Chapter 5 - Struck

Shortly after Sam had put down the receiver again, Jack entered the lab.

"Hey, Carter", he greeted her, "How are you doing?"

"Fine, sir. And you?" she returned eyeing him closely. After a moment her gaze fell on his bandaged hand, "Was that our guest?"

He nodded slowly, "Have you already been told what happened to Teal'C?"

"Partially, sir, yes", she frowned, "And it's really been her doing that to him?"

"Positive."

Sam let out a worried sigh, "Any idea what we'll do with her now?"

"Not yet", Jack replied, "but let's better change the subject."

"What do you wanna talk about, sir?"

"The call you just finished before I entered. Is there anything special about it?"

"No", she shrugged, "why?"

"Because it made you smile that much."

She blushed a little, "Oh, did it?"

"Yeah", he stated, "Was that one of your secret lovers ringing you up at work?" he teased her.

"Well, no, sir", the smirk returned to her face, "It was am acquaintance of mine I haven't spoken to for quite a long time. A Japanese physics scholar I met on a congress last year, she's pretty ingenious. She's just called in to say that she and her friends are here on a trip. And she asked me if I could arrange a visitor tour through NORAD for them."

Jack chuckled a bit, "And for that she's calling you? Hell, people have no idea..."

"Right, but I'll try to do her that favor anyway. I still owe her one, to be honest", Sam gave in.

The colonel frowned, "What kind of person does Samantha Carter owe a favor to, huh? I'd like to meet that one."

Sam smiled at him, "No problem, sir. You can come with me when I meet her after the tour."

"Agreed. As long as nobody's going to bring a Konica along", he responded with a little grin.

"Trust me, sir", she returned a little sulkily, "Setsuna's definitely not that kind of cliché Japanese tourist. She's pretty much like you in a way. You two'll get along really well, that's for sure."

"Whatever ya say, Carter", he turned to leave, "Call me up when they're here. In the meantime I'll deal with our alien amazon."

"Do that, sir", Samantha murmured picking up the phone to call her friend at the visitor's bureau.

xxxxx

The phone on the desk started to ring and Setsuna picked it up at once.

"Hello? Oh, hi, Samantha ... That's great to hear, thank you so much ... Yeah, see you, then. Bye."

Hotaru who had been dozing on the bed looked up at once asking, 'What did she say?"

"She's managed to put us on a tour. This afternoon at four", she told her friend, "And she has offered us to meet her afterwards."

Hotaru got up, "Then we should better get Haruka and Michiru and see that we catch the next bus."

"Right", Setsuna got her coat and her handbag. Only a few moments later the four friends were out at the bus stop.

xxxxx

She sat alone in the quarters the Tauri had given her. It was hard for her not to think about this morning's happenings. If she did, the cruel memories of the attack on her planet returned to her mind momentarily.

Every time this happened she felt an immense heat wave welling up inside of her. It became harder and harder for her to keep herself cold.

Involuntarily she was reminded at how strong her powers used to be and at how awkward she actually felt about them.

Suddenly her body tensed and she could not explain why. She forced herself to remain still reaching out her senses to know what was happening here.

A familiar aura had just come into her proximity; somebody she had learned to evade throughout the centuries:

The Guardians had returned to find her.

At the moment they were not feeling her presence, for she was too far away from them. But though their mere closeness deeply stirred her emotion.

The heat returned to her and this time she was not able to tame it. It became stronger and stronger until it completely slipped her control.

She let out a scream and the sheet she had clung to caught fire.

One thing was for sure, the senshi were not going to get her back, never.

xxxxx

Dramatic developments. ) You'll wonder to see how the senshi will finally get to their princess.

I'll give you a clue: It's all about a little glowworm.

Soon, and don't forget to review. Ja ne.