B'bye
Lorne made his way back to the courtyard and the Puddle Jumper. Those jokers outside the walls of the monastery were leaving now. He would inform them of the really bad idea of staying and show them his own doozy of a pot shot.
"Anyone here a halfway decent sniper?"
Smith on Stackhouse's team answered the call with an affirmative.
"Excellent. Join me on the wall and pick out a spot where you can see all of our friends. I'll warn you, the only thing we have is the P90. Can you make due with that?"
"Yes Sir."
Lorne checked his watch. Another hour until the Daedalus arrived. He looked through the binoculars.
"Shit, they look like they are going to try a really stupid move," he said to no one in particular.
Stackhouse and the Athosians had remained on the wall watching the small army's movement. Lorne turned to Stackhouse. "Go retrieve what's left of our uninvited guests and bring 'em here."
Lorne looked back through the binoculars. The guns resembled Gatling guns. They were hand cranked and portable. These poor guys were outmatched and they did not even know it. Well, hopefully luck would be on his side and not theirs.
Smith materialized out of nowhere.
"Sheesh Sergeant!" Lorne exclaimed as he jumped away from him. After regaining his balance, Lorne asked, "OK where do you think?"
Smith studied the abbey. "Hate to be cliché Sir but the bell tower there," he replied pointing up to a tower towards the front of the abbey right off the courtyard.
"All yours Sergeant."
Smith took off running.
"Moving into position now Sir. Coming up the staircase," reported Stackhouse.
"Alright, if they want to take the Protectors by force, let's show them the error of their ways."
He grabbed a brother. "I need you to stand here and tell our audience out front that we have caught their men. We will return them if they promise to leave. If they don't leave, we will open fire. Oh, and don't forget to duck."
Lorne ran down a stairwell that led into the courtyard. He entered the Jumper and powered it up.
"Stackhouse tell the brother to ask the class to leave."
The brother yelled down to the men. "We're returning your comrades oh my dear brothers! Please leave or we will have to use other means!" He immediately hid himself behind the top of the wall.
One of the big guns fired. The shots hit the top of the wall sending stone fragments everywhere.
"Smith take your target and show them we mean business."
A shot went out and one of the gunners went down with a shoulder wound.
Stackhouse addressed the four captives, "I think you may want to convince your friends to leave."
The captives looked straight ahead while sitting on the floor of the top of the wall. They said nothing.
Stackhouse laughed, "I really think you should take a look over your troop's heads."
The Jumper uncloaked to the right of the small army and fired a drone at a nearby tree. It was disintegrated in a thunderous explosion. The men pivoted the guns to open fire. They were too slow. Lorne flew the Jumper away and re-cloaked it before a shot could be fired.
The men were shouting orders and scrambling for cover. They opened fire on the oak-like doors, hoping to shatter them.
They also raked the top of the wall with the other gun.
Stackhouse remained down hidden by the top of the wall. He shook his head.
"Stupid, stupid."
Smith took out another gunner.
One of the captives chuckled to himself and said, "Chancellor Refra will get those vessels."
"Yeah, I don't think so," answered Stackhouse. "Major show our guests what a drone can do to a little gun like that."
Stackhouse heard a laugh over his headset. "Give 'em fair warning Sergeant."
Stackhouse waited for the men to stop firing at the wall. "I suggest you get away from your toys, because we're going to blow them to hell!"
The men remained at their posts and started raking the air around them. They just forgot behind them.
The Puddle Jumper uncloaked one final time behind the guardsmen. Those that saw it opened fire with their sidearms and shouted a warning. They tried to bring the Gatling clones to bear. Lorne obliterated them all with a single drone.
The captives on the wall stared at the sight with mouths agape.
"Tell Refra we'll see him later and tell him what we can do. We want the scepter and we're leaving with the scepter. It's up to him how this goes."
Stackhouse, Halling and Feris led the men down the stairway to the front door. He pushed them out and sent them on their way with gunfire aimed over their heads. The men ran clumsily down the road back to Mina.
"I'm done playing nice," rumbled Stackhouse as he watched their retreat.
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"They're artificial brains," reported Zelenka. "They project an interactive and very sophisticated hologram based on the person stored within the vessel. I don't think they were intended as weapons but informational or learning nodules. An opportunity to pass on knowledge by the person who actually made the discovery or theory or whatever." Zelenka approached Lorne. He had found the results in less than an hour.
"Like some of the discoveries on Atlantis and at the lab on Parcini, this may have been an ascension experiment." Zelenka peered at Major Lorne over his glasses.
"That's all fine and good Dr. Z. but how do we keep Col. Sheppard's cube from completely depleting as soon as we remove it from the stand?" Lorne asked as he stood in the doorway of the Vestibule.
"Well, it seems the added hardware negated some of the failsafes and redundancies if they were ever there. These devices may have never been used by the Ancients. No information was ever stored in them from what I can tell. What it does have is a self diagnostic and repair program."
"Meaning…"
"Meaning, Col. Sheppard's cube should self-correct with the program. It may be as simple as a reset or as complicated as an actual repair to software." Zelenka squinted and pushed his glasses back up his nose. He really needed to invest in contacts or laser surgery next time he was home on Earth.
"After I run the program, Col. Sheppard should know and be able to release himself or you may be able to release him." Zelenka smiled. "Anyway, this should not take too long, an hour or two at most."
"Excellent Doc." Major Lorne gave Zelenka an approving nod. "Has Jones relayed his idea on how to find the other scepter?
"Yes, yes he has. I need the one here to complete a few scans and tests. Then we should be good to go."
"Very good. Then I'll get the Venerable to send it down." Lorne turned to leave.
Zelenka had waited to tell the bad news. He rubbed his hands nervously and pushed his glasses back up even though they had not fallen down. "Ah Major, there is one more thing."
Lorne returned his attention to the doctor with a wary look in his eye.
"The three cubes are not recharging like the other cubes as you know. Even with the fixes to the colonel's cube, it won't be charged up like the others."
Zelenka could tell Lorne did not like the way this bit of conversation was going.
"Aaand that means?"
"The vessels are rejecting the occupants," Zelenka relayed wanting to hide behind the cubes.
"What! How long before that happens?"
"A day, maybe two at the most. It must be a preprogrammed response to unfair incarceration. If the person is not released within a set amount of time, the cube erases them."
Lorne massaged the bridge of his nose. "OK Doc, thanks."
Zelenka gave a quick nod and returned to the console. "I'll start the equipment's diagnostic."
Lorne walked down the lengthening corridor and called for the Caen to be brought down to Dr. Zelenka.
The day just took a nose dive.
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Refra sat in his office staring at the exhausted and distraught man in front of him. These strangers were more worrisome than Arna had let on. They had airships. A report had come from the Ancestral Ring too late for his men at the abbey. These airships had superior weaponry according to the man in front of him. Something he did not know until his men were incinerated. They could also disappear. Yes, very worrisome.
He needed the Protectors. If these people sided with the High Abbot, his office would be threatened. But, he had something they wanted. Something they needed. Maybe a bargain could be arranged. Maybe a simple trade. Surely these people could be reasoned with.
Arna would have argued with him. She was not here and not coming back. Yes a bargain; that is what he would try.
He sent the tired man out. He called for another to come in.
"Please have this note sent to the abbey," he said as he scribbled quickly onto a small piece of paper. Maybe Arna would be proud of his next move.
After the runner left he sent another to the Ring and issued more support to be sent there. Just because he made a bargain did not mean he necessarily had to keep it.
He might be able to gain the Protectors and screw those murderers as well.
She would have definitely liked that.
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A/N: Oh that crafty Refra. Really shouldn't take pointers from a nut job like Arna. Poor Radek having to give such bad news. Sorry boo boo.