AN: Well, I'm trying to finish this monster off *wry grin* finally figured out that the block was due to muses wanting to physically write *mock shudders* a couple of chapters o.O Nah, it's actually been a nice change of pace, although my hand aches like fury *_*;; *hugs her computer* - can you get RSI from writing with a pen??
Rating: R maybe PG-13 (R in standing with ff.net's policy of picking the highest rating)
Disclaimer: SG characters are (c) MGM (thankie to Morrigan for that :p). FF8 characters are (c) Squaresoft, original characters are mine – ask nicely and I might let you play with them, s'long's you don't break them...
Warnings: SxS Maybe angst (I do like to torture my characters sometimes :p), language (prob nothin u ain't heard b4, but still...)
~Chapter Thirty-Five: Opinions, Interlude II~
Jack was poring over a set of blueprints when Daniel – eight SG team members in tow – finally found him. There were notes scribbled at various points in a hurried script, marking ventilation and access shafts he realised, drawing close enough to decipher the tight scrawl.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat to alert O'Neill to his presence, arching an eyebrow at Sam in a silent request for an explanation. She shrugged in response. Whatever O'Neill was muttering to himself under his breath as he scribbled, frequently tracing along routes with a finger, she was either not privy to, or was unable to explain. Daniel went to cough again, but Jack beat him to it, stopping suddenly and looking up, one hand casually marking a point on the diagram, the other curled around a battered fountain pen. Briefly his eyes ran over the soldiers behind Daniel, counting. Before the other could apologise and explain, Jack sighed.
"Eight. All present and correct then." Daniel frowned, and even Sam looked confused. Jack waved a hand in dismissal.
"Sir...?" It was one of the soldiers behind Daniel who had spoken. Jack raised an eyebrow, signalling for the man to continue. "Why are we down here when the fighting's all outside?" For a moment it almost seemed that Jack O'Neill, Stargate's finest, would tremble with the force of some unknown emotion. Then his iron will strengthened, holding his instinctive reactions in check.
"Because it's not our fight out there." He responded quietly. "And if you want to see why that is..." he gestured outside the room. "Find a merc. and request a visit to the first defences. They're not pushed, yet, so there should still be a couple of reserve teams still here." He sighed, and looked down at the blueprints again. "Be back here in an hour – and try not to get yourselves killed. This is a highly dangerous place." That said, he bent back to his work. Daniel glanced at Sam and she nodded. They had been dismissed.
***
All eight soldiers, plus Daniel, found curiosity getting the better of them and bending their steps in search of a mercenary. As the only one who had been here before, Daniel found himself in the front, leading the expectant group. It wasn't a role he was overly comfortable in – that of leader – but he accepted it without demurral, knowing that his arguments would only be met with 'innocent' confusion. Despite being a civilian, he had been around the military for long enough now to know how the game was played.
Fortunately they stumbled across a SeeD almost as soon as they left he main corridor. He didn't look in the least startled to see them, and Daniel's suspicions were confirmed by the man's greeting.
"Uh, hi. All nine of you wanna go up top?" Daniel could almost feel the surprise and confusion from the soldiers behind him. By his accent the mercenary before them could have been born and bred in America. Then another thought occurred to him. The group behind him hadn't been there when the translation magic had been cast, so how could they understand?
Magic. Came the amused thought in his head. Despite the subconscious realisation that the sorceress had to be listening to their thoughts in order to send them an escort, he shuddered. The mercenary gave him an understanding and sympathetic glance. Clearly he wasn't the only one still getting used to the idea.
"Well, with so many of ya an all, I'll hafta grab a coupla others..." He seemed to have taken their silence for an affirmative answer to the first question, and turned away, gesturing for them to follow. The soldiers fell in automatically, years of training having primed them to follow orders, even if they could – as was vital for all off-world teams – operate under their own initiative. Daniel followed at the rear, glad that the command had been taken from him. He was a scholar, not a fighter, and he was definitely not leadership material... Well, with a few situational exceptions, he mused, recalling the very first trip through the stargate. The journey to Abydos that had started it all. The amulet had made him unwitting leader then. The amulet, and his ability to speak – however roughly – with the natives of the place...
A low whistle from one of the soldiers ahead snapped him back to the present. They had entered a room with several mercenaries lounging around, some cleaning weapons, others writing letters. They were preparing for the possibility that they never returned, he realised with horror. Was this what Jack had meant about it not being their fight?
"Sara. Joachim." The mercenary who was their guide snapped out the two names. Accordingly two other mercenaries in the room jumped to attention. Well, rose to their feet and looked over in their direction.
"Yo Rien. Wadda ya want?" The mercenary, Rien, gestured over his shoulder at the nine off-worlders behind him.
"You just pulled escort duty with yours truly." Daniel couldn't see, but he suspected there was a large grin on Rien's face. From the expressions on the faces of the other mercenaries in the room, this was a long running thing. Sara and Joachim shared a long-suffering glance, and then acquiesced gracefully, a move that seemed to take Rien by surprise. This in turn caused an outbreak of muffled and disguised laughter amongst the others in the room. Rien sent a baleful glare at those facing him, then turned and led the way back out of the room, muttering under his breath.
***
It was as they reached the top of the inner defences that it happened. One of the soldiers walking behind Sara muttered a comment – Daniel didn't quite catch what it was – that Joachim, walking behind the group, did. From the words that followed, the dark-haired mercenary had taken offence.
"If you think you can take on one of those," he gestured at a giant green creature in the distance, sporting warty, veined skin, a mass of tentacles, and a gaping maw of wicked-looking teeth, "then feel free to try going through me." The soldier in question did a double-take.
"What the fuck is that?!" The other soldiers were also staring in horror, for now the initial shock had worn off, they could see a battle in furious progress. Not only that, but they could clearly see that it was man versus monster, in a battle that surely the mercenaries had no hope of winning. ~This~ was why O'Neill had said it was not their fight. However the mercenaries were managing it, they were holding their own. Barely. The soldiers knew they could never have held such an enemy in such a way.
"It's a malboro, and I hold the record for kills." The statement was quiet, proud, but not boast, simply a revelation of a fact. Sara didn't seem to see it the same way.
"Some day they'll be the death of you." She sounded exasperated, but resigned. Joachim grinned back at her. The argument was clearly old, and familiar.
"Not today." He announced confidently. "We defeated Ultemecia, we can defeat this new sorceress. Besides, look at us. We have our own sorceress, and Almasy's on our side this time. How can we fail?"
"And what's Seifer Almasy infamous for?" Sara returned bitterly. "Choosing the losing side." Daniel's thoughts raced as Joachim shrugged. Seifer Almasy had once fought against these people? No wonder they had been hostile at his presence.
"Besides," Rien finally entered the conversation. "We did have a sorceress. Rinoa Heartilly was right alongside the Commander when they defeated that bitch!" Joachim sneered at this. Daniel got the impression that there were two – and only two – schools of thought about this Rinoa, one white and one black...
"Rinoa Heartilly was nothing but a spoilt brat who nearly lost us that war! If she was the shining angel you make her out to be, where is she now?!" The dark-haired mercenary's glare was challenging, but neither Sara nor Rien had an answer.
"Dead." Came the cold voice from the side. The three mercenaries snapped to attention under Squall's glare. He waved a hand, and they relaxed, about as much as a plank of wood. He ran a critical eye over the soldiers Daniel had brought back, and Daniel watched them straighten, recognising the calm aura of command that surrounded the young brunette. When that gaze rested on him however, Daniel found himself swallowing a smirk, realising that he too had unconsciously stood that little bit straighter.
"And never the twain shall meet." He muttered, watching the mercenaries reactions as Squall's iron gaze fell on them once more. Joachim looked ready to dig a hole and bury himself in it, whilst the other two seemed uncertain. No one really knew where Squall stood on the matter of Rinoa then, although it seemed Joachim was preparing himself for a messy death.
"Dismissed." Was all Squall said to them though, the three snapping off crisp salutes and vanishing quickly enough for Daniel to wonder if they had teleported. "It's nearly time." The brunette didn't have to say any more. They could all sense the tension in the air, the atmospherics that only the build-up to a great battle could produce.
Held silent in awe of Squall, and fear of the battle at the first defences, the soldiers quietly followed Squall and Daniel as they headed back to their own commander.
AN: well, another chapter down... non-stop action for the next two/three methinks *pats muses* as long as they continue to behave ^_~ please, RxR, let me know I'm not writing this for no reason *puppy eyes*
