitter on one of your men?"
The look of surprise was obvious on Sharp's face. Was he telling the truth or using this as a ploy to break the trust between him and his men? Not wanting to give him anything more than he had already, Sharp remained silent.
"What? No witty retort for that one, Captain?" the interrogator asked in a very sarcastic tone.
The interrogator went on for some time with threats and taunting, but Sharp blocked most of it as he thought about the confusing situation of which he was now in the middle. The signal that he had begun to receive was on what he had known as an SGC frequency. That left two possibilities, that either the Maldorians were now using that frequency, which didn't make sense considering there was no evidence Maldorians even used radio let alone signals they knew would be compromised, or that it really was a SGC radio transmission. What if it was real? Did that mean that the SGC still existed but on another planet? That they were still fighting? The thought then crossed his mind that it could have been staged for his benefit. That would explain the transmitter. If one of his men had been compromised, they would know exactly when and where to spring the trap. But that raised the question of why. He didn't bother to pretend he was Maldorian, so it couldn't be to entrap him. If it was just to kill him, they would have done it by now. The only thing that made sense was that the transmission was real and genuine. Now if that assumption was true, what did that say about their captors? Are they Maldorians trying to intercept SGC transmissions, or are they the signal's intended recipients? If they are Maldorian, why are they asking him the questions they are asking? To trick him into revealing information about the SGC? He didn't even know if it existed anymore, let alone anything that would compromise them.
All of those thoughts rushed through Sharp's head quickly, but not quickly enough to realize that his interrogator was becoming enraged at his refusal to answer. "Now you listen to me you self-important, arrogant bastard," he said wrapping one of his hands around his neck, practically spitting the words at him. "My job is to get this information out of you and I'm very good at it. Now I've been very nice up to this point, but..."
The interrogator was cut off by the sound of an alarm going off throughout the base. "Looks like your friends are here. You might just get a quick death after all." The interrogator left, leaving Sharp to his thoughts once again.
****************
The room was filled with several people and electrical wires scattered around connecting electronic displays and devices, all frantically tracking the same flashing dot. Walking into the room was the man known simply as Homeguard, with a look on his face that made him look twice his 30 years he was alive.
"What's the situation," Homeguard asked.
"The destroyer will be here in under thirty minutes, sir," a women at one of the consoles answered him. "Long range weapons range in less than five."
"How's the evacuation coming?"
A man at another console spoke up, "All non-essential personnel were evacuated through the gate several minutes ago. The remaining personnel are packing up equipment and will be departing through the gate soon. It looks like we lucked out, sir. They don't have the symbols for this planet, so they can't block our escape by opening the wormhole on their side. This area will begin being torn down in 10 minutes."
"Very good. I'm going to see about taking care of our prisoners." Homeguard turned and headed towards their cell.
****************
Sharp had been struggling to get free from his bonds since the interrogator had left him several minutes ago. For Sharp, however, it had felt like several hours. While he had been chained to the chair and could not free himself from those, the chair was wooden and looked like it could give way. He was about to give it another good jolt when he heard footsteps. Damn it, he thought, not what I needed. Seconds later, the door opened, but instead of one of his captors, Sharp was relieved to see Christine. "What took you guys so long?"
Christine smiled, "I could just leave you here you know."
"No, no," he backtracked. "Perfect timing. Absolutely perfect." Picking the locks on the chains, she freed him from the chair and he stood. "Where are the others?"
"They're still locked in the cell. There was only enough time to let one of us out and Sarah and I were the only two that would fit."
"Do you know what's going on with the alarm?"
"I heard something about a Maldorian destroyer on the way here."
"Alright, we need to get back and let John and the rest out. And then we need to help these people escape."
Christine looked at him in confusion. "We need to help them? Aren't they working for the Maldorians?"
Sharp moved to open the door and check the area. "They're either SGC or working for them. It's the only thing that makes sense of what's happened. That destroyer is here to level this place and it may be our fault."
Christine was even more confused now. "What?"
"No time to explain it all, we have to move now," he said with urgency. As he finished, the entire network of caves shook violently. "They must be firing on us."
"That felt like a long range missile," Christine explained. "They aren't very accurate. That one probably hit a few miles away."
"I'd hate to feel one that was a direct hit," Sharp said, half joking, half serious.
"You probably wouldn't feel it," Christine responded, deadly serious.
"Lovely. Come on." Sharp and Christine moved through the tunnels that lead toward the prison. They were almost to their destination when the cavern shook again, knocking a large part of the ceiling free and bringing it down on Christine. "Damn it!" Sharp rushed over to check her vitals and see if she was okay. Christine was still conscious, but barely. "Come on, you're gonna be fine." Sharp picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. Finally reaching the cell, Sarah ran up to the bars with concern and fear in her eyes.
"Oh no, is she gonna be ok?" she asked shaking.
"She's alive and we'll be able to take care of her once we all get out of here," Sharp answered her. He then turned his attention to the control panel and turned off the cell bars. "Sarah, Chris, take Christine somewhere safe and wait to hear from me. Paul, Luke, John, with me."
Each of them did as they were told, Sarah and Stewart headed off to what seemed to be a more stable portion of cave and the rest followed Sharp looking for the control room. After a few minutes, Sharp and those with him heard footsteps. All of them took cover as Homeguard turned the corner. Taking him by surprise, Sharp stepped in front and disarmed him and held him at gunpoint.
Homeguard stood there trying to hide his surprise and fear. "What are you going to do now? Kill me?"
Sharp softened his look and turned the gun, handle up back toward Homeguard. "No, we want to help you and your men get out of here."
"I don't understand," Homeguard said with a perplexed look but taking the gun. "First you bring the Maldorians here and now you want to help us escape?" Davenport and the rest behind Homeguard looked confused as well.
"That was unintentional. I didn't know about the transmitter. I understand who you are now and I want to help you and if the situation is as dire as it seems, you're going to need all the help you can get."
"And why should I trust you?" Homeguard asked with a suspicious look, aiming the gun back at him. Just as he said it, another missile rocked the cavern.
"Do you have much of a choice at his point?" Sharp pointed out.
Sharp's look communicated all it need to Homeguard. He finally relented and lowered the weapon. "You can help evacuate some of the heavier equipment."
"Not a problem, but first, we have an injured women who needs medical attention as soon as possible."
"Most of our medical teams have already evacuated. We'll have to treat her on our escape world. Have her brought to the gate as soon as possible."
Sharp nodded and then relayed the information to Sarah and Stewart. He then motioned for everyone else to follow him to their command center. As they arrived, the caves were jolted by other missile, this one hitting much closer than the first few.
"They're getting within range of their primary weapons," one of the soldiers said. "Seven minutes to optimal firing range."
Sharp and the rest helped to take down the rest of the equipment and high tailed it for the gate where Stewart and Sarah waiting with Christine. Homeguard dialed the escape planet and the last of the officers along with Sharp's team entered the wormhole.
****Escape Planet (March 9th, 2025, Early evening)****
Arriving on the escape planet, Sharp saw most of them planning another departure. "Where are you planning to go now?"
"I'm afraid we can't tell you that," Homeguard answered. "Despite your help, your team has been compromised and we cannot allow you to know where we are headed."
Sharp was disappointed but he understood. "Could you at least confirm what I suspect?"
"Yes, we are the intelligence corps of the SGC," he confirmed. "The transmission that came through was a regularly scheduled transmission for an intelligence update."
Sharp felt new life flow through him. "Then some of them made it out. Could you get a message to them? Let them know we're out here?" Sharp asked.
"I'm afraid that when we miss a transmission like we did today, we have to wait at least three months before they contact us again. You see we do not have knowledge of the planet where the SGC base resides and it's a fail safe to make sure the Maldorians don't compromise the operation. I'm sorry." His expression communicated a true expression of remorse at not being able to fulfill Sharp's request. It was at the moment that Stewart approach them.
"They say that Christine is going to be fine, but she'll need rest and time to recover," he informed them.
Sharp turned back to Homeguard. "We don't have the resources to take care of her."
Homeguard understood what he meant. "We can take care of her, Captain. It's the least we could do in return for your assistance. If any of that equipment had fallen into the wrong hands, it could have meant the end."
"Thank you," Sharp replied. "I have a feeling that Sarah will want to stay with her, if that's alright."
"I'm sure we can make some sort of arrangement."
The rest of the evening passed with teams of personal preparing for their trip to their new planet of operations and the remaining members of Sharp's team getting ready to travel to their next destination. Sharp felt a renewed sense of hope and a great despair all at the same time. He had found the small sign that he wanted. The SGC was still alive somewhere. At the same time however, he now had the problem of discovering which of his team member might be a traitor. A prospect that was sure to haunt him for some time.
Each of them said their goodbyes to Sarah and Christine who would be staying with the intelligence team on their new world and Sharp had one final conversation with Homeguard to discover on which member of his team the transmitter had been found. The answer weighed heavily on his mind through the night and into the next morning as they left for the next world on the list.
****To Be Continued in "Fallen Star"****
Proof of Life
Journal Entry, March 7, 2025:
I'm taking a page out of the book of Dr. Chrislyn Star today, both literally and figuratively. Literally in the sense that the page that I write this entry on comes out of her journal and figuratively in the sense that I think this has become necessary in order to organize my thoughts and fully realize what has happened to me.
The world I knew is gone, my friends and family are dead or missing, and I was completely helpless to stop it. The story of my life I guess. Every time I think I have my life back together again, it all falls apart. I've tried to bring a little bit of order to this chaos that I now find myself in, trying to keep myself sane. One of those things is to start keeping track of the days. Harris told me that his best guess was that I arrived in February of 2025. Counting that as February 1st, that would make this day the 7th of March. Thirty-five days and its seemed like so much longer.
If it wasn't for the company I picked up along the way, I might have been completely insane by now. John Davenport has become my most trusted adviser and second-in-command. His combat instincts outweigh my own and he has sufficiently proved this in the two skirmishes we've had with humans fighting for the Maldorians.
Luke Corra has become my special project. He reminds me a lot of myself after Jennifer died, angry and devoid of hope. If the situation I'm currently in could be used for any good at all, it could be to show Luke that life's circumstances need not dictate our attitude and when all else is gone, hope is the one thing we can't let go.
One person who has really helped me keep things in perspective is Chris Stewart. What he lacks in military skill, he more than makes up for in smarts and perspective. In the past month, he's helped me come to terms with has happened and although its still difficult to accept, I would definitely be a lot farther away if it wasn't for his help.
I was worried at first for Sarah and Christine being out here with us with so much danger around, but they have most definitely held their own and I don't just mean their outstanding cooking, without which all of us men would starve. Probably the most memorable moment would be the time they cold clocked two unsuspecting soldiers who had stumbled upon our camp on planet Midas. The poor guys never saw it coming.
Which leaves Paul Grissom. A decent fighter and he follows orders, but otherwise he is the epitome of the loner. He hardly ever speaks even to those from his camp so its hard to know what to make of him. I've decided not to discuss anything about this with any of the others as not to alarm them, but something doesn't sit quiet right with him.
As for looking for answers to what happened at the SGC, I wish I could say its been more productive. We've visited five planets so far. And while three of them showed signs of once holding civilization, there was nothing left to salvage or learn. I can hope we find someone or something on this next planet. Right now even the most simple of signs that there is something out there to work and strive for would be enough for me. We dial out for the next planet in a couple days. Maybe we'll get lucky.
****Planet Artemis (March 9th, 2025, Early morning)****
Sharp quickly got into a defensive position once he arrived through the wormhole. They had been ambushed once before arriving on one of the other worlds and sticking to protocol for potentially hostile worlds might have been the thing that saved their lives. Davenport and the others followed suit having been taught by Sharp how to do so in an effective manner.
"It looks clear, sir," Davenport observed.
"I told you, you don't have to call me that, John," Sharp responded as he stood.
"If we're gonna be effective military force against the Maldorians, we need to act like one. That means we need a real command structure and discipline to follow it, SIR," Davenport stood at attention as he added the end. Sharp rolled his eyes as the rest of the group, excluding Grissom, mimicked Davenport and all simultaneously added an emphatic, "Sir, yes, sir!"
"Alright, cut it out you guys," Sharp said halfway between amused and annoyed. Again, all except Grissom, started laughing at their little joke. The truth of the matter was, that Davenport was serious about what he said. All of them were ready to inflict some hurt on the Maldorian forces and to them, Sharp's appearance was the sign they needed that now was the time. The problem that Sharp had was that the last time he led a mission, he lost his entire team... or he got lost depending on which way you look at it. Either way, he was not excited about the prospect of a repeat performance and the easiest way to avoid that was to avoid the stage entirely.
The planet was a bit on the humid side and the sun was already making things quite warm despite the early hour. The vegetation was very reminiscent of tropics back on earth and Sharp couldn't help but think of his one time desire to take a romantic excursive to some of the more exotic locations on earth. Unable to resist, he began to sing his favorite Beach Boys tune, Kokomo, garnering many stares and questioning looks from his companions. Unaware of the odd looks behind him, Sharp continued to sing as he began to investigate for signs of inhabitants.
"Chris, are you sure that wave thing didn't do anything to his brain?" Corra asked, unable to believe his ears.
"Well there's no way to be sure, but there is also nothing to indicate that it would," Stewart replied with a very quizical look.
"So he was like this before, then?" Grissom wondered.
"I don't know," Davenport chimed in. "I think it's kinda catchy." Now all the eyes shifted from Sharp to Davenport. Looking quite uncomfortable, Davenport shrugged and added, "What??!!"
"Oh I don't know, John. I think it might just be the big brown spot on your nose," Grissom sarcastically answered.
Davenport let out a deep breath and turned away from the gate. "Can we just get to it, please?" Davenport walked to join Sharp to search for inhabitants as the rest, except Grissom, enjoyed one last laugh.
****************
She sat in cover about a mile from the gate, watching the whole scene transpire. Dressed in what resembled traditional full body Caribbean wrap, the young woman of no older than 20 let out a deep, frustrated breath. "This is not good," she said to herself as she reached for her radio. "Alpha one to base, repeat, this is alpha one, come in base."
"Base here, this is Homeguard," came the reply.
"We have a problem, Homeguard. Party crashes near the objective."
"How many, alpha one?"
"I count seven. Five males, two females."
"Have they discovered you?"
"No, sir. They seem to be scouting the area, looking for signs of inhabitants."
"ETA to mission operational window?"
"Five minutes, sir"
"Ok, I'm sending backup, alpha one. Remain where you are until they arrive. If necessary, abort your mission. We can't allow anyone to compromise this operation."
"Understood, sir," alpha one responded, with even more frustration. She knew what an abort meant. This would set their timetable back quite a bit as if it hadn't been interrupted enough. There was no choice, however. She knew her commander was right. If this information was intercepted, even as an encrypted transmission, it would be a much larger blow to their plans. She put the radio away and watched the intruders as she waited for backup.
****************
"Captain, I think I found something!" exclaimed Corra. Sharp rushed over to see Corra standing over what looked to be a partial footprint.
"John, get over here. I need you to look at this." Davenport rushed over to Sharp's position. "How fresh does this look to you?" Sharp asked, hoping that Davenport agreed with his guess.
"No more than a couple days," Davenport answered, with a hint of excitement. "It looks like they did a good job of getting rid of the tracks with the exception of this one."
Sharp smiled. "I was hoping you'd say that. Finally some good news. Have everyone fan out, we're gonna fi..." Suddenly Sharp was cut off by the sound of the gate activating. Sharp instinctively began giving orders. "Everyone take cover. John, with me!" Davenport nodded and began to follow, but before they got far, they were stopped in their tracks by what they heard.
"Freeze or the rest of your team is dead!" someone shouted. Sharp and Davenport froze in their tracks and slowly turned around. They saw several men and women dressed in what looked like military uniforms, but they were unlike any Sharp had seen before. What was worse, they had several of his team at gunpoint. "Drop your weapons, hands on your head." the same voice ordered.
Seeing no other alternative, Sharp motioned and then ordered, "Do as he says." Sharp and Davenport then slowly tossed their weapons to the ground and placed their hands behind their head. Just then, the gate opened and Sharp's radio chirped to life with what sounded to him like a coded signal. "What the hell?" Sharp asked surprised.
Suddenly the man who seemed to be in charge became very insistent. "Drop the gun now or we drop you!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Sharp caught Corra slowly ready his own weapon. "I said drop it, Luke!"
Corra shot an angry glance in the direction of Sharp. Whispering to Sharp, Corra communicated his intentions, "I can take a few of them out before they get me."
"But not before they take out a few of us," Sharp whispered back. "Besides, I need people like you if we're going to win this thing. New put the gun down, please" Corra was obviously not happy about it, but he complied with Sharp's order.
One of the women removed Sharp's radio from his possession and handed it to the man in charge. He looked it over before looking back up to their prisoners. "Take them to a holding cell. We'll interrogate the leader first," the man said. The others moved in and led Sharp and his team toward the base. The man in charge then turned and hurriedly tried to ready a device he pulled out of his pocket. Moments before he could finish, however, the gate disengaged. Furious, he threw his weapon to the ground and shouted a few obscenities.
****************
Several guards were escorting all but Sharp to a makeshift cell deep within the caves they called a base. As they reached the cell, the head guard motioned for them to enter and activated the laser cell bars. They all watched as the guards left and began discussing their options.
"First order of business is getting ourselves out of here," Davenport started. "Any ideas?"
Stewart stepped up to look at the lasers keeping them from exiting. "We'd need some kind of mirror or metal to reflect the beams. And then someone small enough to slip in between them." All four males turned to Sarah and Christine.
"Well maybe you guys will start watching the pot bellies a little closer," Christine smiled.
"Its all you gals' fault you know," Corra smiled. "If you weren't such good cooks, we wouldn't have this problem."
Grissom broke in, finally having enough of what he saw as wasting time. "Enough already! Can we concentrate on the task at hand please?"
Davenport nodded his head. "Paul's right, we need to get out of here, rescue Sharp and get off this planet."
"That's not what I meant, John," Grissom glared at Davenport. "I meant we get the hell out of here with our skins intact. We should stop this insane war with the Maldorians and find a new home. One were we can live in peace."
Each them simply stared at Grissom. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Paul," Davenport said sternly.
"And I can't believe you actually want to keep this guy around!" Grissom yelled back. "What has he done that's been good for us so far? He's gotten us captured by god knows who, we've fought the Maldorians twice and almost been killed and while we were gone on his fool's errand to what he thinks was earth, our entire camp was wiped out! Now what the hell has he done that is worth risking our lives for him?!"
Davenport walked up and got right in Grissom's face. "And what were we before he came? We lived out our pathetic lives, hoping and praying that we died of old age before the Maldorians got us! What has he done that is worth risking our lives for him? He's given each of something we never had before. He's given each of us the chance to make a difference!"
"And hope," Corra added.
"And courage," Stewart continued.
"And something to believe in," Sarah added, taking Christine's hand as she smiled in agreement.
Davenport turned to each of them as they spoke and then back to Grissom when they had finished. "So, Paul, what should we do?" Grissom turned away in disgust and walked as far as he could from the rest of them. Davenport turned back to Stewart. "Ok, what do we need?"
Stewart looked up to Davenport to answer, "A reflective metal... silver or something."
"But they took everything we had except our clothes," reminded Corra.
Sarah reached into the wrap she was wearing to remove a silver fastener. "Not everything," she said as see handed it to Davenport.
Davenport turned to Stewart. "Will this work?" he asked with hope.
"Well not in its present state, but with a little work, I think so."
"Get on it," Davenport ordered and Stewart nodded in agreement.
****************
The fist came across Sharp's face for what seemed like the hundredth time since he has been brought into the dimly lit room. The fist's owner repeated his question once again for Sharp to answer, "What is your mission objective and how did the Maldorians find us?!"
Sharp slowly looked back up at his inquisitor and answered in the same manner he had before. "Glenn Sharp, Captain, United States Air Force. Serial number 54896253."
"Wrong answer and I am losing patience." He swung another right hook and connected on Sharp's jaw. "Now, you can answer my questions, or we can move up to the next level of interrogation."
Sharp spat blood on the floor before once again raising his head to look up. "You know if people keep calling me a liar every time I tell them who I am, I'm gonna start taking it personally."
"We got ourselves a comedian here," the interrogator said as he gave a smug smile. "Well let's just see if you're still funny after we're done with you."
Sharp smiled back. "I'm not as funny as you trying to make me you're SGC."
"So you're saying that YOU are part of the SGC?" the interrogator asked laughing. Sharp's smile turned to a frown. He realized he had told his interrogator more than he should have. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, he reverted to giving name, rank and serial number. The interrogator was about to punch him again when a women walked in, whispered something to him, gave him a small device and left. "So, you claim to be a part of the SGC, huh? Then explain why there a was a Maldorian transmitter on one of your men?"
The look of surprise was obvious on Sharp's face. Was he telling the truth or using this as a ploy to break the trust between him and his men? Not wanting to give him anything more than he had already, Sharp remained silent.
"What? No witty retort for that one, Captain?" the interrogator asked in a very sarcastic tone.
The interrogator went on for some time with threats and taunting, but Sharp blocked most of it as he thought about the confusing situation of which he was now in the middle. The signal that he had begun to receive was on what he had known as an SGC frequency. That left two possibilities, that either the Maldorians were now using that frequency, which didn't make sense considering there was no evidence Maldorians even used radio let alone signals they knew would be compromised, or that it really was a SGC radio transmission. What if it was real? Did that mean that the SGC still existed but on another planet? That they were still fighting? The thought then crossed his mind that it could have been staged for his benefit. That would explain the transmitter. If one of his men had been compromised, they would know exactly when and where to spring the trap. But that raised the question of why. He didn't bother to pretend he was Maldorian, so it couldn't be to entrap him. If it was just to kill him, they would have done it by now. The only thing that made sense was that the transmission was real and genuine. Now if that assumption was true, what did that say about their captors? Are they Maldorians trying to intercept SGC transmissions, or are they the signal's intended recipients? If they are Maldorian, why are they asking him the questions they are asking? To trick him into revealing information about the SGC? He didn't even know if it existed anymore, let alone anything that would compromise them.
All of those thoughts rushed through Sharp's head quickly, but not quickly enough to realize that his interrogator was becoming enraged at his refusal to answer. "Now you listen to me you self-important, arrogant bastard," he said wrapping one of his hands around his neck, practically spitting the words at him. "My job is to get this information out of you and I'm very good at it. Now I've been very nice up to this point, but..."
The interrogator was cut off by the sound of an alarm going off throughout the base. "Looks like your friends are here. You might just get a quick death after all." The interrogator left, leaving Sharp to his thoughts once again.
****************
The room was filled with several people and electrical wires scattered around connecting electronic displays and devices, all frantically tracking the same flashing dot. Walking into the room was the man known simply as Homeguard, with a look on his face that made him look twice his 30 years he was alive.
"What's the situation," Homeguard asked.
"The destroyer will be here in under thirty minutes, sir," a women at one of the consoles answered him. "Long range weapons range in less than five."
"How's the evacuation coming?"
A man at another console spoke up, "All non-essential personnel were evacuated through the gate several minutes ago. The remaining personnel are packing up equipment and will be departing through the gate soon. It looks like we lucked out, sir. They don't have the symbols for this planet, so they can't block our escape by opening the wormhole on their side. This area will begin being torn down in 10 minutes."
"Very good. I'm going to see about taking care of our prisoners." Homeguard turned and headed towards their cell.
****************
Sharp had been struggling to get free from his bonds since the interrogator had left him several minutes ago. For Sharp, however, it had felt like several hours. While he had been chained to the chair and could not free himself from those, the chair was wooden and looked like it could give way. He was about to give it another good jolt when he heard footsteps. Damn it, he thought, not what I needed. Seconds later, the door opened, but instead of one of his captors, Sharp was relieved to see Christine. "What took you guys so long?"
Christine smiled, "I could just leave you here you know."
"No, no," he backtracked. "Perfect timing. Absolutely perfect." Picking the locks on the chains, she freed him from the chair and he stood. "Where are the others?"
"They're still locked in the cell. There was only enough time to let one of us out and Sarah and I were the only two that would fit."
"Do you know what's going on with the alarm?"
"I heard something about a Maldorian destroyer on the way here."
"Alright, we need to get back and let John and the rest out. And then we need to help these people escape."
Christine looked at him in confusion. "We need to help them? Aren't they working for the Maldorians?"
Sharp moved to open the door and check the area. "They're either SGC or working for them. It's the only thing that makes sense of what's happened. That destroyer is here to level this place and it may be our fault."
Christine was even more confused now. "What?"
"No time to explain it all, we have to move now," he said with urgency. As he finished, the entire network of caves shook violently. "They must be firing on us."
"That felt like a long range missile," Christine explained. "They aren't very accurate. That one probably hit a few miles away."
"I'd hate to feel one that was a direct hit," Sharp said, half joking, half serious.
"You probably wouldn't feel it," Christine responded, deadly serious.
"Lovely. Come on." Sharp and Christine moved through the tunnels that lead toward the prison. They were almost to their destination when the cavern shook again, knocking a large part of the ceiling free and bringing it down on Christine. "Damn it!" Sharp rushed over to check her vitals and see if she was okay. Christine was still conscious, but barely. "Come on, you're gonna be fine." Sharp picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. Finally reaching the cell, Sarah ran up to the bars with concern and fear in her eyes.
"Oh no, is she gonna be ok?" she asked shaking.
"She's alive and we'll be able to take care of her once we all get out of here," Sharp answered her. He then turned his attention to the control panel and turned off the cell bars. "Sarah, Chris, take Christine somewhere safe and wait to hear from me. Paul, Luke, John, with me."
Each of them did as they were told, Sarah and Stewart headed off to what seemed to be a more stable portion of cave and the rest followed Sharp looking for the control room. After a few minutes, Sharp and those with him heard footsteps. All of them took cover as Homeguard turned the corner. Taking him by surprise, Sharp stepped in front and disarmed him and held him at gunpoint.
Homeguard stood there trying to hide his surprise and fear. "What are you going to do now? Kill me?"
Sharp softened his look and turned the gun, handle up back toward Homeguard. "No, we want to help you and your men get out of here."
"I don't understand," Homeguard said with a perplexed look but taking the gun. "First you bring the Maldorians here and now you want to help us escape?" Davenport and the rest behind Homeguard looked confused as well.
"That was unintentional. I didn't know about the transmitter. I understand who you are now and I want to help you and if the situation is as dire as it seems, you're going to need all the help you can get."
"And why should I trust you?" Homeguard asked with a suspicious look, aiming the gun back at him. Just as he said it, another missile rocked the cavern.
"Do you have much of a choice at his point?" Sharp pointed out.
Sharp's look communicated all it need to Homeguard. He finally relented and lowered the weapon. "You can help evacuate some of the heavier equipment."
"Not a problem, but first, we have an injured women who needs medical attention as soon as possible."
"Most of our medical teams have already evacuated. We'll have to treat her on our escape world. Have her brought to the gate as soon as possible."
Sharp nodded and then relayed the information to Sarah and Stewart. He then motioned for everyone else to follow him to their command center. As they arrived, the caves were jolted by other missile, this one hitting much closer than the first few.
"They're getting within range of their primary weapons," one of the soldiers said. "Seven minutes to optimal firing range."
Sharp and the rest helped to take down the rest of the equipment and high tailed it for the gate where Stewart and Sarah waiting with Christine. Homeguard dialed the escape planet and the last of the officers along with Sharp's team entered the wormhole.
****Escape Planet (March 9th, 2025, Early evening)****
Arriving on the escape planet, Sharp saw most of them planning another departure. "Where are you planning to go now?"
"I'm afraid we can't tell you that," Homeguard answered. "Despite your help, your team has been compromised and we cannot allow you to know where we are headed."
Sharp was disappointed but he understood. "Could you at least confirm what I suspect?"
"Yes, we are the intelligence corps of the SGC," he confirmed. "The transmission that came through was a regularly scheduled transmission for an intelligence update."
Sharp felt new life flow through him. "Then some of them made it out. Could you get a message to them? Let them know we're out here?" Sharp asked.
"I'm afraid that when we miss a transmission like we did today, we have to wait at least three months before they contact us again. You see we do not have knowledge of the planet where the SGC base resides and it's a fail safe to make sure the Maldorians don't compromise the operation. I'm sorry." His expression communicated a true expression of remorse at not being able to fulfill Sharp's request. It was at the moment that Stewart approach them.
"They say that Christine is going to be fine, but she'll need rest and time to recover," he informed them.
Sharp turned back to Homeguard. "We don't have the resources to take care of her."
Homeguard understood what he meant. "We can take care of her, Captain. It's the least we could do in return for your assistance. If any of that equipment had fallen into the wrong hands, it could have meant the end."
"Thank you," Sharp replied. "I have a feeling that Sarah will want to stay with her, if that's alright."
"I'm sure we can make some sort of arrangement."
The rest of the evening passed with teams of personal preparing for their trip to their new planet of operations and the remaining members of Sharp's team getting ready to travel to their next destination. Sharp felt a renewed sense of hope and a great despair all at the same time. He had found the small sign that he wanted. The SGC was still alive somewhere. At the same time however, he now had the problem of discovering which of his team member might be a traitor. A prospect that was sure to haunt him for some time.
Each of them said their goodbyes to Sarah and Christine who would be staying with the intelligence team on their new world and Sharp had one final conversation with Homeguard to discover on which member of his team the transmitter had been found. The answer weighed heavily on his mind through the night and into the next morning as they left for the next world on the list.
****To Be Continued in "Fallen Star"****
