Mac and Harm Sr were doing quite well. They had reached what they assumed
to be the outside of the building. The outer wall of their passage was
cooler than others had been, and the air they were breathing had a cold
bite to it. They crawled along beside this cold wall, hoping to find
somewhere they could look out and get their bearings; they had had ample
time as the cargo ship descended to the dock to look out of the windows.
Luck, to a very small degree, was with them. They found some sort of vent through which they could look, and ascertained that they weren't all that far from their ship. Approximating distance whilst inside a tunnel which did not have light so much as a vague ethereal glow would not be easy, but here Mac's innate sense of time would come in useful, as near the vent there was enough light to approximate distance and so enable Mac to calculate how far they could crawl in a given amount of time, giving her a reasonably good way of guessing how far they travelled.
Harm's path intercepted that of the Furlings' Guardian just outside a room which proved to be the primary control centre for the base. The cat was overwhelmed with joy at the sight of him, and twined itself around Harm's legs so thoroughly that he was hard-pressed to keep both his balance and his dignity, both of which are important when dealing with Jaffa and maintaining the appropriate image of a Liberator whose coming was foretold in prophecy generations before.
As he was there, he stepped into the control room, with Aiax close behind him, eagerly explaining what the various panels and control systems were for.
The processes involved in refining naquadah were, whilst very interesting and useful in an abstract sense, not Harm's primary concern.
"You have internal sensors that can be monitored from here?"
"Yes."
"Show me how to work them, I need to find my friends."
"That will not be very easy, as there are enough Jaffa walking outside their usual patrol routes to make it impossible to tell who is who."
"Most sensor systems can differentiate between lifeforms carrying Goa'uld symbiotes or larvae and those which don't. So we look for the two people who don't register as having symbiotes. They're unlikely to be in any of the major corridors, or someone would probably have found them by now; they're not used to operating in this sort of environment."
Aiax nodded, and walked over to a security panel in the corner.
"I have found them. They are heading towards your ship. They are moving slowly along one of the ventilation shafts. I will alert the Jaffa in their vicinity to their presence."
"Remind the Jaffa that my friends don't know the Jaffa have been ordered not to shoot, and may be aggressive."
"Of course. Are they armed?"
"Not unless your people leave weapons lying around in the ventilation shafts. That must be how they disappeared after the explosion cut them both off. But Mac, the woman, is trained in hand-to-hand combat, and they're both skilled warriors."
"I shall tell those near them."
Mac gently eased up the panel beneath her, and took a cautious look at the space beneath. There were no Jaffa in sight, but that wouldn't necessarily be the case for very long. Indicating to Harm Sr that the way appeared clear, she carefully lowered herself to the ground, keeping an eye on the end of the corridor while Harm Sr lowered himself down behind her.
It took no conscious effort on either of their parts to move into stealth mode, communicating with jerks of the head and hand-signals only, moving on the balls of their feet with knees slightly bent. They could hear their own hearts beating in their ears, almost completely drowned out by the stomping of Jaffa's boots as they marched around, looking for the two of them.
Adrenaline coursing through their veins, the pair crept down to the intersection in the corridors. If Mac's calculations were correct, the docking bay with their cargo ship would be a few yards down on the left.
They almost made it without being spotted; guards who are rarely tested lose their edge. But they were a couple of yards shy of the entrance to the docking bay when they heard a yell of "Kree!" only a few paces behind them.
They stopped dead, aware that if they fled they could be gunned down. It occurred to Mac that the shout was either a deliberate ploy to make them stop and be captured rather than killed, or a sign of a really stupid Jaffa. It was not, however, clear which.
They were escorted at staff-point by three silent Jaffa through a maze-like succession of passageways, all of which were covered in gold hieroglyphs, and all of which were seemingly identical. They exchanged resigned expressions occasionally, but didn't speak. Nor did they attempt to escape; the place was crawling with Jaffa, some of whom for some reason looked at the staff weapons with apparent disapproval, all of whom were armed. If they made a break for it they wouldn't get ten feet before someone managed to floor them.
They were finally prodded through a doorway into some sort of control room, where they saw both Harm and the green creature. They had obviously been captured before them. Mac sighed heavily. They had almost no hope of escape now. At her sigh, Harm looked up, a startled expression on his face. The expression was soon replaced by one of irritated amusement.
"I think we can dispense with the weapons, guys. They're on our side."
Harm wished he had a camera. The expression on Mac's face at that moment in time was priceless.
"Harm? What's going on?"
"Just after the explosion, Aiax and his buddies here found me. I wasn't exactly happy about that, so I swore at them. In Latin, as it happened. Which apparently fulfilled some prophecy of theirs about someone coming and liberating them from slavery in the service of Pan. I sent them to look for you, the furry guy found his own way here. We're trying to work out how best to evacuate this place of people, supplies and naquadah quickly. I also want to rig the whole planet to blow; there's enough naquadah in the ground to set off a chain reaction that would destroy the planet completely and knock its moons halfway out of the system."
Mac and Harm Sr stood still while they absorbed this information. Harm Sr spoke up first. "Does this prophecy give any details that might be helpful?"
"Aiax doesn't think so. There's more to it than he's telling me, but apparently telling me more would break the rules somehow."
"Any way we can help with the plans?"
"Probably not. Aiax's guys are best placed to work out how to distribute the personnel among the available ships, and getting a large amount of naquadah loaded. And neither of you's exactly an expert on the explosive qualities of unrefined naquadah."
"Are you going to be able to start this chain reaction from orbit, or is it a lay-the-charge-and-run kinda thing?"
"More likely to be the latter. I'll let you know more when we've worked out more of the details. For now, you'd probably better just watch and learn. Knowing how to use technology like this could well come in useful in the future, as you're both staying with the SGC."
Luck, to a very small degree, was with them. They found some sort of vent through which they could look, and ascertained that they weren't all that far from their ship. Approximating distance whilst inside a tunnel which did not have light so much as a vague ethereal glow would not be easy, but here Mac's innate sense of time would come in useful, as near the vent there was enough light to approximate distance and so enable Mac to calculate how far they could crawl in a given amount of time, giving her a reasonably good way of guessing how far they travelled.
Harm's path intercepted that of the Furlings' Guardian just outside a room which proved to be the primary control centre for the base. The cat was overwhelmed with joy at the sight of him, and twined itself around Harm's legs so thoroughly that he was hard-pressed to keep both his balance and his dignity, both of which are important when dealing with Jaffa and maintaining the appropriate image of a Liberator whose coming was foretold in prophecy generations before.
As he was there, he stepped into the control room, with Aiax close behind him, eagerly explaining what the various panels and control systems were for.
The processes involved in refining naquadah were, whilst very interesting and useful in an abstract sense, not Harm's primary concern.
"You have internal sensors that can be monitored from here?"
"Yes."
"Show me how to work them, I need to find my friends."
"That will not be very easy, as there are enough Jaffa walking outside their usual patrol routes to make it impossible to tell who is who."
"Most sensor systems can differentiate between lifeforms carrying Goa'uld symbiotes or larvae and those which don't. So we look for the two people who don't register as having symbiotes. They're unlikely to be in any of the major corridors, or someone would probably have found them by now; they're not used to operating in this sort of environment."
Aiax nodded, and walked over to a security panel in the corner.
"I have found them. They are heading towards your ship. They are moving slowly along one of the ventilation shafts. I will alert the Jaffa in their vicinity to their presence."
"Remind the Jaffa that my friends don't know the Jaffa have been ordered not to shoot, and may be aggressive."
"Of course. Are they armed?"
"Not unless your people leave weapons lying around in the ventilation shafts. That must be how they disappeared after the explosion cut them both off. But Mac, the woman, is trained in hand-to-hand combat, and they're both skilled warriors."
"I shall tell those near them."
Mac gently eased up the panel beneath her, and took a cautious look at the space beneath. There were no Jaffa in sight, but that wouldn't necessarily be the case for very long. Indicating to Harm Sr that the way appeared clear, she carefully lowered herself to the ground, keeping an eye on the end of the corridor while Harm Sr lowered himself down behind her.
It took no conscious effort on either of their parts to move into stealth mode, communicating with jerks of the head and hand-signals only, moving on the balls of their feet with knees slightly bent. They could hear their own hearts beating in their ears, almost completely drowned out by the stomping of Jaffa's boots as they marched around, looking for the two of them.
Adrenaline coursing through their veins, the pair crept down to the intersection in the corridors. If Mac's calculations were correct, the docking bay with their cargo ship would be a few yards down on the left.
They almost made it without being spotted; guards who are rarely tested lose their edge. But they were a couple of yards shy of the entrance to the docking bay when they heard a yell of "Kree!" only a few paces behind them.
They stopped dead, aware that if they fled they could be gunned down. It occurred to Mac that the shout was either a deliberate ploy to make them stop and be captured rather than killed, or a sign of a really stupid Jaffa. It was not, however, clear which.
They were escorted at staff-point by three silent Jaffa through a maze-like succession of passageways, all of which were covered in gold hieroglyphs, and all of which were seemingly identical. They exchanged resigned expressions occasionally, but didn't speak. Nor did they attempt to escape; the place was crawling with Jaffa, some of whom for some reason looked at the staff weapons with apparent disapproval, all of whom were armed. If they made a break for it they wouldn't get ten feet before someone managed to floor them.
They were finally prodded through a doorway into some sort of control room, where they saw both Harm and the green creature. They had obviously been captured before them. Mac sighed heavily. They had almost no hope of escape now. At her sigh, Harm looked up, a startled expression on his face. The expression was soon replaced by one of irritated amusement.
"I think we can dispense with the weapons, guys. They're on our side."
Harm wished he had a camera. The expression on Mac's face at that moment in time was priceless.
"Harm? What's going on?"
"Just after the explosion, Aiax and his buddies here found me. I wasn't exactly happy about that, so I swore at them. In Latin, as it happened. Which apparently fulfilled some prophecy of theirs about someone coming and liberating them from slavery in the service of Pan. I sent them to look for you, the furry guy found his own way here. We're trying to work out how best to evacuate this place of people, supplies and naquadah quickly. I also want to rig the whole planet to blow; there's enough naquadah in the ground to set off a chain reaction that would destroy the planet completely and knock its moons halfway out of the system."
Mac and Harm Sr stood still while they absorbed this information. Harm Sr spoke up first. "Does this prophecy give any details that might be helpful?"
"Aiax doesn't think so. There's more to it than he's telling me, but apparently telling me more would break the rules somehow."
"Any way we can help with the plans?"
"Probably not. Aiax's guys are best placed to work out how to distribute the personnel among the available ships, and getting a large amount of naquadah loaded. And neither of you's exactly an expert on the explosive qualities of unrefined naquadah."
"Are you going to be able to start this chain reaction from orbit, or is it a lay-the-charge-and-run kinda thing?"
"More likely to be the latter. I'll let you know more when we've worked out more of the details. For now, you'd probably better just watch and learn. Knowing how to use technology like this could well come in useful in the future, as you're both staying with the SGC."