Author's Note: Bah! I can't find anything that tells me what level the
infirmary is on... I'm going to assume (and if I'm wrong, then I'm wrong)
that it's on a level close to the gate room, because I can't imagine they'd
want to have to run dying people all over the SGC to get them to Fraiser.
So, with that in mind, the infirmary in my little world is on level 27... (if
I'm wrong and someone else knows, I don't want to know, because then I will
have to change everything that happens from here on out, and I'm too sick
to want to do that – and maybe a little too lazy, too)
~*~
"I could help," Shawn muttered darkly as he watched the door close behind Teal'c and the others. Fraiser and the Marine both ignored the young man. The doctor was checking the stats on the injured man S-2 had brought in and the Marine was helping her, since the guy was friend and he was concerned.
"You're hurt, Shawn," Sam told him. She understood how he felt, but she also knew that the young man wouldn't be as much help as he thought he could be. He was moving slowly, and that would hinder any team, and put others in danger if they had to cover him.
"I'm not that hurt, Sam," Shawn said. "I hardly hurt at all. And I'm as good a shot as anyone here." Of course he was; Jack and Teal'c had been his instructors, along with countless Jaffa and Marines as he'd been growing up. None of them knew that, of course, since he was a boy in this time. They were all underestimating him because of that. It was driving Shawn crazy that they all thought he needed to be kept out of the way.
"A good shot won't help if you can't see what you're shooting at."
"The sweep teams can't see any of them, and they've killed 3 so far."
"With the help of dogs and team work."
"They should let me on one of the teams." He looked down at the weapon he was holding. It was wasted here in this room where things were safe. It should be out where the action was, where the armor piercing capabilities could be put to use.
~*~
"S-1, this is S-2, we are back on this level again, and are resuming our sweep."
"Roger, S-2." Jack gestured for the men with him to cover each other as they turned a corner. "S-3 and S-4 have cleared the final rooms of this level, and we're heading for 27. Copy?"
"Indeed. We will meet you and the others at the stairs." The elevators were all locked down, and no one could use them unless they had a passcard. Jack, personally, didn't want to be a target by using an elevator anyways, and it was a very bad idea to crowd his men all together in an elevator. Bad enough they were going to have to do that in the stairwells, but they'd at least have a dog or two in the lead to let them know there was no ambush.
"Roger."
~*~
"Corporal, get me the Sergeant of the Guard, now."
"Aye, aye, Sir!"
Hammond waited for only a moment before an older man came trotting up to the guard shack he was responsible for. He saluted – Marines don't normally salute indoors unless they are under arms, but the Sergeant was carrying a side arm and a rifle, so he was definitely under arms – and Hammond returned it.
"Report, Sergeant."
"Colonel O'Neill's divided the Marines under his command into five teams, Sir. Designated as S-1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. O'Neill is commander of S-1, and the other four teams have one dog each. They've cleared the lowest level and are beginning to work their way up. The base is sealed against any of the infiltrators escaping, although the Colonel says they're invisible, so we don't know if anyone got out before we sealed things down. We do know no one has left since. They've killed 3 of the intruders, but we don't know how many of our guys have been hit, Sir. All we have to go by is radio chatter." He gestured to the radio on his belt.
"Let me see that."
He took the radio the Sergeant gave him, and keyed it.
"S-1? This is General Hammond. What's your position?"
"Welcome back, Sir." O'Neill's voice was tense, but nothing more, which told Hammond that so far Jack hadn't lost any of his men, and that he felt he had things at least marginally in control. "We're just sealing down level 28, and getting ready to go to 27."
"Roger that. I have something you could use, Colonel. Do you want to send someone up for it? Or shall I send someone down?"
There was a hesitation as Jack obviously was taking stock of which would be safer for all parties involved. "I'll send someone up, Sir."
"We'll meet them at the main stairwell, Colonel."
"We'll bring the cake, Sir."
"Hammond out."
"S-1 out."
~*~
"Teal'c! You hear that?" O'Neill saw a flash of blonde and knew that Jack was close at hand and that Teal'c and S-2 had joined him and the other sweep teams.
"Yes, O'Neill."
"Take your team up and get whatever it is, then get your asses back down here and we'll see about finishing these guys off."
"We shall be back shortly, O'Neill." The Jaffa looked down at Jack. "Shall I leave Jack with you?"
"No! Someone might have overheard us, and might try to get in the way and stop you... you'll need him more than I will."
Teal'c nodded, and led his team to the stairs, Jack going through first, and the others following. O'Neill and the other sweep teams took one more look at the dogs, making sure nothing was coming through the stairwell door that S-2 had left open, then they went through it, and closed and sealed it behind them. Level 28 was effectively cleared, and nothing would get into it again until the rest Walter Davis in the Command Center heard that all was cleared from O'Neill or Hammond, and released all the controls on the locked doors.
~*~
Hammond opened up the metal case he was carrying and pulled out one of the soda can-looking devices that Dotty Adams had given him. Turning it over, he pressed the almost invisible button on the bottom and then watched to see if anything happened. Nothing did. Shrugging to himself, he closed the case and carried the case and the device over to the main entrance to the SGC.
"This thing is supposed to make the Ashrak visible," Hammond told the Marines and Air Force personnel around him. "I need two volunteers to take the remaining devices to the top of the West stairwell and hand them over to the sweep team that comes to get them."
Immediately, he had more volunteers than he needed and Hammond chose two. He explained how the devices were turned on and told them to tell pass it on to the others. He also told the men to pass to O'Neill that the device had a range of only 15 yards. They nodded, and one took the case, while the other checked to make sure his rifle and pistol were both ready to be fired. Then they headed into the base to wait at the stairs.
Hammond set the device he had down on the floor at the entrance. They didn't need 15 yards up here, and now they'd know if anyone tried to escape.
"Keep an eye on things," The General said to the Marines that were guarding the main entrance. All the other entrances were sealed, so if anything was going to try and escape, it'd try to escape this way.
"We will, Sir." Their voices were like Jack O'Neill's. Tense, but steady and self-confident.
Hammond nodded, and didn't bother to give them any other orders. They knew their job, and he knew he could rely on them. With a radio in hand so he could hear what was going on, Hammond walked back to the guard shack.
~*~
"I could help," Shawn muttered darkly as he watched the door close behind Teal'c and the others. Fraiser and the Marine both ignored the young man. The doctor was checking the stats on the injured man S-2 had brought in and the Marine was helping her, since the guy was friend and he was concerned.
"You're hurt, Shawn," Sam told him. She understood how he felt, but she also knew that the young man wouldn't be as much help as he thought he could be. He was moving slowly, and that would hinder any team, and put others in danger if they had to cover him.
"I'm not that hurt, Sam," Shawn said. "I hardly hurt at all. And I'm as good a shot as anyone here." Of course he was; Jack and Teal'c had been his instructors, along with countless Jaffa and Marines as he'd been growing up. None of them knew that, of course, since he was a boy in this time. They were all underestimating him because of that. It was driving Shawn crazy that they all thought he needed to be kept out of the way.
"A good shot won't help if you can't see what you're shooting at."
"The sweep teams can't see any of them, and they've killed 3 so far."
"With the help of dogs and team work."
"They should let me on one of the teams." He looked down at the weapon he was holding. It was wasted here in this room where things were safe. It should be out where the action was, where the armor piercing capabilities could be put to use.
~*~
"S-1, this is S-2, we are back on this level again, and are resuming our sweep."
"Roger, S-2." Jack gestured for the men with him to cover each other as they turned a corner. "S-3 and S-4 have cleared the final rooms of this level, and we're heading for 27. Copy?"
"Indeed. We will meet you and the others at the stairs." The elevators were all locked down, and no one could use them unless they had a passcard. Jack, personally, didn't want to be a target by using an elevator anyways, and it was a very bad idea to crowd his men all together in an elevator. Bad enough they were going to have to do that in the stairwells, but they'd at least have a dog or two in the lead to let them know there was no ambush.
"Roger."
~*~
"Corporal, get me the Sergeant of the Guard, now."
"Aye, aye, Sir!"
Hammond waited for only a moment before an older man came trotting up to the guard shack he was responsible for. He saluted – Marines don't normally salute indoors unless they are under arms, but the Sergeant was carrying a side arm and a rifle, so he was definitely under arms – and Hammond returned it.
"Report, Sergeant."
"Colonel O'Neill's divided the Marines under his command into five teams, Sir. Designated as S-1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. O'Neill is commander of S-1, and the other four teams have one dog each. They've cleared the lowest level and are beginning to work their way up. The base is sealed against any of the infiltrators escaping, although the Colonel says they're invisible, so we don't know if anyone got out before we sealed things down. We do know no one has left since. They've killed 3 of the intruders, but we don't know how many of our guys have been hit, Sir. All we have to go by is radio chatter." He gestured to the radio on his belt.
"Let me see that."
He took the radio the Sergeant gave him, and keyed it.
"S-1? This is General Hammond. What's your position?"
"Welcome back, Sir." O'Neill's voice was tense, but nothing more, which told Hammond that so far Jack hadn't lost any of his men, and that he felt he had things at least marginally in control. "We're just sealing down level 28, and getting ready to go to 27."
"Roger that. I have something you could use, Colonel. Do you want to send someone up for it? Or shall I send someone down?"
There was a hesitation as Jack obviously was taking stock of which would be safer for all parties involved. "I'll send someone up, Sir."
"We'll meet them at the main stairwell, Colonel."
"We'll bring the cake, Sir."
"Hammond out."
"S-1 out."
~*~
"Teal'c! You hear that?" O'Neill saw a flash of blonde and knew that Jack was close at hand and that Teal'c and S-2 had joined him and the other sweep teams.
"Yes, O'Neill."
"Take your team up and get whatever it is, then get your asses back down here and we'll see about finishing these guys off."
"We shall be back shortly, O'Neill." The Jaffa looked down at Jack. "Shall I leave Jack with you?"
"No! Someone might have overheard us, and might try to get in the way and stop you... you'll need him more than I will."
Teal'c nodded, and led his team to the stairs, Jack going through first, and the others following. O'Neill and the other sweep teams took one more look at the dogs, making sure nothing was coming through the stairwell door that S-2 had left open, then they went through it, and closed and sealed it behind them. Level 28 was effectively cleared, and nothing would get into it again until the rest Walter Davis in the Command Center heard that all was cleared from O'Neill or Hammond, and released all the controls on the locked doors.
~*~
Hammond opened up the metal case he was carrying and pulled out one of the soda can-looking devices that Dotty Adams had given him. Turning it over, he pressed the almost invisible button on the bottom and then watched to see if anything happened. Nothing did. Shrugging to himself, he closed the case and carried the case and the device over to the main entrance to the SGC.
"This thing is supposed to make the Ashrak visible," Hammond told the Marines and Air Force personnel around him. "I need two volunteers to take the remaining devices to the top of the West stairwell and hand them over to the sweep team that comes to get them."
Immediately, he had more volunteers than he needed and Hammond chose two. He explained how the devices were turned on and told them to tell pass it on to the others. He also told the men to pass to O'Neill that the device had a range of only 15 yards. They nodded, and one took the case, while the other checked to make sure his rifle and pistol were both ready to be fired. Then they headed into the base to wait at the stairs.
Hammond set the device he had down on the floor at the entrance. They didn't need 15 yards up here, and now they'd know if anyone tried to escape.
"Keep an eye on things," The General said to the Marines that were guarding the main entrance. All the other entrances were sealed, so if anything was going to try and escape, it'd try to escape this way.
"We will, Sir." Their voices were like Jack O'Neill's. Tense, but steady and self-confident.
Hammond nodded, and didn't bother to give them any other orders. They knew their job, and he knew he could rely on them. With a radio in hand so he could hear what was going on, Hammond walked back to the guard shack.