Chapter 4: Left Hand of Fate
Three years earlier, somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy...
"Hurry up, you two, Simpsons is on in two hours and if you make me miss it, you will not have a happy colonel on your hands!"
Colonel Jack O'Neill, leader of the famed SG-1, stalked into the ruined building where two members of his team were so fascinated with some old machines. Personally, he couldn't see the attraction himself. The things were way too old and in such rotten condition that there was no way they were of any use, but Carter and Jonas Quinn had both insisted on coming. Jack had learned long ago that a little boredom could be the lesser of two evils when the peace of the team was at stake. Let the geeks poke around for a while, grumble at regular intervals, and they would eventually take pity on him, allowing them all to go home happy. Especially when nobody decided to shoot at them in the meantime. Always a pleasant surprise. Receiving no response, Jack rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Jonas! Carter! Did you hear me?"
The only one who seemed to be paying the least bit of attention, however, was Teal'c, who was standing watch just inside the room. The Jaffa warrior, who the colonel knew had to be as bored as he was, merely raised one eyebrow at him in the patented Teal'c way. Jack ground his teeth, firmly telling himself that he couldn't shoot them even if he had a zat. Scientists! Couldn't live with them, and way too prickly to make a good rug. He hated the whole lot of them.
"Major! Bart is waiting!"
A bob of a blond head over the top of a crystalline console.
"Yes, sir. Still haven't figured out how to program that new DVD recorder? I could use ten more minutes here, if possible. Jonas and I still haven't determined the source of that tablet with the strange writing SG-11 supposedly picked up here."
The other bent figure abruptly straightened into a slender young man with brown hair and an intent look on his face. His voice, when he spoke, was tight with excitement and so fast it was almost impossible for Jack to understand him.
"Some kind of derivative of Ancient! This could help us find the lost city Dr. Jackson's tablet spoke of!"
Jonas Quinn, a fairly recent addition to the team, saw the solving of the riddle Daniel had dropped in their laps as a form of redemption, Jack knew. A little over a year earlier, the young man had been inadvertently contributory to Daniel's physical death by radiation poisoning and had vowed to complete the work the other man had started. Now, he had his teeth firmly planted in this bone, found on the planet of Abydos by Daniel himself in ascended form three weeks ago.
"Fine, I'll be nice. You have twenty minutes more, then we're leaving, even if Teal'c and I have to drag you two to the Stargate."
Two hands raised in distracted waves of acknowledgment. Geeks! Probably turn out to be somebody's grocery list. With a long-suffering harrumph, Jack leaned forward against the strange crystal-thingie they were so intent on the other side of...
A wave of dizziness had him clutching the thing in a death grip instead as he caught just the slightest glimpse of the figure of a person with a staff before a bright light overwhelmed him and he was falling. Fighting the swimming in his head, he surged back up, a strong hand aiding him up even as he reached for a weapon. All four members of SG-1 were on their feet, P-90s ready, before the aftereffects of the flash were even gone. In their world, such things usually meant absolutely no good. Blinking rapidly against the blobs of color still dancing in his eyesight, the first problem the colonel noted was the absence of the console he'd been hanging onto just seconds before. The room they were in was in a lesser state of ruins, too. Not good.
"What the hell-!"
Jack's exasperated shout was cut off by his radio clicking to life. A strange woman's voice filled the small room, transmitting on the channel always used by the SG teams.
"Wraith! They are holding the Stargate active!"
The distinctive chatter of P-90 fire echoed through the ruins almost before the woman had finished speaking, causing SG-1 to immediately scan the room warily. Whoever was out there, they had Earth weapons and radios, plus they didn't sound like they were very far away. Suddenly, one very ugly alien popped around the wall into the doorway, looking just as shocked to see them as they were to see it. A whitish staff swung up, firing off a burst of energy that had SG-1 scrambling for cover as it sizzled over their heads.
"What, no 'halt or I'll shoot'? Now that's just rude!"
Jack's snide comment earned him another session of ducking behind rubble even as a new voice crackled over the com.
"Teyla, Ronon, fall back to the inner ruins! Signal me the moment you're within the city perimeter."
Then the woman again. "Acknowledged, colonel."
Another SG team? Jack didn't recognize the names, but they had lost a lot of people lately. However, the last time they came across a team where there wasn't supposed to be one, they'd turned out to be Jaffa learning to infiltrate Stargate Command. First problem first, though. Ugly's aim was improving a little too much for comfort. Looking to his left, Jack caught Carter's eye, receiving a nod of acknowledgment from the other officer. If they could distract this thing, Teal'c might be able to nail its greenish hide with his staff weapon. As one, the colonel and major popped up, firing steady bursts at the thing, Jonas joining them with his 9 millimeter handgun only seconds later. The kid was getting better, Jack noted absently. Even scientists were trainable.
A staff blast caught the enemy in the side, staggering it for only a few seconds, though that was better then their shots had managed. Jack could see the black pit burned into the thing's side and winced. That had to hurt. Two more quick blasts before the creature could recover enough to fire back again, plus good old lead, and it finally collapsed. SG-1's leader cautiously approached, poking it with the toe of one boot, only to have the alien suddenly flare back to life, grabbing on to his ankle just as his radio squawked again.
"Sheppard, we're in the ruins."
Jack didn't have time to really pay attention to the new, deep voice as he landed hard on his back, breath exploding from his lungs. Instinctually, he kicked out with his free foot, desperate to get the thing off of him, mind barely registering the whine of another staff blast. Teal'c grimly leaned over, pulling a still spasming hand from O'Neill's leg even as Carter and Jonas pulled the colonel to his feet. Another call had Jack spinning around, searching for a target before realizing it was his stupid radio. The voice on the other end, however, was what caught the attention of at least one member of the team.
"Damn it! Hold on, Ronon, we may have a problem. Sheppard's-"
The transmission cut off as a blue sheet of energy crackled to life over their heads. Jonas flinched hard, taking a step back into Jack, though the colonel, for once, didn't bark at him for it. He was too busy exchanging shocked looks with a stunned Major Samantha Carter. The woman's eyes went wide, mouthing 'McKay?' silently before the insistent beeping of her laptop, laying abandoned on the floor, flagged her focus. Grimly, the astrophysicist grabbed it, feeling a cold chill run down her spine at what it showed.
"My equipment read a power spike and an unknown radiation just as that light flashed. Now I've got an energy shield surrounding us. We're stuck unless we can find the power source and shut the thing off." A quick shake of her head cut off the inevitable question. "No, I don't know where that is at the moment. I didn't know McKay had been allowed on an SG team, sir."
Jack grimaced, quickly shaking his head. He liked the Canadian about as much as Carter did, especially since the man had almost managed to electrocute her earlier in the year.
"He hasn't that I know of. Either its not him, or I'd like to know what the hell he's doing out here."
"I must insist you ask him for yourselves."
The woman's voice again, but this time it wasn't coming over their radios. A slight movement in the shadows to their left quickly resolved itself into the unknown lady as she walked slowly toward them, stopping just out of reach. The first thing about her any of them noted was the P-90 she expertly cradled in her arms, aimed steadily at them. Jack silently cursed himself out as his hand moved automatically toward his weapon and her eyes flashed a warning at him. He had let his guard down for a moment, gathering the wits he'd had knocked all over by the alien. Stupid, rookie mistake! Teal'c, at least, was not caught out, he noted out of the corner of his eye, staff weapon held equally steady right at the woman. Classic stand-off.
The woman herself was fairly petite, maybe five foot three, with long coppery hair and a petite, athletic form. The lithe way she moved, though, made Jack hope he never had to face the lady in a hand-to-hand fight. Somehow, he thought he'd lose. She was wearing a gray uniform that none of them recognized, but the tack vest was all too familiar, as, of course, was the weapon she held. Jack narrowed his eyes at her, taking in her confident stance even though she was clearly outnumbered.
"And if we don't feel like it?" He asked lightly.
"Then I insist and you need a doctor."
Her deep voiced companion, directly behind Teal'c, whose face flickered, telegraphing his own surprise to anyone who knew the Jaffa warrior as well as the colonel did. The man was huge, towering over even Teal'c by an inch or two, with a scowling face framed by dark dreadlocks and beard. His clothing looked worn, and much more in keeping with their surroundings than what was worn by the woman. The weapon he held was unknown, too, though Jack had no desire to test its effectiveness.
"And who are you, an extra from The Lord of the Rings ?"
It was a tactic that had worked quite effectively in the past to throw off the enemy. Make a snide comment that Jack knew wouldn't have any meaning to them, but would distract their attention just a bit. Not to mention annoy the hell out them and entertain the SG-1 team leader. They'd make a mistake, and SG-1 would get their opening to turn the tables on their foes. Unfortunately, there seemed to be two things wrong with the approach this time. One, the guy didn't look at all confused nor did his aim waver. Two, a third player decided to get into the game and spoil the colonel's fun.
"Jack, you're being an ass again."
A/N: Now things really begin to get messy. Kudos to anyone who knows where the last line came from and who said it. Thanks for reading and reviewing, you guys are great!