Chapter Thirteen: There Be Humans Here!


"Colonel?"


O'Neill heard a distant voice, all the while he felt his head throbbing with that pulse pounding pain that he knew and hated so well. The type of excruciating pain that always followed after his head impacted against a solid blunt object, usually a floor, a deck, or something else that's really, really hard and unyielding. Ergo it was his head that 'yielded'.


"Colonel?" The voice sounded familiar and closer now as he struggled his way back into consciousness.


He opened his eyes and trued to concentrate on a face hovering over him....and the lovely features of Samantha Carter finally came into focus.


She smiled down at him, that very special radiant smile that always brightened O'Neill's spirit on those weary days at the SGC.


"You gave us quite a scare, sir." His second in command said with evident relief. "You were out for nearly an hour."


O'Neill sighed, and said drowsily, "Sorry about that Major, but the floor just suddenly reared up...and ambushed me from behind."


Carter frowned with puzzlement. "Sir, are you okay? You just called me, Major."


"What do you mean, you're..." O'Neill stared up at her for a second before blinking his eyes hard and Carter's imagine faded away to be replaced by that of Lt. Hailey. Who was regarding him with concern.


The Colonel just groaned in frustration as reality came back roaring back to hit him like a flying brick.


Well, this is a rather uncomfortable moment. O'Neill thought as his eyes darted about and noticed Daniel and Teal'c standing nearby looking at him with some concern too.


O'Neill took in a breath and sighed again. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. What's our situation?"


Hailey also decided to put the awkward little moment behind them, and concentrate on the now. She made her report. "Hyperdrive is still out. Our four mysterious rescuers have engaged and completely destroyed the pursuing Peacekeepers ships and they're now leading us out into space. We have no communications with them, but they made their intentions clear when that one boogie fired a warning shot. Follow us or else."


"That was a warning a shot?!" Those fighters must be packing a lot of firepower, O'Neill thought.


He tried to push himself up off the floor and he could have sworn that he felt every muscle and joint in his tired and abused body protesting at that simple attempt. And this despite years of toughening in an active military life.


Damn it! I'm getting too old for this shit! O'Neill cursed silently.


"Do we have any idea who they are?" O'Neill grunted as he staggered to his feet. Hailey grabbed his arm and helped to steady him.


"We do not, O'Neill," Teal'c answered. "Their ship design is completely alien, but lifeform sensors reveal that the pilots appear to be three Humans and a Sebacean."


O'Neill looked surprised. "They're Human? And a Sebacean, one those Peacekeeper people, is with them?"


"Looks that way," Daniel said. "Although I'm more curious to where they're taking us than I am about their personnel roster."


"I think that I know now," Freya answered from the cockpit area. "We're approaching a waiting ship."


SG-1 gathered around the view port. They spotted two of the four alien fighters flanking the shuttle on either side. The other two hung just behind, covering the rear. However, the team's attention was focused ahead, to the ship they were being herded towards. It was an oddly designed and rather ominous looking red hulled vessel. Its curved, sloping, tapered design made it look more like an angry mutant lobster than anything else.


Freya checked her sensors. "It's a Leviathan."


"A what?" Daniel asked.


"A Leviathan is a living ship," Freya explained. "An actual space going life form. Peacekeepers are known to use them as beasts of burden, but this one looks very different from the norm for the species and rather young."


"It appears they want us to dock with it," Teal'c commented.


Just then a large tentacle extended from the belly of the red space creature. It reached out in their direction and the tip of it opened up into a large gaping maw.


Daniel almost took a step backwards, in spite of his interest. "Or then again," he said, "They just might mean to feed us to it."


***


John Crichton hurried up to Talyn's command area where he found Crais and Athena closely observing the main monitor. The image of a Goa'uld shuttle surrounded by Apollo's squadron filled the screen.


"The docking net has locked onto the shuttle and Talyn is reeling them in." Athena reported from a nearby console station.


Crichton walked up beside Crais, as he continued to watch Talyn pull the shuttle in closer. Once it was within reach, Talyn slapped his 'boarding arm' over what appeared to be the shuttle's airlock.


Crais nodded in satisfaction. "The boarding arm is secured."


"I thought that Apollo and the gang went out to spy on some Peacekeepers? How'd it come about that they came back with a Goa'uld ship?" Crichton asked. "What happened?"


"Apparently that shuttle arrived there ahead of them and the uproar it caused set off the entire Peacekeeper defence force in the system," Crais explained. "After that a stealthy approach was out of the question. So, Captain Apollo decided to capture the shuttle and it's occupants for any intelligence they might have gathered on the forces guarding the planet Tobin."


"They're all okay?"


"Yes, they're returning to the hangar at this very moment," Athena said from her station before turning to leave the command centre. "Apollo wants every available warrior on hand to meet our 'guests' at the airlock to board that shuttle."


"Need a hand?" Crichton started to follow her.


"Grab a blaster and make yourself useful Earthman," Athena said with a teasing note in her voice.


***


Freya shook her head in frustration. "The tractor beam that they used to drag us in has deactivated, but that tentacle is now locked down tight over the airlock. If I try to thrust the shuttle away, it will just rip the entire right side of our hull off."


O'Neill and the rest of SG-1 were busy arming themselves. Jack slapped a flesh clip into his P-90. "Then forget it. Grab yourself a weapon, Freya, and make yourself useful."


Freya rose from the pilot's seat. "They may not mean us any harm at all."


"Do you want to wait to see if they intend to kill you, while you stand there bare handed?" Hailey said as she stuffed extra ammo clips into her vest pockets.


***


During his time in the Uncharted Territories, Crichton and his friends on Moya had always been the underdogs in most of their encounters with hostile beings. They were often either outgunned or outnumbered, or a little (or a LOT) of both.


My oh my, how things had changed in such a short time. He stood at the airlock leading to Talyn's docking arm, with a Colonial blaster (now named Winona II) in hand, prepared to board the Goa'uld shuttle. With him were Apollo, Starbuck, Sheba, Athena, Aeryn and a dozen of Talyn's exceptionally aggressive looking DRD's. Scans of the shuttle showed there were only three humans, probably slaves, as well as one Jaffa and a Goa'uld. They had them outnumbered and outgunned, but Apollo was planning to try and negotiate with them first. Violence would be a last resort.


That gesture alone impressed Crichton greatly. Apollo was an officer and a soldier, but a smart one with that important edge of compassion that made him a good leader, much like his father Adama. There was an old saying back home on Earth..."There are old Marines and there are bold Marines, but there are no old, bold Marines." That saying left out an important corollary. Bold Marines tend to get their friends killed unnecessarily. Apollo would definitely have been an "old Marine". Apollo looked after his people and didn't always go looking for a fight if it could be avoided, even though they could probably take the shuttle at gun point easily.


"Okay," Apollo explained to the group about him, "when the DRDs override the shuttle's airlock controls, we'll take up positions to storm the ship, but only on my signal. Hopefully they'll listen to reason and if not, the DRD's will go in first, followed by us. We'll try to take them alive, and use lethal force only if all else fails. Any questions?"


There were none. They knew their parts and were ready to go.


"Good. Take your positions," Apollo said. Then he spoke into his comm link. "We're set, Captain Crais. Could you please have Talyn force the airlock."



***


O'Neill heard a sparking crackle of electricity coming from the shuttle's airlock controls. They were trying to get in. He readied his weapon, as did the rest of SG-1 and Freya. He had everyone fan out to cover the single airlock entrance to the shuttle from the best protection and as many different angles as possible.


"Get ready, but fire only on my command!" O'Neill ordered, just as the airlock slid open.


There was a pause as O'Neill waited for trouble to come pouring in, but nothing happened. Then he heard a voice calling out from the other side of the airlock opening.


"This is Captain Apollo from the Battlestar Galactica. I wish to speak to whoever is in charge."


O'Neill frowned for a second. English? And he'd always had a problem with beings that used godly names, with the exception of the Asgards. Heck! Who wouldn't like to be called by the name, Thor? He paused a second deciding how to reply. Most people have only two sides to their brain. Left or right. Logic or poetry. O'Neill however, had three sides. Left, right, and sarcastic. The sarcastic of his brain was the one that eventually took over.


Outside, Crichton hung back in the rear of the group when he heard a voice from inside the shuttle answering back to the Colonial Captain.


"Nice to meet you Apollo, how's your buddy Hercules?"


While the Colonial's and Aeryn frowned in puzzlement to the voice's odd reply, Crichton's eyes narrowed slightly and he leaned closer to listen. English, with an American accent no less. And, furthermore, it sounded like something he himself would say.


"I don't know a Hercules," Apollo replied. "Do you have a name?"


"You can me Colonel O'Neill. What do you want?" The voice said.


"We're after any sensor logs you might have recorded from that system you just visited. If you hand them over, we'll let you go free."


O'Neill wasn't sure why they wanted their sensor logs, but he wasn't about to give them up so easily. They needed them if they were going to have a prayer of rescuing Carter.


"No dice," he answered. "We need that data for ourselves."


Apollo shook his head; he'd known that this might not go easy, so he tried again. "All right then, how about sharing it? Give us a copy and you can go free."


O'Neill looked to the rest of his team. Daniel shrugged, as did Hailey. It seemed reasonable, almost too reasonable. There had to be a catch. Nothing could possibly go that easily for them.


"That's all you want? Just a copy of the data from that solar system back there?"


"Yes," Apollo replied from the other side of the airlock. "Mainly on the planet Tobin and all of its defences."


"May I ask why do you want it?" O'Neill was curious now, about this these beings motives and intentions.


Apollo decided to be truthful. "You're at war with the Peacekeepers, right? We intend to attack that base on Tobin. That should be more than enough reason for you to give us a copy of that data."


"Jack?" Daniel whispered urgently to O'Neill from his hiding spot behind a bulkhead, "They think that we're Goa'uld."


O'Neill gave Daniel a disgusted look and gestured around them to their Goa'uld shuttle, mouthing back. "Ya think?" Then he focused his attention back on the opened airlock.


"Okay, I need to clarify a few things," Jack responded . "First, we're not with the Goa'uld or the System Lords. And second, we have a friend trapped on that planet. We can't have you attacking that base just yet. Not with her still in it."


Now it was Apollo's turn to be confused momentarily. "You have Jaffa and a Goa'uld on board with you, do you not?"


"We do have a Jaffa, but he's no longer serving with any of the System Lords," O'Neill answered, then he glanced at Freya and caught the offended look on her face. "I'd like to add that the 'Goa'uld' that you mentioned doesn't appreciate being referred to as a Goa'uld. She's a Tok'ra."


Apollo paused, floundering for a moment. A Jaffa who's against the System Lords and a Goa'uld who's not a Goa'uld? Time to take things in a different, less confusing, direction.


"And who's your friend that's being held there?" Apollo asked.


O'Neill wondered about the wisdom in trusting these people. He still knew nothing about their motives, but if they're all gung-ho to attack that base, then just maybe he and the SGC could use them to help save Carter.


"She's a member of my team and a personal friend of ours. I have a proposal. If we give you the data, would you consider helping us rescue her?"


Apollo looked back at the others for a moment, wondering how to answer that one.

Starbuck shrugged. "It's your call."


"Can we even hope to do that?" Athena asked. "Help them rescue their companion with our limited resources?"


Apollo nodded his head in agreement, but this could be a basis for negotiations. Deciding that it was time to broaden the contact a bit, he called out, "Listen, I'd like to see the person whom I'm speaking with. May I come aboard? I'll be unarmed."


O'Neill made a snap judgement. "Okay, just you and only you."


Sheba watched worriedly as Apollo handed his blaster to Starbuck before slowly stepping through the airlock with his hands held up at his sides. Inside the shuttle, Apollo found five weapons trained on him. A man with greying hair moved out from behind a bulkhead and took a few steps towards him. He held a black rifle, but he lowered it as he approached, saying, "So, you're Captain Apollo."


The Colonial Captain nodded. "And you must be Colonel O'Neill."


"That's right," O'Neill said, then nodded his head towards the shuttle view port with Talyn filling the entire window. "Are you planning to attack Tobin in that thing? That's an impressive ship I grant you, but I have to tell you, you'll be needing a bigger boat."


"We have another ship, the Galactica, which is slightly... A bigger boat," Apollo said. "Who's your friend that's in trouble?"


"Her name is Major Samantha Carter," O'Neill said. "Six days ago, a being calling himself Scorpius attacked us and captured her. He's probably interrogating her as we speak."


"I'm sorry about your friend," Apollo replied sympathetically. "But I'm not sure what we can do, we don't have the manpower to go in..."


Suddenly O'Neill's eyes narrowed as he saw another person stepping into view at the airlock opening just behind Apollo.


O'Neill shouted as he raised his P-90 and his finger tightened about the trigger, "Hey! I don't recall inviting anyone else in here!!"


Apollo held his hands up higher, half expecting to be shot at any moment. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Crichton take a half step in. Apollo also spotted Aeryn and Starbuck reaching as if trying to prevent Crichton from going in but they weren't fast enough.


"I'm sorry but did I hear you say that Scorpius has been holding your friend for six days?" Crichton said, carefully keeping his opened hands clearly visible.


O'Neill kept his rifle trained on both of them, no longer in a trusting mood. "That's right," he said to the new person standing before him.


"She's probably already dead," Crichton said sympathetically. "I'm sorry."


O'Neill face hardened, refusing to believe it. "And what makes you so damned sure?"


"Because I've been his prisoner on more than one occasion, and the only reason I'm standing here is because my friends busted me out fast enough." Crichton said painfully, remembering the less than pleasant memories he'd acquired at the hands of Scorpius.


Crichton watched O'Neill as his eyes filled with a deep sorrow. The menacing rifle he held on them lowered again somewhat. Crichton felt for him, it was quite easy to sense how much this Samantha Carter meant to him.


O'Neill recovered a little from the bleak news. "Are you sure about this?"


"If she's still alive... I doubt she'd be the same person you remembered," Crichton said honestly. "Scorpius methods of interrogation are... unique, and destructive."


"No offence," O'Neill said, "but I'd rather find out myself if she's alive or not."


"I understand," Crichton agreed. "I'd do the same in your position."


"Do you have a name?" O'Neill asked.


Crichton was about to introduce himself when an uncertain voice from the corner of the shuttle spoke first. "John Crichton?"


Everyone in the shuttle looked towards Lt. Hailey. She stepped out from behind her cover staring straight at him. "Is that you?"