00000
Chapter 27 – The Ruse
They were running out of time.
With returning to Atlantis via the Ancestral ship through the Portal, then unloading the communications panel, and bringing it down to the Control Room, there was now less than an hour until the next scheduled dial in. At which point, John was going to be feed upon once again by the Wraith.
It meant that they not only had to find where John was being held, but needed to get to that location and rescue John all within one hour.
Nervous tension itched at Teyla's nerve endings as she watched the Atlantis Portal shutdown. Her conversation with Massa in the Facility had been brief, but hopefully useful. The Elite technicians had been able to clarify one part of the previously recorded transmissions from John's captives, the results of which had just been downloaded through the Portal. Si, Dr McKay, and Dr Zelenka were now opening the report to study the results, the three men sat at the back of the room, hunched around their various Elite, Ancestral, and Earth computer screens.
To the left, the two Facility technicians had Kolya's communications panel set on a table and were currently working to open up the back of the tech.
Off to the right, Colonel Carter was in deep discussion with those from the Earth IOA. During the mission to the factory's planet, Cowen had dialled into Atlantis to supply them with his list of possible locations of Kolya outside the Alliance. The list included some of those that Father's contact had already supplied, but, notably, Cowen's list had not included the factory planet. Colonel Carter had told the Cowen this, having described the factory as a Genii outpost that her people had discovered. Cowen had, very surprisingly, responded calmly, though coldly. He'd told Colonel Carter that her accusations were inappropriate and that she should focus on retrieving John. He'd made it clear, yet again, that Kolya was excommunicated and had then demanded that any of Kolya's supplies found in the factory were to be returned to the Genii.
Clearly Cowen was going to be of no further help and was washing his hands of Kolya and playing any part of helping to find John. Though that angered Teyla to her core, right now she had no time to focus on that. All she could concentrate on was finding a way to save John, and save him quickly.
She headed towards the technicians who were now plugging cables into the back of Kolya's communications panel. "How long?" She asked them.
"Short minutes, Honoured Elite," one technician replied calmly as he clipped another cable into the back of the panel. "This is at least a three generations old relay," he explained as he worked.
"Which would make it a year old?" Teyla estimated, her knowledge of the details of communications tech generations not all that clear.
"At least; probably two years," the other technician put in as he lifted an electronic pad and tapped it awake. "Even if there is a blocking code, we should be able to get around it quickly enough considering the tech's age."
"Good," Teyla nodded, frowning down at the panel. "Work fast."
"Yes, Honoured Elite," both technicians replied as they kept working.
She turned away, heading across the short distance to Si. He was frowning over the Elite console screen, discussing something with Dr McKay. They would have had time by now to consider the new report in from the Facility. She hurried around behind the three men's backs to see their computer screens for herself.
"Anything?" She asked as she stood behind Si' wide shoulders and peered at his console's screen.
"The Facility have, as expected, started by unravelling the last and relatively loudest part of the recorded transmissions," Si explained. "They have been able to separate out the frequencies of the last Portal that was dialled into Atlantis, but the rest of the data still has to be unpicked. Though, they are almost certain that only two Portals were used in a series to dial into Atlantis, but there is still a lot of confused data in the earliest part of the transmission that will take time to analyse completely."
Teyla nodded her understanding. "What have they found on the last Portal?" She asked hurriedly.
Si tapped some controls to bring up the results for her. "There's enough recognisable background information in the transmissions for them to narrow down where the last Portal was located."
"They've identified the exact Portal?" She asked hopefully.
"No, the region it is in," Dr Zelenka was the one to reply as he turned to her, drawing his computer slightly closer for her to see. "They found particular known background radiation," he explained in his heavily accented soft voice, "which is found only in this area of the galaxy."
Teyla leant forward between the two men's shoulders to look at the screen. The region displayed was not desperately far from the Alliance border, but it was not an area she knew.
"Are they certain?" she checked.
"The radiation they found is distinct because it is only found in this region due to its proximity to the centre of this galaxy and two local supernovae," Dr Zelenka continued.
"That narrows it down to," Dr McKay put in, "only several hundred planets, and..." he paused as he tapped his tablet's screen to reveal a list of Portal addresses, "about thirty three planets with known Stargates in that region of the galaxy. Which, by the way, none of them are on any of the lists we have from the Genii or from M1K 177's DHD. Great, problem solved!" He finished sarcastically. "This doesn't help us; it just shows us a vague location for the last Gate in the relay, not the origin of the transmission."
"We are aware of that Dr McKay," Si replied calmly.
"Can they narrow it down any further to a particular planet?" Teyla asked Si.
"No," Si shook his head. "But, now that we suspect that Kolya is using his own small links network, this may explain some of the confusion within the rest of the transmission data. Kolya may have used his network to carry part of the signal."
Teyla nodded, that having been her theory. "Once the technicians have the precise frequencies Kolya is using from the communications panel, that will hopefully allow us to unpick that from the transmission's data."
"I am already running a basic analysis on the data to look for links-like patterns, which we can then narrow down with Kolya's precise frequencies," Si explained as he tapped a command on the console and the running analysis displayed across the screen for her.
Teyla set her hands on Si' shoulders, nervous hope tightening her throat as she watched the console's fast work. She watched as it highlighted parts of the transmission data, already finding common subspace signatures of links frequency patterns. Something was definitely forming, a pattern emerging from the mess of data now that the Facility had separated out the last Portal used.
"It definitely passed through subspace," Dr Zelenka muttered as he watched the screen.
Teyla glanced up from the moving information and glanced across the busy room to where Colonel Carter was now talking with only Colonel Sumner and General O'Neill. They looked very worried.
Teyla lifted her arm, checking her Earth timepiece. Even if they were able to confirm that Kolya used his links network to carry part of the transmission to Atlantis, it would not immediately lead them to the planet where John was being held. They just had to hope that there were further identifiable background clues to trace the links, which would then enable them to identify the remaining Portal used within the transmission.
If that was impossible; what else could she do to find John? Perhaps if they went out to the region of the last Portal they might be able to track down the precise Portal and find further clues there. Perhaps Kolya might even be using his links frequencies in that region, which they could then track. Perhaps-
"The analysis is complete," Si announced and Teyla snapped her eyes back to the screen in front of him. The console's computer had found clear evidence among the dense data of a links style of frequencies, and it had even concluded that it was all in the earliest part of the transmission.
She considered that new piece of information.
"So, Kolya sent the video signal out via his version of an Alliance links network to a Gate, which dialled a second Gate that then dialled into here?" Dr McKay interpreted the readings.
"Yes," Si nodded, his tone implying that he was impressed Dr McKay had been able to understand the display given that it was in the Alliance technical language.
"Like we do to Midway Station," Dr Zelenka uttered quietly.
"There is a lot of extra data around the links signal," Teyla noted with relief.
Si nodded. "Hopefully it is identifiable background noise that we can use to find the-"
"Honoured Elite," one of the technicians called as he quickly approached, a data card held out to them. "We have the links frequencies used by the communications panel."
"Good work," Teyla told the technician gratefully, as Si took the offered the small data card and inserted it into a slot on the side of the Elite console.
Teyla watched eagerly over Si' shoulder as he pulled up the new data and ran the comparison. This was finally something that could lead them to Kolya. She glanced back across the room to see Colonel Carter glance her way from her conversation with General O'Neill.
Si' console bleeped, a report appearing.
"There's no match," Si read out the unexpected result.
"What?" Teyla asked as she leant forward right over his shoulder to see the detailed results for herself.
"The links pattern in the transmission does not match the one Kolya used to send out his alert from the factory," Si supplied.
Teyla's heart dropped into her feet.
"Could he be using different series of frequencies?" Dr Zelenka asked. "Perhaps this was just the frequency he used from the factory to one other point," Dr Zelenka considered.
"So we have nothing to trace?" Dr McKay asked angrily.
Teyla frowned at the results. Would Kolya truly have set up different links working on different frequencies between different planets? Surely that was far more complicated. Even the Alliance vast links network...
"Wait," she tightened her hand on Si' shoulder. "The links section of the data was definitely at the front of the transmission?"
"Yes," Si confirmed, pulling up that computer analysis for her again.
"So Kolya used his links to send his signal to the first Portal," Teyla frowned at that. "Why? If the transmission was just from bunker to Portal, he did not need to use a links signal for that. Why the overkill?"
"Perhaps the bunker is shielded or too far away from the Portal for clear transmission," Si considered.
"Could it be on the other side of a planet to the Gate?" Dr Zelenka theorised.
"Possibly," Si nodded.
"Why carry John so far away from the Portal?" Teyla didn't like that idea. "They would need a ship to take him so far, and if they have a ship, why hold him on a planet at all?"
"Could he be on a ship?" Dr Zelenka suggested.
"It's clearly a Genii bunker in the video," Dr McKay disagreed.
"Or," Si considered, his head tilting slightly, "Kolya used the links network to send the signal off-planet to another Portal."
"That would explain all the extra background noise around the links pattern," Teyla agreed. "If the links was carried via satellites and a relay point to send it through an active Portal, then that would easily add that much noise."
"It would," Si agreed, his fingers moving over the console, running another analysis to look for more specific features of links relays.
Teyla frowned though. "It would require an established infrastructure outside the border. Kolya would need satellites and people coordinating at different Portals, and to carry the live stream to speak with us in real time..."
"He risks drawing the attention of the Wraith," Si nodded. The analysis on the console was struggling to find clear features on the data.
"He would surely also encrypt the links to stop the Wraith, or others, from hacking it," Teyla considered out loud. "But he didn't do that on the signal out of the factory. Why would he not use encrypted data for one transmission but then use encryption here? The density of the noise around his links signal suggests it was heavily encrypted. We use..."
A sudden horrible idea formed.
Si' head turned to look at her over his shoulder.
"We use heavy encryption in our links network," she finished her thought.
Si' eyes widened, apparently having reached the same conclusion.
"Run a comparison to our network encryption systems," she suggested and Si nodded, turning back to the console.
She felt her breathing run shallow as she watched the console run its new analysis. Surely this wasn't going to be correct; surely Kolya wouldn't be that arrogant...
The results flagged up, one at a time, pulling tiny pieces of information out of the former complicated mix of the transmission data. No one had thought to do this, because it was beyond bold and stupid.
"We should have found this sooner," Si stated, angry.
"Found what?" Dr McKay asked hurriedly, leaning in against Si' other shoulder, uncaring about personal space.
The console was still running its analysis, but it had already found enough to prove the case for Teyla, and she felt equally angry at not having even considered this before now.
"Kolya's transmission started by using our links network," Teyla explained in horror. "The transmission came from inside Alliance territory."
Colonel Carter appeared on the other side of the console, having overheard. Teyla looked up into the woman's pale eyes.
"John is being held in our territory," she concluded, the anger raging up.
"Are you sure?" Colonel Carter asked quickly.
"Kolya used our own links network to send the signal to a Portal, which then will have dialled out of Alliance territory, relayed to you via a non-Alliance Portal in the region identified by the Facility."
"He could do all that during a real time conversation with us?" Colonel Carter asked, General O'Neill appearing at her side.
"If the Portals were already open, then the transmission would be fast and efficient through our links network," Teyla confirmed. "He could do it."
"Can you trace the signal he used in your network?" Colonel Carter asked, hope glimmering in her eyes.
"The Facility can start the search," Teyla replied.
"Chuck," Colonel Carter called across the room. "Dial the Elite Facility again."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Kolya's holding the Major in Alliance territory?" General O'Neill asked as the sounds of the Portal starting resounded up from the next room.
"Kolya can't get into the Alliance," Si argued though. "He is on every watch list; he would have been identified."
"So he snuck in onto some backward farming planet," Dr McKay argued. "Clearly no one noticed an unconscious Major getting taken through one of your Gates."
Teyla considered how she would smuggle someone into the Alliance via Portal. "Not everyone knows what Major Sheppard looks like; if they concealed him in a cart of normal trading supplies, or explained him as being asleep or unconscious from drink, guards on smaller trading planets probably wouldn't think anything wrong."
"That might work for Major Sheppard, but not Kolya," Si stated. "His face is well known to all Enforcement guards across the Alliance, as well as to biometric facial scanners; he would be recognised and reported."
"Except," Colonel Carter added, "we haven't seen Kolya in the transmissions."
Teyla met her eyes, realising her point.
"What if Kolya isn't in Alliance space, but his people, who can more easily sneak past guards, are holding John in your territory," the Colonel continued. "They could use any underground basement somewhere made to look like a Genii bunker, and we would never have thought that John might be in Alliance space."
"And when we find Major Sheppard, Kolya won't be there," Teyla realised.
"We'll just find Genii soldiers who are so loyal to Kolya that they'll likely swear he had nothing to do with it," Colonel Carter added as the Portal continued to activate beyond the balconies of the Control Room.
"Probably blame Cowen instead; just like he was rambling about," General O'Neill added.
"This is all about overthrowing Cowen," Teyla concluded bitterly, so many formerly confusing aspects of this situation suddenly making far more sense to her.
Anger tightened her throat and she really wanted to smash her fist into something. Kolya was using John as a thing, a political tool to get what he wanted.
"That is why he is risking angering the Elite," Teyla explained to the others. "He intends to turn us on Cowen. With Major Sheppard held in our territory, where Kolya could never go, and those holding John ready to say they worked under Cowen's direct orders, there will be no evidence implicating Kolya directly."
"Except maybe Major Sheppard," Colonel Carter stated, her eyes hollowing.
If John had heard any discussion about Kolya, or if Kolya had been the one to capture him, then that would be the only evidence.
They had gagged John in the transmissions – even that made far more sense now. If John had seen Kolya, he would, without doubt, have shouted that piece of vital information to them through the transmission.
Which meant that Kolya really did not intend for John to survive this.
"That is why they're demanding that you evacuate Atlantis," Teyla realised further as she heard the wormhole forming, "they know you'll never agree to it, so Major Sheppard will never be released."
Kolya was going to kill John and use his murder as a means to rise to power.
And even if they were able to find the planet and bunker where John was held, surely Kolya would have left orders for John to be killed before he could be rescued.
Perhaps he had already done so.
No, she could not think that way.
Kolya had planned this well, ensuring that, even if things failed, that he would not be caught holding John. He would still survive out beyond the border, out of the reach of Cowen or the Elite.
Despair threatened to wrap around Teyla's heart, but she forced herself to focus on how to disrupt Kolya's plan. She had to find a way to save John, to retrieve him alive and well. The problem was how much time they needed to find him in the vast territory of the Alliance.
"Colonel Carter, I have the Facility on radio," the man named Chuck called out.
Teyla moved around the console to follow Colonel Carter swiftly across the room.
"Our links network is vast, containing millions of communications," Teyla explained to her hurriedly. "Finding one historical signal in all that, even with an exact time stamp, without an origin or destination point means it will take time."
"How much time?" Colonel Carter asked.
Teyla consulted her timepiece, wishing it would say the exact opposite of what it showed her. It had taken too long to reach this conclusion, too long to start the search of the network.
"Not enough."
00000
Long Sleep hissed in frustrated anger.
Everything he did to try to help the Hive was all swiftly unravelling with formidable speed. Repairs he had completed only hours ago were already showing signs of renewed failure and entirely new lines of stress were appearing throughout the superstructure of the ship.
At some point in the last few hours, a tipping point had been reached and he feared there was no chance of return now. The Hive could no longer sustain itself to hold fast against irreparable structural damage.
He had done all he could, but anything he and his fellow Keepers did now was just delaying the inevitable. The Hive would fail. It was just a matter of when and how.
He felt a deep regret that he would not be able to save the living consciousness of the ship that had reached out to him to help it. All he could do now was try to keep it together long enough to find a way to save the crew.
Except, the Poison Queen would hardly allow that.
She was instead attempting to hasten all their deaths. He was certain of that now, for word had arrived that there would be another jump using the new drive. She was clearly intending to kill them. If the Hive held together after the next jump, the chances were high that the Armoured Herd would easily overwhelm and destroy them. And if the Armoured Herd happened not to be in the area into which the jump landed them, the structural stress of jumping back away from there would likely rip the Hive apart for good.
Which meant that he had to find a way to stop this madness now.
He turned from the depressing displays and considered the group of Keepers waiting for his next orders.
The life-force the Hive Primary had given him had kept Long Sleep's mind strong, and had repaired much of the damage to his body for now, but he could still feel the sapping weakness from the never-ending effects of the evil radiation. But, that was nothing compared to what was happening to the other Keepers.
Those that could still stand looked near death. Some were straining to breathe properly, others could barely support the weight of their own heads as they tried to concentrate on their work. Outside the monitoring chamber it was no better, drones and warriors alike were struggling to even walk properly.
Even if Long Sleep could find a way to save the Hive, he no longer had enough Keepers who were well enough to help him. They were dying as fast as the Hive.
Long Sleep turned from the Keepers and pressed his own paled hand to the console's connection before him. The Hive's system responded in a sluggish fashion, working but clearly slower.
This had to stop. Surely even the thick-skulled Hive Primary could see what was happening to his Hive? Or did the Poison Queen's mind have such a powerful hold over him that the Primary could not see the suffering around him?
Or perhaps he did not care because he was in league with the Skerti?
The display before Long Sleep showed the power supply throughout the Hive, points flickering with partial supply and several outer areas completely dark. Long Sleep had suggested evacuation of those outer areas, and presumably the Primary had done so. There were clearly no life-signs in those areas now, so either way it no longer mattered.
Long Sleep studied the slightly flickering display before him. He needed to find a way to shut the drive down, permanently. He could see it was building energy now, draining desperately needed power from the rest of the Hive, ready for the imminent jump.
Except...there was one other large pulsing point of energy usage within the Hive. He frowned at the bright spot at the base of the Hive.
He sneered angrily as he realised what it was and what it meant.
Only, he caught himself quickly and swiftly wrapped his mind up tightly again. Holding his breath, he waited to see if he had inadvertently drawn the Poison Queen's all seeing mind.
He could feel her mind beyond the walled fortress of his thoughts, but she was not focused on him. He carefully focused on her with a very faint light mental touch.
She was focused on the fast approaching jump. There was a clear sense of eagerness, almost raging in its intensity.
She probably knew that this next jump would be the last of the Hive and she was revelling in it.
Her plan was all the more obvious now that he saw the glowing power drain at the base of the Hive. It was the Queen's private escape ship, fitting into the underside of every Hive. It was fully powered.
She intended to run away once the Hive became unliveable.
She was going to kill all onboard and then escape unscathed. The Skerti drive and its radiation no doubt had no effects on her Skerti blood. If Skerti have blood.
He carefully adjusted the display, checking for the flow of nutrition fluids and, sure enough, the Queen's escape vessel had a vast supply redirected towards it. She was ensuring it was as healthy as it could be in order to help her escape.
If she escaped while in the Armoured Herd's territory though, it was possible that the enemy prey would see the escape ship and destroy it.
The Hive would not survive a jump back out of the enemy territory, so his choice was clear. He had to shut down the drive immediately after the imminent jump. There was significant risk in trapping the Hive in the Armoured Herd's territory, but, hopefully, this jump would take them somewhere not heavily populated. If there was a planet nearby with life, then the crew could take fighters down to the surface and feed. If there was a Portal, then all the better.
He just had to find a way of shutting down the power supply to the drive in such a way that she would not be able to power it up again. The radiation would stop and the Queen would likely flee, so there was a chance. The only chance for those onboard this ship of death.
How could he kill the drive though?
He returned the display to the power systems and considered his options. Considering the expansive damage, which would likely be even greater after this new jump, a break in a power line could be easily explained away. He would have to make sure that it was not a break that would allow a simple work around to repair.
If he cut off power to the entire section holding the drive...it would likely cut off power from one of the standard engine pods at the same time, but since they were barely working anyway... Yes, this could work.
He would have to do the sabotage himself, by hand, to make sure it worked correctly.
The glowing light membranes flickered and the interface dulled as the new drive drew the last reserves of power to jump. It was about to happen.
He had no time.
He turned and ran, rushing out of the monitoring chamber without a word to his weakly watching Keepers.
This would be his one and only chance.
00000
The water caverns were not looking hopeful.
Inifee had dropped them just beyond the edge of the charred and twisted remains of what had been the Wraith Cruiser that had crashed down into the former Wraith base on this moon. The landing point had been well selected by the former research and salvage teams that had recently evacuated, as a large buckle in the ground made an easy entrance into the caverns beneath the moon's surface.
There was a simple lift system installed by the teams, a platform that lowered down the hundred or so feet to the top of the caverns, and where the research team had set up a main base. They had selected a flat plateau and established a main computer link and sensor station.
From that point, the view down into the caverns had been massively impressive, but also somewhat disappointing. The caverns weren't as deep as Oneakka had expected and, off to the far right, the caverns had obviously collapsed down due to the impact from above. The sensor station that Halling powered up revealed a full detailed scan of the cavern system, which included only plant, fish, and insect life.
The research teams were apparently focusing their work on understanding where the water came from that could be heard falling in the far distance below. Their latest analysis suggested that the caverns provided a closed system, where the moisture in the air condensed down into the long gouges of rivulets down the walls of the massive caverns to collect into pools and then into narrow rivers that apparently all disappeared down into a deep crevasse out of the cavern system.
The strangely bright light emanating across the cavern was supplied by a series of crystalline structures running along the gouges in the walls and across the ceiling. The light glowed down through the cavern to the deep reddish foliage on the cavern floor.
The research teams had catalogued the crystals, the insects, fish, and plants below, but otherwise had found nothing else in any of the cavern system.
No nice obvious alien tech or signs of Wraith down here. In fact it was entirely possible that the Wraith hadn't known these caverns were here when they made their base on the surface.
Still, it was worth taking a decent look around, see if there was something that the research teams' scans hadn't picked up.
Halling looked well settled in front of the sensor station, so Oneakka followed where Seeal was making her way down towards the floor of this particular wide and deep cavern. There were a series of plateaus and slopes running down the cavern wall, which eventually led down to the thick foliage and trees below. Oneakka pulled out his sensor pad as he made his way down the first incline. The ground was a rough gravel underfoot and he had to keep his weight carefully balanced to stop from slipping as he made his way down to the first small plateau.
The research and salvage teams had set up their portable tents on the plateaus, so as he reached the first piece of flat ground, he walked past three tents lined up in a row looking out across the view of the cavern below. Though he knew there was no one remaining here, he still peered into each tent as he passed them. Just in case.
There was nothing in the tents except bedding, so he carried on down the next gravelly slope.
He watched the screen of his sensor pad as he moved, but the only one decent sized life-sign registering ahead was Seeal. She was two plateaus down from him and was almost at the cavern floor.
There were tents on the next plateau and Oneakka took his time to check in each one. There were various personal items still in these tents, suggesting that the teams had either left in a hurry or were expecting to return soon. As per protocol, there were no perishable goods or weapons left behind.
Another three plateaus down and Oneakka reached the cavern floor, and the change in climate was obvious. The lower he had progressed down the wall of the cavern, the more humid the air had grown, until now, on the cavern floor, he felt as if he were in a rainforest. The air tasted of water, and it all had a certain strange smell to it that was no doubt unique to this environment.
The trees were larger than they had appeared from above, the smallest being at least twice his height. All of the branches held large flat reddish leaves that glistened with moisture caught from the air, and there was a faint sense of a mist around him as he moved along the narrow path that had obviously been cleared by the research teams.
He found Seeal crouched by a collection of several more tents set in an open patch of ground under a particularly wide and tall tree.
"They left in a hurry," Seeal commented as she lifted several electronic pads.
"Anything useful on them?" Oneakka asked as he approached, sweeping his sensor pad around to scan everything in detail.
He heard the pads bleep under Seeal's awakening touch.
"This one is someone's diary; apparently she doesn't feel listened to by the team's Lead. And this one has notes on some of these trees and the river," she supplied. "There's something further up that way beside the water."
Oneakka nodded as his pad had detected the small wooden structure. Oneakka headed towards it, brushing large ruddy leaves out of his way as he stepped through to see the hut up ahead. It was stood on the bank of a slow moving river.
"They probably have their kitchen and washing facilities in there," Oneakka guessed. "Or maybe a lab or further supplies," he considered.
"Doesn't seem like there's anything useful here," Seeal commented from behind him as he moved towards the edge of the water. The river was barely three metres wide and it wasn't all that deep, but it held beautifully clear water. As he moved along the water's edge in the direction of the hut, he saw faint slivers of light in the depths of the water, which his sensor pad detected as tiny life-signs; they would be the fish the research teams had described in their reports.
"What are we expecting to find in their toilet hut exactly?" Seeal asked as she followed him, though he had noticed that her voice had come from off to the right behind him.
He looked over his right shoulder to see that she was walking through the vegetation rather than along the open bank. It seemed a slightly odd choice, but then maybe she was looking through the undergrowth for anything interesting.
"There could be something in the hut," he answered her as he glanced across the vegetation off to his immediate right to see what might have interested her, but there was nothing but dark red fern leaves and shrubs.
"Like advanced Wraith tech?" Seeal asked sarcastically as she moved around a tree blocking her path.
"You wanted to get out of the Facility on a real mission again," he pointed out as he consulted his pad again. The humid air was condensing moisture across the screen, which he idly wiped off as he considered the readings from the hut. There's was only one single tiny power reading from the structure, which suggested that someone had left the light fixture on inside during the evacuation. He suspected the hut simply held the research team's toilets and maybe somewhere for them to wash their clothes. It would make sense with the easy access to the river water.
"I suggested scanning the area above the moon," Seeal noted.
"Inifee doesn't need a second pair of eyes over his shoulder, and you're more useful here," Oneakka replied. He paused and turned around, checking that he could still see Halling's shape up in the high overlooking sensor station. "Once Inifee has the scans from orbit, we can look at them back in the ship," he added to her.
Happy that Halling hadn't disappeared anywhere, Oneakka moved to turn back towards the direction of the hut, only Seeal drew his attention. She was heading around another tree, selecting to go around the far side of the tree, which meant pushing through dense almost waist-high ferns.
She could have easily walked round the other side of the tree, which was open along the river bank where he had walked.
He glanced at the river and then back at her as she emerged from around the wide tree trunk.
He held still and considered her.
She noticed he had stopped and froze. "What?" She asked cautiously, looking around her.
He glanced at the open space between her and the river bank.
A strange little recalled fact struck him. She'd used pretty much every feature of the gyms back at the Facility, but he couldn't remember ever seeing her name showing up in the spa gym. The spa was usually a favourite to most in the Facility, with its two swimming pools and hot water tubs to soak in after long hard workouts. None of which she'd used.
He considered the open stretch of ground between her and the river bank again.
"Are you afraid of water?" He asked her directly.
She made a loud scoffing sound. "No!" She stated instantly, and way too insistently.
He narrowed his eyes at her, studying her closely.
She crossed her arms and glared at him.
Oh, she was hiding something.
He wasn't sure why the thought of her being afraid of something was oddly interesting. Maybe it was because he'd never seen her afraid of anything so far. She'd stood up to anyone and everything she encountered, including him. She'd run into a fight with a Wraith Queen and had almost died fighting that slug robot.
He had met plenty of people who were properly afraid of water, for various reasons, but the idea that Raven might be afraid of something like water was...amusing somehow.
He kept his eyes on her and waited.
"I'm not afraid of water," she insisted, unable to stand his silent glare – which again was unusual for her. She usually held her own in their staring matches.
So he waited some more.
"I can swim," she stated. "All Glisi can swim. You fall into the water on that planet and it will freeze you to death within minutes if you don't get out quick."
That sounded true enough, but he still sensed something she wasn't sharing.
"Being able to swim doesn't mean you might not be afraid of water," he considered.
"I'm not afraid of water," she stated again. "You've seen me in water; remember when we had to jump off the roof of that club on Rimba because you destroyed the entire building?"
He didn't rise to that baiting challenge, because it was clearly designed to distract him.
"And I was in that flooded chamber on the Sythus with you just fine when that first baby slug robot got out," she continued with her evidence. "Did you see me running and hiding? No, I sorted out those valves."
"With my help," he took the opportunity to prod.
She scoffed at that too. "I got those seals mostly shut by myself; you just helped at the end."
"Mostly shut doesn't stop the water flowing; water that you're scared of," he pushed.
She glared angrily now. "I'm not afraid of water."
Her evidence and insistence seemed to track, but he still sensed that she was hiding something. He knew her well enough now to tell; there was just a little too much tension in her back and shoulders, and she kept her arms crossed, which was something she rarely did around him. Normally her arms would be waving around as she pointed and gestured with her hands, whereas now, her body language was closed and defiant, with just the faintest scent of something close to embarrassment around the edges.
If she thought she could pretend he hadn't noticed, they could stay here all day while he waited for the truth.
He crossed his arms, noting that his sensor pad still refused to display anything interesting; certainly nothing as interesting as something Raven might try to hide.
He waited, watching her.
One of her eyes twitched slightly in the glaring match across the few metres between them.
Then her gaze shifted quickly to the river and back. She cursed quietly, knowing she'd given her anxiety away.
He lifted his eyebrows, amused at the tell.
She tried to look relaxed and calm. "I'm honestly not afraid of water," she told him in a more controlled tone.
He kept waiting though, sensing surrender.
"I'm not afraid of water," she repeated, "just...the killer fish in it," she finally blurted.
Oneakka couldn't help himself from laughing. "You're afraid of fish?"
"There are deadly fish on many worlds that eat people," she hurriedly explained. "Eat them alive."
Oneakka worked to control his amusement. "There's nothing in the reports here that suggest these fish are deadly," he indicated the river next to him. "They're tiny," he noted looking down through the clear water.
"Small can still be deadly, Oneakka," Seeal insisted. "They could swarm."
"Swarm?"
"It's not a joking matter. Fish can be killers."
He had heard about dangerous fish on some planets, but attacks were rare occurrences; besides, these fish were tiny little things.
"There's certainly no fish in the Facility swimming pools," he told her, letting her know that he hadn't missed that particular fact.
She narrowed her dark eyes, annoyed that he had noticed her avoidance of the spa. He grinned victoriously.
"I read that they use little fish to clean the pools in the Facility," she explained a little sheepishly.
"In a side tank," he told her, "there are meshes and filters between the tanks and the pools."
"The fish could escape," Seeal countered.
He chuckled at her paranoia.
"Why is that funny?" She demanded.
"You faced a slug robot cutting its way out of hot water pipes with its long razor claws, but you're too scared to swim in a perfectly safe pool?"
"I can go in those swimming pools anytime," she returned quickly. "We'll go when we get back and I'll prove I'm not afraid of going into that water."
"What about this water?" He asked, angling his head towards the river beside him. "You worried the fish are going to attack you on the bank?"
"No, obviously."
"You're keeping quite far away from the water," he pointed out.
"I can go near water with fish in it," she immediately rose to the bait.
"Why don't you then?" He challenged her.
She narrowed her eyes at him again.
He watched her, waiting to see what she would do.
She lifted her chin and started towards him and the river.
She walked up to him with determined casualness and then moved past him to stand right on the edge of the river bank. "See," she stated victoriously and then made her mistake. She looked down, peering into the water.
Oneakka moved quickly, kicking one boot into the river so that water splashed up towards her feet.
She squealed loudly and suddenly she was grabbing his arm and clambering up his back - just like when she climbed people when fighting.
He just laughed.
She stopped, half hanging off his back. "What?!" she exclaimed, realising what had happened.
"You climbed me like a tree," he laughed, gripping one of her knees that was around his side.
She immediately dropped away from him and he turned, only for her to slap him on the arm.
"You're an evil man!" She told him, her face flushed as she slapped his arm again.
He waved off the weak attack and chuckled.
His radio earpiece buzzed and Halling's voice spoke in his ear. "Oneakka, is everything alright down there?" Halling asked worriedly.
Oneakka tapped his link to open the connection. "Everything is fine. Seeal almost fell into the river."
"I did not!" Seeal protested loudly and swatted grumpily at his arm again.
"There's a hut along the river we're just going to check out, but otherwise there's nothing here," Oneakka continued to Halling.
"There is nothing useful on the sensor station either," Halling replied. "They did record some atmosphere and orbital scans when they were monitoring the crash site to check for residual radiation from the former Cruiser's engines. I have made a copy for us to take back with us."
"Good idea," Oneakka replied. "We'll be back up in a few minutes."
"Understood," Halling replied and the link went silent.
Oneakka closed his link and turned to see Seeal glaring at him.
"That wasn't funny," she stated.
"I found it very funny," he disagreed, chuckling again at the memory.
"Evil man," she accused him. "I'm never talking to you again." With that she stomped off towards the hut, keeping well away from the water's edge. "Let's look at this toilet hut and get out of here."
"That sounds like talking to me," Oneakka pointed out at he followed her.
"You need to learn some manners," she replied over her shoulder.
"I think you need to learn what 'never' means," he argued as he followed her shapely form along the river.
Honestly, she had killed a Wraith Queen but she was afraid of little fish!
He lengthened his strides so that he caught up with her, falling into step with her, walking on her left so he was between her and the water. Her cheeks were still flushed, the air of embarrassment a practical cloud around her; it was a very new look for her. He grinned at her profile.
She glared round at him, but he could see that she wasn't dangerously angry.
"Stop laughing," she told him. "If I had fallen in and those fish had killed me, I would have made sure to have come back and haunt you every day for the rest of your life; and I would be in the shape of a deadly fish with massive teeth," she threatened.
"That seems quite an elaborate revenge plan," he replied, amused at the picture she painted. "You were never in any danger."
"That's not the point," she objected, her pace so fast that they were almost at the hut.
"I would never have let you fall in," he assured her, which was surely obvious.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, dark eyes frowning still, but he sensed that he'd said the right thing. As if he would have let her fall; she was just annoyed that he knew her little phobia now and that he'd so successfully tricked her. She'd actually squealed! That was a victory he wasn't going to forget in a long time, or let her forget.
The radio link in Oneakka's ear abruptly activated.
"Honoured Elite," Inifee's voice arrived with a sudden sharp tone, "I'm getting some strange readings up here."
Oneakka stopped abruptly, his hand lifting to his link.
"What readings, Inifee?" Halling asked first over the transmission.
"They're building," Inifee replied.
Oneakka turned sharply on the spot, his mind turning fast. "Where are you, Inifee?" He called into his link as he immediately started racing back the way he and Seeal had come.
"I'm in..." Inifee's voice was cut through with static.
"Inifee?" Halling called, his voice sounding slightly winded, no doubt because he was making his way to the lift platform to get up to the surface.
"...low orbit...coming around...es...my..." Inifee replied, his voice noticeably alarmed even through the clearly increasing static.
Horribly familiar broken static.
"Get the ship back down to us," Oneakka ordered Inifee as he powered through shrubs, pushing leaves out of his way, aware of Seeal running just behind him.
"...m...ou...in...en..." Inifee's report was completely indecipherable now.
"Wraith shit," Oneakka cursed as he raced up the first incline in the series of plateaus.
Up above, he could see the lift platform rising, Halling inside.
The panicked fear for Halling's safety returned in a rush.
"Halling, we're on our way up," Oneakka shouted into the link as he ran. "Don't go up onto the surface without us."
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TBC