Chapter 16
Who's In and Who's Out?
In his ceremonial robes, Teal'c stood outside of the Jaffa High Council's chambers. Waiting in the quiet hallway gave him time to reflect. The Tau'ri deserved help from them, but the High Council still had members who only saw to the ends of their noses. The Tau'ri had been the staunchest supporters of the Jaffa's bid for freedom. With their help, they had accomplished more than he thought possible. He felt all Jaffa owed Earth a debt of gratitude for that hard, earned freedom.
The moment O'Neill convinced him that he actually could help the prisoners escape from Apophis…Well, the Tau'ri had a saying: in for a penny, in for a pound. It had not been easy. Sometimes it was frustrating. Sometimes it was lonely. However, he never regretted his decision to give up everything and join O'Neill on Earth. And, he had come back even though O'Neill was no longer in charge.
"Ya think they'll help?" Mitchell asked while toeing some poor, unfortunate bug on the floor. The little critter would run in one direction until it reached his boot. Then, he would stop it so it would run in another, only for him to stop it again.
"If they know what is good for them," replied Teal'c watching the plight of the bug with mild interest.
"Damn, T. Whatchya gonna do, muscle 'em?" Mitchell grinned and continued his antagonizing of the beetle-type insect.
"Col. Mitchell, the Wraith desire human bodies as food. We are nothing more than enhanced humans. Therefore, we are, as you say, on the menu," he deadpanned. He put his foot on Mitchell's and let the beetle escape.
"Oh, well, yeah, there's that," shrugged Mitchell and watched forlornly as the beetle scampered under a stone vase. He grinned again. "Still, I'd like to see ya go in there and toss 'em around a bit." He threw a few mock punches for added emphasis.
Teal'c closed his eyes and prayed for patience. "Indeed."
"That's what I was waiting for…and you said it with the raised eyebrow," beamed Mitchell.
The chamber's doors opened and Bra'tac joined them in the hall. Blessedly, his arrival halted the conversation much to Teal'c's relief. Bra'tac held his hands clasped together and smiled at the two men.
"They basically have agreed to help. They realize the threat the Wraith represent to us all. A few assets need to be rearranged, but they will do everything possible to aid in this dire time."
Teal'c inhaled and exhaled loudly with a nod. "That is good."
"What exactly do you need?" Bra'tac asked looking between the two men.
"Firepower," stated Mitchell succinctly.
"Yes, that is understandable. Ground forces would be useless, am I correct? You will want to stop them before that-- in the air or in space?"
"Death Gliders and/or Al'kesh would be helpful. You're right; we want to stop them in the air. During a culling, they deploy some ground troops, but we don't even want it to come to that. The Hive is a flying city, they carry thousands of darts. It's comparable to a Mothership-- now, there's something we could use." Mitchell looked hopefully at the respected leader.
"Have you heard from any other allies?" The venerable warrior asked seemingly ignoring the request.
"Yes and no," replied Teal'c. "The Asgard are sending another to help on the Odyssey, but they are still reeling from the Replicators. The Tok'ra are absent as well."
"You guys're it!" Mitchell said with forced cheerfulness. "Atlantis sent all the information they had available at the time of the communication. Carter and Jackson are pouring over that and Merlin's cachet of goodies. So, how 'bout that Mothership?"
"I will return to chambers and give the request to the Council." Bra'tac took Cameron's hand and forearm and shook it. He did the same with Teal'c adding a slap on the back and a vigorous embrace.
"Thank you, old friend," Teal'c said with a smile and feeling.
"Thanks Master Bra'tac," said Mitchell.
"I will bring news before the end of the day after tomorrow." Bra'tac nodded and went back inside the chambers.
Teal'c and Mitchell started the walk back to the Gate.
"That went well."
"Indeed."
"Man! I love it when you say that!"
Teal'c raised the eyebrow and with second thoughts about that last decision to return, kept on walking.
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A week had passed already. Radek and Rodney (from his infirmary bed) were scouring the data from Ixion. Carson said McKay was doing well and would be released in another day. Ronon and Lorne were already released to quarters and bed rest. Teyla had started sparring again and Haushaur and a few others that had been on Ixion were keeping Heightmeyer busy.
Weir looked at the desktop in front of her and let a smile play on her face. Col. Caldwell had never looked as happy as when he formally returned the operations of Atlantis to her control. He also gave her a bottle of prescription M and M's. He must have called in a lot of favors to get enough to fill the large bottle sitting on one corner of her desk. She had the feeling that something happened in her absence. Caldwell acted like he wanted to throw the bottle at her and haul ass out of the office instead of the formality he carried out.
She found out later why. After talking to a few of the techs on duty, they told a story of overly surly scientists making his life a living hell during her absence. She was sure Zelenka might have had a hand in it. She knew good and well that all lab assignments were handled through the team leaders. The M and M's might have been a peace offering to her and the scientists. A- Look, she's back and I'm going over here to get out of your lives- type of thing.
All new experiments and projects were still on hold until further notice. The safety of Earth was first and foremost. Everyone was working on it.
Besides Earth being in imminent danger, everything was pretty much running normally…well, not everything. She looked at the military duty roster sitting in front of her and sighed softly.
She let Caldwell have full reign. He would be in charge for a while. Lorne was out until he could sit in a chair for longer than five seconds. Since, Cadman was only a lieutenant, they needed the colonel at the post right now. He was the best choice.
She stared at the list. Sheppard's name had MIA next to it. She would not let it be changed to KIA until after the outcome of the Hive reaching Earth. There were too many with it next to their names: Cavanaugh, Jones, Welker and the list went on. She included those that lived on Ixion like: Dr. Hallidy and Lia. Although, Rodney would harrumph including her. Still, she would not give up hope on Sheppard, yet.
Her own insecurities raised their ugly little heads for a split second. Hindsight was always so sparkling clear. She should have left Lorne behind in Atlantis- or not. Would it have made a difference? Everything worked as it should have. Atlantis did not fall apart. Caldwell had it all under control. He relied on Cadman who also had to lead a team. Not to mention, the Daedalus had qualified personnel available…Her head spun and throbbed.
Since the system worked, it made everyone expendable- to a certain extent. Everything operated to the best outcome possible. There would always be questions. It was just unfortunate it had to work at all. Maybe Haushaur was not the only one who should be keeping Kate busy.
"Dr. Weir?"
Elizabeth looked up and motioned for the speaker to come in and sit. "Teyla."
"The burns on Dr. Zelenka and the rest of the team trapped in the lab seam to be healing nicely," she observed pleasantly as she sat down opposite of Elizabeth.
"So says Beckett, we were lucky." She folded her hands in front of her and smiled at Teyla. "How can I help you?"
"I think it is I who could help you." She returned Elizabeth's smile.
Elizabeth smirked before starting, "Eyes wide open. Is that how you approach your leadership roll as well?"
"Sometimes and sometimes we must close our eyes and take a step into the unknown."
"A leap of faith."
"I like that. Is that another of your sayings?" Teyla asked.
"A well known one. Surprised you haven't heard it before especially given the nature of our expedition."
"Perhaps I have and just did not understand the context. I have learned to tune out certain, shall we say, conversations between certain people."
Weir laughed, "I understand."
Teyla's gaze penetrated Elizabeth's carefully crafted, polite laughter. "You second guess yourself about if you made the right decisions."
"Am I so transparent?"
"Did the original mission end with the desired outcome?"
"I believe so…"
"You know so."
"Yes," replied Weir bashfully. She had been extremely successful at the negotiating table.
"Could we have done anything different with the information available to us?" Teyla paused, but continued before Elizabeth answered. "Col. Caldwell asked Ronon and Maj. Lorne if they noticed anything. Their answer was, no."
"But…"
"But, nothing. The Wraith had the upper hand before we even knew there was an upper hand. Now you must believe it." Teyla leaned towards the desk and her gaze made Elizabeth shift uncomfortably in her chair. "Col. Sheppard did not question and neither should you because everything was out of our control the moment we stepped foot on that planet."
"I know; that's the kicker. I've been over it and over it. I just needed to hear someone else say it. Someone who understands."
"Now you have heard it. Now believe it." Teyla sat back and checked her watch. "I think it is time for lunch. Let's go see what the chef has done with that recent shipment of berries."
"Teyla, you are wise beyond your years." Elizabeth flipped the roster face down on her desk, stood up and left her office.
Life goes on.
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"Useless, useless, useless and useless," griped Rodney.
"Not useless. Nowhere near useless overbearing and pin-cushioned leader," snapped Zelenka. His still healing, red face met the tired, sunken-eyed face of McKay.
McKay repositioned himself to his side while looking at the laptop sitting on a bedside table. "Well Lobster Boy, none of this helps. It's all about the Cruiser. Sure, we know more about the inner workings and programming of that ship, but if it hasn't escaped your boiled and buttered brain, we need data on the Hive. Say, oh, I don't know; how to get the Asgard beam past their counter measures." He flipped onto his back disgusted and immediately grimaced. "Shit, shouldn't do that."
Zelenka snorted in agreement.
"Oh shut up." Sheppard had mentioned about the arbitrary shooting pains than happened for weeks afterwards. He just did not say how debilitating they were…high threshold…must have been. It was like a sciatic nerve pinch, but for a shorter amount of time and twice as sharp. You had to stop what you were doing, but it was over with quickly.
He was also recovering faster than Sheppard. He did not have to contend with the effects of blood loss or infections. He could not wait to get out of here and to start working in earnest. This was more an exercise to keep him occupied so he would not drive the medical staff insane- like they already weren't, not that it was his doing.
"Okay, we know a nuclear bomb will have the desired effect. We also know they can block our transporter beam…but their shields are pretty vulnerable to energy weapons…We've checked all directories…"
"No we haven't," corrected Zelenka.
"Yes, we have," insisted McKay.
"No, we haven't. We haven't checked this," Zelenka insisted as he pointed to a lone directory.
"We've checked all those that matter," said McKay, now extremely irritated. "That's about darts"
"You said that we'd checked everything, and we haven't. So…you….were…wrong." Radek leaned back in his chair and smugly grinned.
"Shut up, Radek," spat McKay rubbing his eyes.
"Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!" Zelenka sang and pointed an accusing finger at McKay.
"Still useless, useless, useless, useless!" McKay sang back and pointed to the information on the screen.
He wanted to flip again, but stopped himself. They had gone over everything for too many hours, over too many days. Haushaur, when not in with Heightmeyer, had a team going over other parts of the download.
Useless.
He would keep going over it and over it and over it. Of course, he would go over their part too when Carson released him. This was just too important to leave to underlings.
Utterly useless.
A team had even flown back to the lab to try and coax anything else out of the computer.
Completely, utterly useless.
The damn thing was partially fried, partially boiled and partially steamed. Nothing, nada, zip, zilch, goose egg would be their findings.
They were getting it right up the ass.
"Maybe Haushaur will find something, or Simpson will find something with the original computer," offered Radek staring at him with something akin to compassion. Oh no, Rodney did not want the fuzz ball to feel sorry for him right at this moment.
"Riiight…and I'm the Queen Mother. They used the Cruiser on purpose so we couldn't compromise the Hive."
"I know," Radek solemnly agreed. He clicked open the last remaining directory. "Now we've checked everything," he said with some satisfaction.
McKay rolled his eyes. "Oh look, stuff we already know, more stuff and more…" His eyes widened. "Hold the phone, click that little sub-directory there."
"What? Are you mocking me?"
"No, just….just…oh, give it to me!" He snatched the laptop and sat up in the bed. His finger moved on the mouse pad. "I'm not mocking your vindictive, jealous and childish ways. I'm admiring your churlish need to try and one up me, because- thanks to you- we have the start of a plan!" Rodney grinned and turned the laptop around for Radek to see.
"No kissing," retorted Radek with his own grin. "You can thank me some other way."
"Shut…up and get Elizabeth on that headset of yours."
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Orcas. The Queen was like Orcas, Shamu with her own type of cold water, splash zone. He had to give her her props; she was a damn good predator.
He had seen a special about Orcas on the Discovery Channel- a lazy, Saturday afternoon at the ass-end of the world. The pod was feeding offshore of a Mexican beach on tasty seals. They played with the poor, little bastards before eating them. Some of the behavior had been a lesson on hunting, but some, he could not help but think that humans were not the only cruel creatures on Earth. The spectacle had been vicious and on another level, funny. One whale flipped the victim in the air a number of times before finishing it off.
It really sucked to be the seal.
She liked to play this game, too. And, John knew that he was that little seal. His luck, he gets captured by the Wraith version of an adrenaline junkie.
The worst part was not even the feeding; it was the not knowing. Would the hand suck some time off before the sleep left his eyes or just a light, maddening touch to startle him awake?
He had a feeling he was losing this game. The rules were easy enough: stay sane and don't die. He would try his best.
The door to the room opened and John waited for his thrill-seeking mistress to stroll across the floor. He prepared himself for whatever her desires had devised. It was with a slight amount of relief when his caretaker entered instead. The hollow-eyed child crossed the room and started preparations for his morning bath. Maybe, he could convince her to help, even though something- in an Australian accent- told him danger, danger.
When she wiped his face, she whispered in his ear squashing any hope on that front, "You don't remember me. I've been watching you. You can't quite put me to a place, can you?" It wasn't the words; it was the way she said it. She was baiting him.
He did not answer. He followed her with his eyes while every hair on the back of his neck wanted to stand at attention.
"That's what I thought. Answers are about to come through that door."
She said nothing else and continued her duties until the door slid open. She submissively stepped out of his sightline and stood somewhere to his left. The Queen regally entered and crossed immediately to him. "I've brought company," she stopped within inches of his face and sighed, "You are not a main meal, just a diversion, a treat."
Her eyes flickered with mischief. He was the lizard to her cat.
"Today, I sustain myself more substantially."
Drones walked in with a man, a very large man. A very large man he knew. It was not a hallucination; it was Bose.
His eyes flashed to were he guessed the girl stood. The face clicked into place from a little party held in his and McKay's honor.
Holy mother of crap, she's one of Papa Jae's daughters, he thought
Deep howling realigned his attention to the center of the room. She fed on the son of a bitch with such flair he realized the game had gone up to the next level. Insanity definitely would be a close personal friend by the time she was tired of playing with her little seal, mouse, lizard, whatever.
When she finished, the drones took the corpse away.
"No need for dessert, this time…but maybe later." The Queen left her room and the girl followed throwing him a cold glance over her shoulder.
Oh, this made it that much better. He had been on Ixion. He hoped that son of a bitch Jae had already met the Queen…he could not help it. He really hoped that Jae was of no further threat, even if it meant that the daughter was probably going to exact some sort of revenge. Well, why really? What more could she do?
The Queen had to know that he knew Bose. She had chosen him to hurt the girl and to prove to him she could do just about anything she wanted.
She was proving to him that she was the master of his universe.
There can be only one.
The master of her domain.
Well, he wanted to slap a C-note down and say he was out.
Orcas. Cunning predators. The girl may not know it, but she was in the game too.
He wished he could lie down and take a nap. A nice long nap of the dead. Even though the specialized cocoon supported him and he was numb all over, he was already so tired. His muscles ached in that you sat on your foot for too long and it hurts as the blood starts flowing again sort of way.
There would be no help from Jae's daughter. There would be no help, period. Yes, he was already losing the game. He knew it.
And, John was tired of playing games.
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A/N: Hope your still with me. This is a long one I know. The counter says people are reading, the bunnies know you're there. I thank you. This is the first time I've included SG-1 and hope I got them sort of right.