Season 2:
Her First Steps
Senator Kinsey was an ass. When their success against Apophis shone a massive spotlight on his failures, he conceded. For the most part. 'SGC personnel need to be the best of the best' he had said. Whined, really. She couldn't blame Hammond, he couldn't win every battle. And this was really a minor concession all things considered. More of a personal insult, really. The ass.
That was how she found herself packing her few possessions into her bag headed for Basic Training. She had a half hour before she needed to be topside. Hammond had pulled some strings for her, but she didn't know to what effect yet. She was told that the program was normally thirteen weeks long, but that seemed excessive given her skillset, especially in light of recent events. Even if she was required to attend the full length, she trusted O'Neill would pull her out if the world was in danger.
She had time to give her goodbyes and make it to the surface with two minutes to spare. From the surface it was a quick ride on a transport to Peterson, the same base she had briefly visited before. When they had been racing against time, they were lifting off almost immediately. Now she found herself with an hour to kill before her flight.
When she finally boarded, the safety tutorial was much more comprehensive. The flight was bumpier than her other experience in this model, but she found the time still passed quickly. They had touched down before she knew it.
The ramp lowered, and her first impression was that it was hotter here and more humid. She could hear waves crashing in the distance, and the smell of salt in the air. It reminded her of home. She knew she was in South Carolina and that it was on the east coast, but she wouldn't have been able to point to it on a map. Hopefully it wasn't required.
There was a young man waiting for her at the base of the ramp who took her bag and led her to a nearby car. He was quiet, and seemed excessively nervous. She didn't know what the base officers knew about her, but it couldn't have been much. And this guy knew even less. She must have been a sight.
He drove them to where she was spending the first night. The rest of the class wouldn't be arriving until the next day, she had been told. She thanked him, and he left. The room was more bare than her room at the SGC, not that she was complaining. It had a bed and a small desk, she wouldn't need much else during her stay.
Once O'Neill offered her the position on SG-1, she dumped most of her previous readings and focused on what was important. She couldn't bring anything with her directly related to anything offworld, so instead she was learning Goa'uld. While it was still acquired from offworld, it bore enough of a resemblance to ancient Egyptian that she could get away with it.
The same man came for her in the morning. She was able to eat a quick breakfast and then he left her by the main building in the training complex. With nothing to do until the others arrived, she sat on the curb. Five minutes later, a short woman in a tan uniform exited the building. Kara rose to greet her.
"Kara Trevel?" the woman asked. Kara nodded, "Yes, ma'am." the woman seemed to be taking stock of her for a moment before she spoke again. "I am Staff Sergeant Lopez. I've been told you're a special case. I didn't get any details, just told not to make a big deal about your hair. I don't care who you are, or who you know. I'll follow my orders, but expect to be treated like everyone else, understood?"
Lopez reminded her of her first commander, if she had had pale hair. "Yes, ma'am," she replied again. "The bus with the others will be here soon," Lopez told her. Kara looked the way the woman had indicated, when she looked back to the woman she was staring at her ear. Kara wasn't surprised by it. If she was going to be spending any considerable time outside of the SGC, she knew she would get looks. "I was really into Ren Faires when I was younger," she gave in way of an explanation. It had been Daniel's idea.
The bus soon arrived and Lopez began barking orders at them. She had spoken to Makepeace about his training experience and had appreciated his insight. The first day went about how he had described it. Lopez was tough, but the rest of them looked like they needed it. Kara slipped back into it like a favorite pair of pants.
The barracks they were staying in reminded her of her first experiences with the Defense Force. It was nice though, to be one of thirty instead of a hundred. She had been assigned an M16. She knew SG teams operated with P90s, but she could work with it. The uniforms were similar to what she had been wearing at the SGC, but it was nice to have a color swap after so long in the same color.
The first few days were dedicated to paperwork. Kara found that her's was already taken care of. Good, it was easier to blend in without getting her personal information wrong. She was assuming that after the paperwork it would alter course to more physical activity. She was wrong. There was certainly some physical activity, but it was mostly sitting in a class. She understood that the information would be useful during her time on Earth, but she could have just as easily learned it at the SGC.
The hand to hand combat sessions were becoming her favorite daily activity. She was by no means an expert, but she considered herself to be proficient in the basic form taught by the Defense Force. If she had needed the skill in her previous position it meant something had gone wrong. It almost never went wrong.
They began weapons training in their fifth week. She still found the progress achingly slow. The others were struggling along, and she could admit that the course was paced well enough for them. It only served to lower her opinion of Kinsey that much further. She knew the other recruits had begun talking about her behind her back, but she didn't mind. Her current favorite theory was that she was the rebellious daughter of a general finally forced into shape.
It wasn't until halfway through the sixth week that things picked up. It was about a half hour before lights out when she heard the noise. Felt it really, it was so strong. "What was that?" the recruit who slept beside her asked. Kara knew exactly what it was, "Sonic boom." They weren't supposed to leave the barracks.
It was a clear night, she saw as she stepped outside. The source of the boom was easy to spot. A fireball was streaking across the sky. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, though. From its current angle she could tell it would land just east of the base. It could have been anything up there, she told herself. This was a military base, after all. She might have believed herself if she hadn't just helped to thwart an invasion not two months prior.
She Shifted. Couldn't afford to be stopped now. She was running. Once she was out of the area of the base reserved for training, she saw that others were scrambling too, but no audible alarm had been raised yet. The object must have hit by now, but she hadn't heard or felt anything, landed in the water?
She wasn't sure how far she had run, but she had passed out of the base proper already. It wasn't too much further until she came to a fence. She had been expecting one. She was planning to take her jacket off and use it to help get over the razor wire at the top, but that proved unnecessary. There was a hole in the fence. Sloppy. It proved a tight squeeze, but she was through.
Another hundred feet and the tree line broke, giving way to a rocky beach. There was smoke pouring up from the water, and it was deep enough to completely submerge whatever the object was. She almost missed it, but there were definitely footsteps coming out of the water and moving off to her left. She followed them off into the woods.
She hadn't gotten far when she heard the shout, "Freeze!" It was far enough away that she knew it wasn't intended for her, and was that Lopez? She quickened her pace. She couldn't get up to full speed, even with the full moon, it was dark and the trees thick.
She burst through into a small clearing. Lopez was just in front of her to the right, she was looking across the clearing at a dark figure. Kara couldn't tell who it was from this distance. Possibly in response to her presence, the stranger spun a long, slender object up, pointing it toward them. She heard the telltale firing sound as she made contact with Lopez.
She felt the heat of the blast on her back as it sailed over them, hitting a tree. She did her best not to land on Lopez and sprang back to her feet. It was too late, the figure was gone. She dropped her Shift. Lopez already knew she was there, keeping it would have just led to more questions.
She turned back to the woman. She hadn't moved, was still staring at where the stranger had been. Kara offered her hand to her, Lopez took it and Kara pulled her to her feet. She could see questions flying across the woman's face, but she never voiced them. Finally, she turned to Kara.
Whatever question she was about to ask was interrupted. Two spotlights flared on, pointed at them. Four armed men entered the clearing from the direction of the base. They must have thought she was involved in the crash and began shouting, "Hands!" Kara took a step back from Lopez and raised her arms, Lopez did the same.
She was handcuffed at the site and led out to a nearby road, roughly. There was a vehicle waiting and she was shoved in the back seat. She knew time was of the essence with at least one Jaffa on the loose, but there wasn't anything she could do for now. So she waited. The ride back to base was short, and they pulled up to a building she had never been inside before.
She was removed from the vehicle and led inside. There was what looked like a receptionists window just inside, but it was empty and they moved her past it. She was led into a room divided in half by prison bars. Once she was locked inside, the handcuffs were removed. She finally spoke as the MPs were leaving, "Contact General George Hammond out of Cheyenne Mountain. Tell him I need to speak to him."
They left without acknowledging her. She punched one of the bars. Ow! Definitely broke at least a few bones. She flexed her hand as the bones healed, took a seat on one of the two beds, and closed her eyes. They wouldn't leave her in here forever.
She opened her eyes and stood when she heard the door open. According to the clock on the wall, an hour had passed. A dark haired man had entered. A captain, according to his uniform. He didn't look happy to be there. "A meteor almost hit the base, and you decide to go AWOL? Was it the sign from God you were looking for?" Sarcasm dripped off his words.
She could tell before he had even opened his mouth that she wouldn't get anywhere with him. Rather than play along, she repeated her request, "Contact General George Hammond out of Cheyenne Mountain. I need to speak to him." He scoffed at that, "Let me guess, calling Uncle George to bail you out of trouble?"
She didn't respond to that. They would have entered her information into the system when she was detained. She didn't know for certain, but she had to imagine that when they did, word would have gotten back to Hammond. She felt her assumption had payed off when the door opened again.
Someone poked their head in without completely entering, "Sir, there's a call." The captain spoke without turning, "I'll take it once I finish." The head hesitated, "Sir, it's for Trevel." The captain turned without a word. He picked up the phone. "Yes?" he said, unprompted.
He immediately blanched, "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Right away, sir." The phone cord was long enough that he crossed the room with it and handed it in to her. She brought it to her ear, "Trevel." She recognized Hammond's voice when he spoke, "Miss Trevel, I understand that Parris Island reported you as AWOL?"
"A meteor landed just outside the base. In light of recent developments, I felt the need to investigate. I was correct," she said cryptically. He was a moment in responding, "Are you confirming a hostile presence?" She would have liked to have gone into more detail, but the captain was still listening, "Yes,sir." He answered much more quickly this time, "The rest of SG-1 is currently away, I need you to handle this. I'll contact the base commander and get a team prepared. Hold tight."
She passed the phone back to the captain. She didn't know what Hammond had told the man, but it must have gotten the point across clear. He replaced the phone and left the room. She went back to the bed, this time with a smile on her face.
Twenty minutes later an MP entered the room, "Ma'am, I've been instructed to escort you to the administrative building." She rose, "Lead the way." They went out the same way they came in, and another vehicle was waiting for them.
It was a quick ride across the base, and the MP led her into the building. A maze of hallways later and she was led into a conference room. A long, slender table ran the center and a speaker sat atop it. More immediately, she found herself in front of a General.
The MP excused himself and closed the door, leaving just the two of them. "I am General Mcmillian, the commander of this facility. In the past half hour I have spoken with both General Hammond and the President. I am to provide you with any support required to complete your objective. Whatever it is." He didn't look happy about it.
She was saved from a response by a knock on the door. "Enter," Mcmillian barked. A young man entered, a folder under his arm. "I have the papers you requested, sir," he said, handing it to the general. He took it before speaking again, "Good. This is Lieutenant Anderson. He is coordinating the recovery efforts for the object," he then turned to address the lieutenant, "This is Kara Trevel. You are to assist her in her operation."
The man offered a quick "Yes,sir," and before she had the chance to speak with him, they were interrupted again. Lopez entered, stopping just inside the threshold. "Sergeant Lopez, reporting as ordered." For everything that had happened in the past few hours, on top of getting called to meet with a general, the woman had kept her steely demeanor intact. Kara was impressed.
Of course, she still didn't know why the woman had been summoned. Her attention was pulled back to the General when he spoke again, "This room is soundproof and a secure line has been established for you. Hammond said you would need this." He handed her the file as he finished. A quick glance inside revealed several nondisclosure agreements. Now she understood why Lopez was here.
Thinking about the upcoming investigation gave her an idea. "General, I could use someone on this who is familiar with the base and the surrounding area. I would like Sergeant Lopez to assist me," Kara said. Lopez, for her part, kept a straight face. The General looked pained when he responded, "Anything you need. Contact me if you need anything else." He was almost out the door before he turned back to her, "What is it exactly you're doing out of that mountain?" Kara smiled at the question, "Deep space radar telemetry." He chuckled, "I have to say, that's a new one." He turned back and left the room.
"Lieutenant, close the door." She leaned back against the table, almost sitting on it. She skimmed the agreements a little more closely before she looked up. When she did, she saw that Lopez and Anderson were both looking at her expectantly. "These are nondisclosure agreements," she began, "I need both of you to sign one before we continue." She placed two on the table and stepped aside, to give them room. "They stipulate that you are not to disclose anything you may have seen tonight, or will see during the course of this operation that is not already common knowledge."
Anderson stepped forward with no delay and signed. He turned and offered his pen to Lopez. She looked for an instant as if she might not sign, but it passed and she did. She knew Lopez must still be brimming with questions, but addressed Anderson first. "Good. Anderson, I need you to cordon off the area around the impact site. A reclamation team will arrive later today. You are to coordinate with them when they do. And have security footage from the past six hours from that side of the base sent here. Dismissed."
The young man left, closing the door behind him. Once they were alone, the question almost exploded out of Lopez, "What the hell is going on?" Kara was almost relieved when it happened, if the woman had been able to keep her composure through this, she would have assumed something was wrong.
"I'll explain what I can, but I'd like to hear your side of events from earlier," Kara told her. Lopez took a breath, "I saw you leave the barracks. No one was supposed to leave, even with the meteor, so I followed. I lost you once you were past the fence. I saw the figure once I entered the clearing. I shouted for the figure to freeze. I didn't know they weren't you until they spun around. Then you tackled me out of the way of whatever they shot at us." Kara nodded as she finished, "How did you know it was me?"
Lopez looked like she had been expecting a different question, "I didn't, not until you tackled me." Kara nodded again. That cleared up why she had been out there in the first place. It also reinforced her decision to request Lopez. Almost anyone would have missed her, especially with the fireworks above. Lopez must be dedicated.
"I believe the meteor was actually an alien ship, and the figure a hostile combatant," Kara told her. "Aliens?" She had been prepared for scepticism, but Lopez sounded like she was asking for clarification, not doubting the claim. It must have been having the staff weapon fired at her. "Aliens," Kara repeated.
Lopez moved past her to take a seat. She buried her face in her hands for a moment before looking back up. "You're black ops," it came out more like an accusation than a question. "Not black ops, just classified," Kara corrected. And then the question she must have been dying to ask since day one, "Why are you here?"
It was a fair question, Kara felt. "I pissed off a senator and all of a sudden I wasn't qualified enough for my position," She told her. Lopez laughed at that. Actually laughed. It was the first time she had heard it from the woman. "Alright, what made you think it was a craft?" Lopez asked, and then added, "Before we got shot at, at least."
"Normally I would have just been suspicious, but with the attempted invasion a few months back, I just wanted to be sure." Lopez needed a moment after that one, maybe she should have softened the blow there. "Those two fireballs no one could explain," Lopez finally said trailing off. Kara nodded her confirmation.
"I need to make a call and then we can begin," She told Lopez. The woman made to get up, but Kara stopped her, "You can stay." Lopez sat back down. It actually worked out, because the phone was more complicated than she had been expecting. Lopez gave her a weird look, but still helped set it up. Kara entered the number and then pressed the button for the speaker.
It was a moment before someone picked up on the other end. "Hammond," the voice said, and she jumped right in. "General, this is a secure line. And I have Sergeant Lopez here as well. She witnessed the event and will be assisting me with this."
"Good. The news is reporting this as a meteor impact, you said you can confirm otherwise?" the speaker said. "Yes, sir. I don't have visual confirmation of a craft, but I was attacked at the impact site by someone wielding a staff weapon," she told him. "Good enough. Captain Carter is still offworld. I have Sergeant Siler preparing a team. They leave ASAP and should arrive before sunrise, local time." Lopez gave her a look at the mention of offworld, but kept silent.
"I have a team already securing the site and waiting for their arrival," she said. "Keep me appraised," Hammond ordered, and the line went dead. "'Offworld', do we have spaceships?" Lopez asked the minute the line disconnected. "I can't really go into the details, unless it becomes relevant to the operation." Lopez didn't look happy, but she accepted it.
"We need to stop at the weapons lockup and then get back to the scene," she told her. "yes, ma'am," Lopez said, standing. Kara let her lead them across the base, it was faster that way. The tired looking corporal at the lockup had insisted that they fill out a mountain of paperwork, but was quickly dissuaded. Kara grabbed a thigh holster, an M9, and several extra magazines.
Before they left, Lopez asked, "You know how to use that, right?" They hadn't taken their live fire test yet, so Kara could understand her concern. "Yes," Kara said as reassuringly as possible. She hadn't fired one before, but a weapon was a weapon, no matter the planet.
She would have liked something more substantial, like a P90, but something so conspicuous would only be a hindrance. She was hunting one confirmed target in a forested, populated area. Not for the first time. They would follow any tracks left behind, question the locals, and all without drawing any unnecessary attention.
Reality never played nice with others. Lopez was able to lead her back to the clearing, but finding tracks was proving challenging. The crew she could hear working must have passed through here. Or there had been more first responders than she believed. She was not an expert tracker by any means, but it had been taught to her as an Initiate. Searching under a full moon helped.
She had almost given up when she finally found what she was looking for. Lopez was farther back, searching, and Kara shouted her name to get her attention. Lopez was almost immediately by her side, "Find something?" she asked. "Here," Kara said, pointing to the heavyset footprint of someone in Jaffa armor. "They lead this way."
The two of them slowly followed the trail. They lost it twice, but had been able to double back and pick it up again. It hadn't really mattered, in the end. The tracks led to a paved road. "There's a town not that far that way, if they didn't change directions," Lopez told her.
Kara thought for a moment. It was past 3 AM by this point. There was no reason to keep going. It had been hours since the crash, anyone who might have seen something would almost certainly be asleep by now. That was another concern. Kara's healing ability allowed her to mitigate the symptoms of sleep deprivation, but Lopez must be past 24 hours by now. She assumed the woman could handle it, but there was no reason to make her. Better to have her at one hundred percent if this ended in a firefight.
"Let's head back. We can keep looking in the morning," She told her. Lopez didn't argue. When they reentered the conference room, she saw someone had deposited two laptops on the table, and a stack of discs, each with a unique label. Kara assumed it was a labeling system for the camera's, but couldn't decipher it.
"I don't expect to find anything, but it would help if we have knew what this guy looked like," she told Lopez. She took a seat and and started on the first disc, Lopez did the same across from her. Even fast-forwarded, she knew it would take hours to get through all of it.
She was just finishing the last disc when there was a knock on the door. A few of the cameras had caught her leaving the base, but none the Jaffa. Lopez had been asleep on the floor for a few hours, but was instantly alert at the noise. "Enter," Kara told them. A private opened the door, "Ma'am, an envoy is waiting for you outside."
"Thank you," she told him. She turned to ask if Lopez was ready, but the woman was already standing, so instead she said, "Let's go." She closed the laptop and left the room. The sun was just cresting the horizon when she stepped outside. The air was crisp and the birds chirping.
Siler was standing beside a Humvee, he stood straighter as he saw them approaching. "Sergeant Siler, Sergeant Lopez," Kara introduced. "I sent the rest ahead with the equipment," he told her. He started to say something else, but stopped himself. "We can talk more at the site," she told him.
There was no direct access, so their driver got them as close as they could, and they walked the rest, same as before. Stepping onto the beach, she saw a hive of activity. There was a stack of crates to the side, most likely carried down the same path they used, and people moving back and forth. Some faces she recognized from the SGC, but just as many were new to her.
The site looked the same as it did the previous night, with the exception of a small tent set up near the water, more crates beside it. It took her a moment to find Anderson in the sea of faces, near the tent. She led her group over when she did.
"Anderson," she said in way of a greeting. "Ma'am," he replied, and then continued, "If the smoke was any indication, the object is about thirty feet straight out." Without seeing the object, that was as good as they could get. "How deep is that?" she asked him. "About forty feet, depending on where it came to a rest."
She nodded, taking in the information, "Will any of that be a problem?" she asked Siler. "No, we anticipated something like that," he replied. "Good. This is Lieutenant Anderson, he'll be assisting you," she said. The two men shook hands.
"Now, how are we getting it out?" Kara asked them. "We plan to winch it out, as long as it's not too dense," Siler told her, and then Anderson jumped in, "We thought that would be the case, so we brought scuba gear. And the tent here to change." Scuba, another wonderful human innovation. "OK, but I go down first," she told them.
Anderson just nodded, but Siler spoke up, "You know how to scuba dive?" She didn't, and suspected he assumed as much, "No, but without Carter I'm the closest thing we have to an expert. And besides, it might be dangerous." Siler nodded at that, and it was Anderson who spoke up, "What's down there?"
Right, she hadn't told him. "Classified," Lopez jumped in without elaborating. He still looked worried, but stepped to the side and opened one of the crates. He shuffled some it's contents aside, before coming out with a wetsuit. "This should fit you," he said, handing it to her.
She took it from him and stepped into the tent. Getting into it proved more of a challenge than she had thought. It took some fighting and more time than she would have liked, but she was able to squeeze into it. When she stepped out, Anderson was holding the tank she would need and Lopez hadn't moved, but Siler was helping coordinate setting up a metal frame of some sort. They had to move the ship somewhere, she reasoned.
She set her clothes on the crates and handed her weapon to Lopez. "Let's do this," she said. She was glad Anderson knew what he was doing, because it was more complicated than she had assumed. Was it a coincidence or was he overseeing this because he did?
"Any last advice?" she asked once it was on. "Don't hold your breath, and the current at the surface isn't necessarily the current at the bottom," he told her. She already knew the second piece, but the first was useful. "Alright, here goes," she said putting on the mask and stepping to the water.
It was about as cool as she expected and the rocks were unpleasant underfoot, but she was quickly out far enough she couldn't stand. She swam out what she thought was thirty feet and turned back to make sure she was lined up with the beach. It was nice to be back in the water, made her feel like a kid again. She had missed it once she was discovered.
Once she was properly aligned, she gave a thumbs up to the beach. Lopez gave her one in reply, and she dove. The water was murky, but she'd swam in worse. She got to the bottom without seeing anything, must not have been directly over it. She started swimming in an ever expanding circle to find it.
Once she found it, she couldn't believe she had missed it. It was large, larger than a Death Glider. Coming in above it showed it was shaped like a pyramid with a bulbous side. As she swam lower, she saw that there was a massive hole in the back. She flipped a coin in her mind and swam around it to the left, looking for a hatch.
She must have chosen the wrong way, because she got to the front without one. She swam closer, to get a look inside. There were four windows for what she assumed was the cockpit. The first three were fine, but there was a noticeable crack in the fourth. It was definitely flooded.
She kept swimming around it and quickly found the hatch. Closer inspection revealed a small protrusion beside it. She felt around the edge of it, looking for a seam or latch. She gave a quick tug when she found it. Inside was what appeared to be a keypad of sorts, the symbols were clearly Goa'uld. She was about to give one an experimental push when she finally noticed the state of it.
The gold was discolored. She had first credited that to the murky water, but that wasn't the case. One of the buttons was even cracked. Clearly there was more to the fireball than just atmospheric entry. Even with the obvious damage, she gave a button a push, nothing happened. She continued her circle to the back of the craft.
The Jaffa had to have gotten out somehow. There was only one way left. The edges of the hole were jagged, and bowed out. There must have been a catastrophic engine or reactor failure on the other side of the wall. She tried to squeeze through. She thought she could make it, but the tank was getting stuck.
With no other choice, she swam back up. She surfaced about twenty feet farther out from where she had gone down. She waved a hand in the air and pointed down when she saw Lopez wave back. It looked like she relayed the information to Siler as she was swimming in. The two of them circled up when she finally came ashore.
"What have we got?" he asked her. Kara pulled her mask off before answering, "I don't know, never seen it before. Bigger than a Death Glider." Lopez looked worried, "Death Glider?" she asked. "It's just what they call it, about the size of an F18" Kara explained. "The hatch mechanism is damaged, so I couldn't get inside. Something blew a hole out the back. I couldn't fit with the tank, but I want to try again without it."
"Is that a good idea?" Siler asked. Kara shrugged, "I grew up on the water, I'll be fine." She thought for another minute, "You should have a team ready to follow me in, in case I don't come up." Her attention was drawn back to the metal frame when the men around it began to lift a tent over it. "That needs to be another ten feet tall," she told Siler, pointing to it. He excused himself to stop them.
Getting out of the gear was easier than getting in, but she was glad Lopez was there to help. She wanted to go right back in, but decided it was best to wait until the rescue team was ready. "How long have we known about aliens?" Lopez asked her, to fill the silence, Kara assumed.
"A few years now," Kara answered, without any details. Lopez just shook her head. Once both the divers had changed, Kara decided to head back in, signaling the divers. She kept the mask and flashlight, but left everything else behind. She swam back to where she thought she had surfaced, took a deep breath, and dove.
She was a few feet off, but she was able to correct on the way down. She didn't have time to delay. She lined herself up with the hole and started to pull herself along. It was still a tight fit. She saw it quickly opened up to a small room.
She was overeager, careless. She pulled herself free too quickly and felt a searing heat run along her back. Turning back she saw she caught herself on a jagged piece of metal jutting up. It wouldn't matter, the wound was already closing.
She appeared to be in an engine room, or rather had been an engine room. The were clear signs of a fire, not to mention debris from the explosion. The door across from her was open, thankfully. She swam through into a large, open area, a ring transporter in the center. It was surprisingly empty, except for the bodies.
She swam closer, to get a better look. One was dressed rather opulently, her first thought was Goa'uld. But they were manacled to the wall. The other was clearly a Jaffa, and it looked like he had been too close to the explosion. So many questions, but she didn't have time. Swimming to the far wall revealed another door. There was another keypad with different symbols beside it.
She hadn't expected it to do anything when she pressed a button, but it did. There was a heavy thunk from behind the panel, and the door popped open. It wasn't far, but it was enough to get her fingers in and force the door open. It took some effort to do so, and she was starting to feel the burn in her lungs.
The door opened into the cockpit. The windows and the console were directly in front of her. A quick glance revealed them to be heavily damaged. It was dark and murky but she could still see what looked like more fire damage. The hatch was to her right and it, thankfully, looked better than the rest of the cockpit.
It had the same keypad as the other side. Her first press did nothing, the second as well. The third press and the door started to open with a whine. It go about halfway open before the whine, and the door, stopped. Whatever power had been left must have just run out. She was able to brace herself in the new gap, another effort and the door was open.
It was really starting to burn now. Straight up. She broke the surface and took a deep gulp of air. She saw Lopez waving from the shore and gave a thumbs up. She had so many more questions now. Who was the prisoner? How had the Jaffa gotten out?
Another few breaths and she was back under. Getting back in was easy. This time, as she entered, she noticed the seats in the cockpit. A pilot, copilot, and two passengers. Loose confirmation that it was only the one Jaffa. That was good. Back in the large room, she took another look at the prisoner. They didn't have any obvious injuries and a search revealed nothing on their person.
There was no reason to stay fixated, they weren't the only mystery. There was still the other Jaffa. Closer inspection revealed him a Jaffa of Apophis. This had to be connected, somehow, to the invasion. Still, how had the Jaffa escaped? She closed her eyes and just floated. The answers would come to her, she didn't need to force it. She was right. She had just glossed over it the first time. The ring transporter.
Now that she was moving toward it, she saw there was a lot of dirt on the floor around it. That must have been it. She swam out the hatch and around the base. It was at the back. She hadn't been able to tell from the height of the hole, but the the ground wasn't even beneath it. The ship was also angled up slightly, leaving a gap. It wouldn't have been large enough for her to stand in, but deeper in revealed a larger circular cut into the ground.
With that answer, at least, she resurfaced. Another big gulp and she set off for shore. She wasn't sure if Lopez had said something to him while she was coming in, but Siler was making his way toward them as she was walking up. "I got in," she said once he joined them. "We need two bodybags and I'm not sure what we'll get from it. There was pretty substantial damage inside. But on the bright side it looks like there's only the one runner." Siler had been nodding along, "And the bodies, Jaffa?"
Kara shook her head at that, "I don't know. One of them is, the other looks more like a Goa'uld. But it was shackled to the wall. I don't know what to make of it," she told him. Lopez was looking back and forth between the two, confused. "Two different races; the Jaffa are foot soldiers and the Goa'uld the commanders," Kara explained.
"Why here?" Kara asked, mostly rhetorically, "The entirety of the planet, and they crash not two miles from one of the few people aware of them." She hadn't been expecting a reply, but was surprised when Siler spoke up, "I don't think it's a coincidence," he began, "What's the one unique thing here?" he asked. Now that she thought about it, that made sense.
"So they arrive two months after the invasion with no sign of their master," she began, thinking out loud. "Their ship is damaged and they need somewhere to land. So they target me?" she finished. "Why would they pick you?" Lopez asked. She had been stoic about almost everything up to this point, but she couldn't hide the look of shock that washed over her.
"You're an alien?" Lopez asked, just above a whisper. "Yeah," Kara replied before moving on, "It's a valid question though. They might have only been able to determine that I wasn't human, not what I was." she postulated. "That was my thought," Siler added.
Kara sighed. "Nothing more we could do now. We'll leave you to it Sergeant," she said. Getting out of the wetsuit was easier and she left it with the creates when she was changed back. Hopefully no one asked about the damage. She started back to the road, and motioned for Lopez to follow her. Once they were back in the trees, Lopez broke the silence, "I should have guessed sooner. Is that your real hair color?"
Kara chuckled before she responded, "Yes it is. And for the record, I didn't know what a ren faire was until the night before I got here." Lopez nodded enthusiastically at that. "Are you here as an ambassador or liaison or something?" she asked next. "No." Kara answered. She hadn't meant it to sound so sad. Lopez must have picked up on it, because she stopped asking questions after that.
They found the Humvee where they had left it, the driver leaning patiently against it. "You said there was a town the direction of the footprints?" Kara asked Lopez. "Yes," she replied, "Port Royale. It's a one road town, so our guy would really stick out." Kara turned to the driver, "You can drive us around without asking too many questions, right Corporal?" He nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, ma'am."
The drive into town was shorter than Kara had been expecting. Lopez had been right, it really was a one road town. There was a row of shops on either side of the road, but Kara could see where they stopped before they had even pulled level with the first. Their driver pulled over in the center, and Kara and Lopez got out.
She took a quick look around. There were some people milling about, but not many. Across the street she saw a building with a sign saying 'Sheriff', "That law enforcement?" she asked Lopez, pointing. "Yes, should be somebody there by now," she answered. Kara stopped to check before crossing the road, but needn't bother, there were no cars in sight.
When Kara tried the door, she found it unlocked. She entered into a large open room. There was a desk by the front, and more behind it organized into rows. Judging by the desks, there couldn't have been more eight peace officers assigned here.
The room had been empty when they walked in, but a door along the back wall opened shortly and a rotund, mustached man came through. He didn't seem to see them at first, distracted by some papers in his hands. He looked surprised to see them when he looked up, "Can I help you ladies?" he asked, approaching them.
"I'm Operative Kara Trevel, with the Air Force," she introduced herself, "This is Sergeant Lopez. We are tracking a criminal who was seen not far from here last night and were hoping you could help." He didn't look too pleased with her request, "What's the Air Force tracking a criminal for?" he asked. "I'm afraid that's classified," she told him. That didn't seem to appease him, "Alright," he finally said with a sigh, "What can you tell me?"
"We are looking for a tall man, probably wearing some sort of armor," she told him. She didn't know for a fact that they were looking for a man, nut she had yet to see a female Jaffa, so the odds were greater. She had been expecting him to ask questions, but he almost looked relieved at the description, "Yeah, old Henstridge had one of my deputies out last night. Claimed a bald man in chainmail with a face tattoo broke into her shed. Said she shot him. Last week she called because she said she had been abducted by aliens, so we didn't exactly take her seriously. I guess we should have."
"Can you give me her address?" Kara asked him. He nodded and began searching through the files on his desk. He quickly came up with a piece of paper, "Here you go," he said handing it to her, "Be careful, she's not all there anymore." Kara took it, "Thank you for your time," she told him.
Once they were outside, Lopez turned to her, "Abducted, is that a real thing?" she asked. "I have no idea. It's not an impossibility," she answered. Lopez looked disappointed at the answer. They crossed back over to the Humvee. Kara slipped back into the passenger seat and give the corporal the paper.
It took about twenty minutes to get to the address. It was a wooded farmhouse up a long drive. Kara was two steps out of the vehicle when the shot rang out. Where had it come from? She quickly unholstered her weapon. The second floor window! Two steps back. She threw open the door for cover. The others were using the vehicle for cover as well.
"This is private property," a voice shouted from the house. She had been right about the window. "Mrs. Henstridge?" Kara shouted back. "What do you want?" came the reply. Kara reholstered her weapon and stepped out of cover, arms raised. It might not have been the best idea, but it was the one she had. "My name is Kara, we are responding to the report of a trespasser on your property."
There was silence for a moment, long enough for Kara to begin to doubt her decision, when the front door opened. An elderly woman stepped out, shotgun in hand. "No one believed me," she said. "We do," Kara refuted, "Can you show us where you saw the man?"
"Of course," she replied. "Wait here Corporal," Kara told him, then she and Lopez followed the woman around the house. The shed had seen better days, Kara thought. The door was open and as she got closer, she saw there was blood on the ground as well. "He was just here when I shot him, ran off that way," she said, pointing off into the woods.
"Thank you," Kara said. She turned to Lopez, "Let's go." There was little foliage along the ground here. Lopez found the trail first, "Over here," she called out. Kara moved toward the sound. Lopez had been right, the footprints were clearly defined, and there was more blood, she saw. The footsteps led farther into the forest, and as they moved they found more footprints and more blood. Kara didn't know how much blood the Jaffa had lost, but even with a symbiote they couldn't afford to loose much more.
They found the Jaffa about half a mile into the woods. He was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, motionless. Kara motioned for Lopez to stay back and slowly approached. He was pale, she saw, and his staff weapon lay on the ground beside him. She crouched down and felt for a pulse. Nothing.
It was anticlimactic. She had been expecting a chase. To corner him in some building. A shootout. She looked back and shook her head at Lopez. "I'll go back and get a team out here. Say with him, but don't get too close." Kara told her. So she walked back the way she came. There was no sign of Henstridge. The Corporal radioed it in, and forty five minutes later she was leading the recovery team back to the body.
The team was efficient, and they were quickly back on the move. The trek back was uneventful, and soon the body was on it's way to the base. Lopez excused herself when they arrived, to see to the other recruits. So Kara found herself back in the conference room calling Hammond, alone.
It took a moment before the call was answered. It didn't take her long to update him on the situation. There wasn't much to tell, the Jaffa was dead and Siler was recovering the ship. She had been expecting him to tell her to complete the training here, but he didn't.
"There's been a development here we could have used your help with. Carter was briefly host to a member of a Goa'uld resistance movement. I told the President that situations like that are exactly why we need our best people here, and he agreed. Pack your bag and get back here; the rest of SG-1 is waiting."
She hadn't acquired much during her stay, and so she was quickly packed and ready to go. She could hear the other recruits whispering behind her back as she left. Hopefully Lopez would make up some elaborate story about her absence to keep them in line. It was another hour before her ride was ready. She found herself at home in the C-130. The noise was still bad and the seat uncomfortable, but it was a small price to pay to get back to the SGC. She dozed off ten minutes after takeoff.