Thanks for reviewing the last chapter, Stoko. Here's the next bit. After I finished this part and re-read it to proofread it, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it (good or bad) - review to let me know what you think.
Chapter 22 – Forraeder
Jack and Einar stood on the ramp in the gateroom. Hammond looked down at them from the control room. Thor would be waiting in orbit around Stoneheim. The General frowned as he watched the two soldiers – one human, one Innarim – loitering about, waiting for the gate to finish dialling. Colonel O'Neill had asked worryingly few questions for one who wanted the important details before heading out into hostile territory. Einar was also without his bracers and the protection they provided.
He could only hope they knew what they were doing.
They were once again giving each other strange looks. He turned to Janet alongside him: "Are you sure they're both alright?"
"Thor cleared them while they were on the Asgard ship, and I looked them both over before they prepped for the mission. They seem fine."
"Then what's all this about?" he gestured at the two glancing at each other on the ramp.
"They've only just met face to face, sir," Janet shrugged. "It must be strange for them after being trapped in a single body for so long."
"Let's hope it doesn't interfere."
The General could see Jack fishing for something in one of his pockets, grinning triumphantly as he pulled out a simple whistle on a loop of string. Einar looked momentarily startled and flattened his ears. Hammond guessed the Colonel had swiped it from the base gym.
"Colonel, why are you taking that?" he asked over the control room microphone.
"This is how we take out anyone guarding the gate on the other side."
As Jack stepped through, mouthpiece of the whistle held between his teeth to leave his hands free for a dart gun, he blew as hard as possible. The piercing shriek had an immediate effect – the guards dropped their weapons to cover their flattened ears. He tranquilised each of the Innarim as the ringing in their skulls lingered. After a timed gap, Einar stepped through the gate, his own dart gun ready.
"Half of Stoneheim would've heard that," Jack said, looping the whistle around his neck. "You take point."
With the no-nonsense attitude of a warrior, Einar nodded once and jogged ahead. Jack made sure the wolf was constantly in front of him as they traversed the rocky landscape using outcrops and cliffs as cover. Even after spending months trapped with his mind, he was suspicious of what Einar might do. Could he sneak around Cheyenne mountain, and possibly even open fire on people, if he returned to SGC after believing everyone dead for a large chunk of his life? He doubted it. Deep down it was an 'us-or-them' instinct, and since Einar and himself had been separated before they found out about the other Innarim he didn't have any indication to what the creature's feelings or motives were. Jack just couldn't trust him to resist that instinct.
Two hundred years ago there was a storage barracks east of the lab, and Einar deduced that the remaining Innarim would have expanded on that to create a permanent camp if they were staying on Stoneheim. The path he traced circled around a large expanse of the area between the lab and gate, in which Jack assumed was an effort to stay away from other Innarim only Einar could sense from a distance, and the stony ground made tracking them difficult. It was possible that others could smell them, but they could only hope that the wolf's stronger scent would mask Jack's own.
"Einar," Jack whispered, knowing the Innarim could hear with his keen senses. "The entrance will be guarded. Then what? You plan on talking to them then?"
The wolf shook his head and padded to a halt under some rocky cover, motioning for Jack to listen: "Search parties would have swept around the gate by now. There'll be reports that whoever came through the gate is hostile. What would they assume if I suddenly waltz up to them with this gun?"
"So we rescue people first, then talk."
They continued on, and with only a little difficulty discovered the downward sloping cave entrance to the facility. As he predicted, three guards were standing by the gap, each with a Hakonan staff weapon.
"I thought you said only a few staffs were built," Jack had to breathe the question almost inaudibly with the guards so close.
"Built more?" Einar shrugged simply, resting the muzzle of the dart gun on the ledge and firing of a single shot at each Innarim.
Seeing that made Jack feel slightly better about working with Einar, but his doubts remained. Willing to fire on his own kind, yes, but with non-lethal weapons… Jack had shot SG personnel before with zats as the situation demanded, and trainees were often on the receiving end of intar shots when he was around. This incident proved little.
"No offence, but for great warriors you guys are easy to take out."
"We fight Goa'uld, not humans," Einar said dryly. "Humans tended to not come looking for us."
They descended into the complex, and found a maze of corridors cut into solid rock. There was little recognisable from Einar's time, but two hundred years was a long time.
"Where is everyone?" Einar commented.
"Well, we don't know how many of them survived – maybe they're all outside looking for us?"
There were signs in Hakonan Norse on each hallway, making progress easier. As they barged into the holding cell area, the faces of the SG-5, SG-9, the rest of SG-1 and a bunch of scientists looked up wearily. Only Sam recognised the Innarim with Jack.
"Colonel, Einar!"
"Everyone alive?" Jack scanned the cells as he helped open each one. "Good. Major Kovachek, grab your gear and lead everyone out of the facility. Head east for half a mile and lie low. Don't make a sound, and only open fire as a last resort."
He gave directions to the exit, and clapped Sam on the shoulder briefly: "Carter, you're with me. We need to shut off the signal so Thor can beam us out."
"Good to see you back to normal, sir."
Some time later, two scouts returned to the facility, only to find the guards unconscious and the prisoners escaped. Snarling, they prowled deeper into the complex.
At the lowest level of the facility, Einar, Jack and Sam located a sizable computer. Re-equipped with weaponry (Einar with his bracers and the humans with dart guns), Sam felt far more confident and prepared, but the computer for the jamming signal was using Hakonan Norse.
"I can't read this."
"Let me," Einar ushered her out of the way. "Hopefully it won't be encoded."
"Why encode it? It's not like they're expecting anyone else to be able to turn it off," Jack observed.
"Just in case, sir," Sam said. "Anything important for us is security protected, for the unforeseen."
"And how much more unforeseen is this?" Einar quipped. "The three of us trying to turn off the signal in the heart of the facility."
A bark from the door halted them.
"Halt!"
The two scouts charged into room, weapons ready. They regarded their fellow wolf curiously, wide-eyed.
"Einar?"
Einar nodded briefly with the hint of a smile, "Ulrik, Rasmus."
"That's impossible," one of the pair breathed as they lifted their staffs up. "Your body was in stasis, but your mind was gone. How are you alive now?"
"Too long a tale, Rasmus," Einar said.
"Then the humans let you go at last?" Rasmus guessed, glancing at Jack and Sam. "Or you escaped? Hostages?"
"There's been a mistake, brothers. They…" Einar began.
"What exactly are you doing down here, Einar?" Ulrik narrowed his eyes and looked around the room, aware of where they were. "And why do these two have weapons?"
The two scouts lowered their staffs once more and advanced on the three of them. Sam recognised the vicious, maniacal glint in their eyes that Einar had when he charged straight at six Jaffa. Einar stepped away from the console, making sure he stood fully between the scouts and the humans.
"How did the prisoners escape?" Ulrik went on.
"These humans aren't our true enemy, Ulrik," Einar stated firmly. "I know more of them than you could imagine."
"I know enough to see what they are," Ulrik snapped. "Now, state your true allegiance: us or them."
Jack watched, looking between the three Innarim. His whole body tense, he felt his fears of that instinct resurface. Once again, he thought of whether he could attack Carter, Daniel, Teal'c, Hammond… and couldn't find it in himself to believe he would ever harm his friends. Yet, an odd spark of hope remained – in a desperate decision to do what had to be done, he had once been willing to kill Sam to eliminate the computer entity.
"O'Neill," Einar said lowly, glancing at him over his shoulder.
For a sickening moment, Jack feared he had chosen his own kind over them. Einar grabbed his shoulder.
"Take over," Einar instructed, shoving him towards the console. "You know what to do."
Rasmus and Ulrik fired shots at them, but Einar's shields were blocking the staff blasts. As Einar charged headlong towards the two, staffs were cast aside and Vapen blades left inactivated. In a clash, the three Innarim fought with teeth and claws, energy weapons useless to them. Sam stood by Jack, dart gun raised to cover her CO if necessary, but both Innarim were focusing on Einar. There was no way she could help out Einar either – a dart could easily hit him instead, and leave him helpless.
Einar was the younger and least experienced of the combatants. His training as a warrior hopeless against Innarim who knew the techniques and tactics just as well, he was thrown back, scratched and pummelled. Feigning a typical punch at Ulrik, he swung about and pulled off a black-ops grapple on a stunned Rasmus. Sam watched as he began displaying human hand-to-hand blows and parries, mixed with the 'whatever gets the job done' attitude she suspected Jack had acquired in his classified missions before the SGC. Rules of engagement forgotten and dirty tricks employed, Einar began to ward off the two antagonists.
"Damn," Jack muttered, frantically tapping controls. "Einar, I need a pass-code!"
Sam looked over at the console. It was still all in Hakonan Norse runes and she couldn't make any sense of it at all. She glanced briefly at Jack, confused – he seemed to know exactly what it all said for someone so impatient with other cultures and ancient languages. Einar gave no answer, and Sam looked over in time to see the younger Innarim pounce on Ulrik, going for his throat.
"To hell with this," Jack snarled.
With typical O'Neill impulsiveness, he smashed the butt of his dart gun into the console.
The computer hissed, snapped and buzzed angrily as the icy blue glow of power faded, and an automated voice echoed through the room: "Klemmende bolge av. Klemmende bolge av."
"The jamming signal's off," Jack translated. "Come on, Thor, buddy."
Einar was pulled away from Ulrik by Rasmus, who kicked him away forcefully. Rasmus jumped on Einar's back to hold him down, "You are a mad fool, Einar. A fool and a Forraeder!"
Ulrik advanced on the humans, only managing a single swipe at Jack's torso before they were engulfed in a screeching light. Ulrik turned to Rasmus, who was leaning on the floor instead of the now-disappeared Einar.
